And what else is the garden doing in late April?

Pignut (Conopodium majus) is beginning to flower

Next door's ornamental cherry is in blossom and hanging over into our garden

Spears of Pyramidal Bugle (Ajuga pyramidalis) are shooting up

Ajuga pyramidalis from above

Liverwort and moss growing together on an old tile under one of the companionway steps.
I think the liverwort is Pellia epiphylla (dead common round here) and the moss is, I think, Common Feather-moss (Kindbergia praelonga/Eurynthium praelongum)

 Lady's Mantle catching raindrops

Here the gardener is attempting to be arty with violets.

She is not sure she has succeeded, but the colour is nice.

 Wood sorrel beginning to flower on the north-east facing front garden wall

Shoots of Solomon's Seal in front of a rotting trunk in the lane

The weight of ivy and winter gales brought the top half of the old trunk down

which benefited the roe deer as they could eat the youngest ivy leaves

Herb Bennet (Geum urbanum) leaves

Herb Robert (Geranium purpureum) leaves

and Hawthorn almost ready to flower

The weight of ivy also weighed down that hawthorn tree but it is still thriving

even bent right over to the ground

A mass of tree trunks and ivy trunks

And lastly, for now, the fallen wild cherry is still flowering away, though when the wind picks up we have cherry petal snow

Thus

You can see in that picture, if you enlarge it by clicking on it, just how much of our upper lawn is pignut.

Ferns and coils

One day, with a quick glance, I will be able to name all the ferns at the Boggy Brae.

One day...

Some of them this spring morning:

Fern curly-wurlies

The new growth coils of Hard Fern
(Blechnum spicant)

This is the tallest coil from the previous pic

Delicate-looking ferns at the base of an Escallonia bush

Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park

To avoid close of business traffic across the Erskine Bridge, I headed early to Largs Archery Club yesterday, where I am going for some coaching and mentoring in my attempt to become an ArcheryGB Level 1 coach myself, taking the single track (with passing places) Old Largs Road across Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park so that I can do a little exploring on the way.

 Stopped at a little car park by Outerwards Reservoir to eat my sandwiches and went for a wee wander. There was a Dipper on the rocks top left of this photo but he bobbed away.

Outerwards Reservoir

A neatly made small weir above the reser. The stream is called Noddsdale Water.

An old gate post and newish stile

The bridge over Noddsdale Water, mended and "upgraded". The line of grasses and ferns marks its old top edge

Solid sandbag support underneath and some last year's seed heads

The wind was quite strong so I didn't manage to get a clear picture of the new larch cones but you can see them growing here

And, across the way, lots of young oaks with lots of oak apples, or galls

I spotted some more places to explore for next time. :)

Small spring things

Small things I found while digging out docks from the flowerbed.

Lady's Mantle and raindrops.

I love the way this plant's leaves don't break the surface tension.

New growth of Hart's Tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium).

Lots of these.

This year's first violets at the Boggy Brae

Cranberry shoot

Sycamores, Larches and Goat Willows are opening their leaves.

Periwinkles, primulas and bat droppings

Periwinkles (Vinca major) growing at the front of the house. They'd take over the terrace and spill down the hill if I let them. Sometimes I'm tempted to do just that.

Vinca major growing between steps

A different primula from the usual Primula vulgaris.

I might get some seed from this for a friend this year.

I found another non-conformist hiding behind some daffodil leaves.

New this year. Self-seeded.

Primroses and primulas from above

A corner of the bank that I like

And bat droppings on the front doorstep.

I'm always glad when these start appearing again after the winter.

The bats 'hang out' up here between the porch roof beam and the wall of the house.