A few days later, on February 22nd, walking the five-mile stretch of the
River Frome between
Pur Down (Horfield; for more detailed locations, Google's map service will oblige...) and Frenchay Common, in north Bristol - it's a marvellous area of riverbank, parkland & woodland within virtual spitting distance of two motorways (M5 & M32), home to a wide range of breeding birds including Dipper, Kingfisher & Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
First new plant of the day was a real surprise;
Japanese Mahonia,
Mahonia japonica, in flower on an overgrown stretch of riverbank; presumably, as a result of someone being less than fussy where they dumped their garden rubbish
From 50-odd yards away, hence on maximum zoom (12x), the pictures won't win any awards, but they'll do - it was one I wasn't expecting to find unless I made the trip to Warley Place (which is still planned...)
Heading on along the river through Eastville Park & Snuff Mills, three species of crocii (
Dutch Crocus,
C. x hybridus, being a new "tick" alongside more
Yellow Crocus,
C. x stellaris & a few well naturalised clumps of
Early Crocus,
C. tommasianus 
)
The morning's (and, so far, year's) highlight was undoubtedly at Frenchay, though, where the remnants of an old estate that existed before the hospital was built post-WW2 resulted in a fabulous range of naturalised species. Between there and the nearby churchyard, both
Spring &
Early Crocuses put on a beautiful display, with
Winter Aconite (
Eranthis hyemalis) & what's since been correctly ID'd by Tiggrx as
Balkan Anemone (
Anemone blanda) in full bloom by the hospital's entrance gate C.
This whole area's been designated as a nature reserve, with plenty of relic shrubs (
Spotted-laurel,
Aucuba japonica &
Portugal Laurel (
Prunus lusiticana) are both seeding & well-established in scrubby areas) All in all, a very successful few hours; I was especially pleased to catch up with the Aconites, which I'd made one of my top target species for this Spring