Lamb's tails

I walked up the Knott this morning to see the sun rise at just after 0800 as I have done hundreds of times before, but this time leaving Gus to sleep on.  As I came down the light was just starting to come through the trees and illuminate the hazel catkins that are now close to shedding their pollen.

Something I noticed a few years ago is that the flowering of the very many hazel shrubs on the Knott is not synchronised, but staggered across more than a month or so.  There must be some advantage in this, perhaps it's because of the unpredictability of the weather at this time of the year for achieving successful pollination, and a long flowering period may ensure that however bad the late winter weather is, some seed will set.

It was well to be out early as the cloud gathered as the morning went on, and it's been raining this afternoon as Storm Corrie approaches.  My delicate back improved overnight, but the walk up the hill set it back again.

I've been sorting out my vegetable seeds this afternoon, working out what we need for the new growing season.  We already have so much seed left over from previous years that I hardly need to buy anything.  In fact I could do with another allotment or two.  Not sure that would be good for the back though.