Early Wood-violet

It's always heartening to see the first early dog-violets in flower at Old Sulehay Forest,  accompanied by primroses, dog's mercury and the first emerging leaves of elder and Midland hawthorn. And of course the swathes of snowdrops which always emerge a few weeks later than garden ones.

I was pleased to see that most of the trees had survived Storm Ciara relatively unscathed, but one sizable oak had been torn out of the ground, and was completely blocking the main ride. Quite a lot of clearing up to be done...