Pussy Willow

I took a walk in Epping forest this morning, with my good friend Zeus09'smum, the first in quite a while for me.  Although there was the promise of blue sky early on, the familiar grey blanket of cloud soon covered the sky.  We walked as far as Connaught Water, where these pretty catkins provided the only splash of colour today.

Pussy willow is a name given to many of the smaller species of  willows and sallows when their furry catkins are young in early spring .  Before the male catkins of these species come into full flower they are covered in fine, greyish fur, leading to a fancied likeness to tiny cats, also known as “pussies”. The catkins appear long before the leaves, and are one of the earliest signs of spring.