Spring is springing

Well, seems the snow has left us alone for a while, I noticed yesterday the crocuses had started to open on my way across the park, and today I saw the first open daffodil outside the university. Also (something worth catching the bus for, you can only really see from the top deck), the leaves on the trees are just budding. Funny, last year I sent a photo to my mum of a huge patch of daffodils - I've just checked and this was on the 1st of March! Seems spring is running late this year, something that is perhaps confirmed on the Springwatch site. You can see, for example, that the spread of frog spawn is slower this year than last - some scientific data to back up my somewhat unscientific impression of a long winter!

The presence of dead leaves on the ground (just discernible on the above photo) confirms that this winter has been quite dry - they haven't yet rotted away from Autumn... Get ready for the hosepipe ban.