It's amazing how much difference a couple of days of warmer weather, and a morning's sunshine, can make! Returning to one of my star spring sites at Frenchay, on the edge of Bristol, I found a fine display of plants in bloom
The
Winter Aconites (
Eranthis hyemalis) are a real favourite of mine, which I've still never seen anywhere else - they only seem to open in full sunshine, though, so this was the first time I'd been able to photograph them properly out this season.
It's a bit early for Spring Crocus,
C. vernus, but the sizeable population of
Early Crocus (
Crocus tomassinianus) were making great progress; again, the sunshine had brought them into full flower.
This was a real surprise - two specim ens of
Golden Crocus (
Crocus chrysanthus) - I didn't see them here last year, and I'd be surprised if I'd overlooked them...
There were also a few of the much more common
Yellow Crocus (
Crocus x stellaris) to compare
Plenty of snowdrops can also be found, of three different species (plus what I assume is a cultivated variety...)
Greater Snowdrop (
Galanthus elwesii)
Common Snowdrop (
Galanthus nivalis)
Caucasian Snowdrop (
Galanthus caucasicus)
Still no new additions to my list this year, but at least things are starting to look up
