This morning we set off around the quarry edge in bright sunshine, but with a very cold wind, especially because we were up above the surrounding countryside. Despite the wind there were many walkers enjoying the sun, most with dogs. My wife wanted to try her new 70-300mm lens, but the dogs just wanted to run and explore, and so the dogs and I decided to leave my wife zooming in on the Hill, and across the surrounding landscape, while we headed down to fields. We followed the river where I discovered that it is not just the garden that is springing. All along the river bank alder trees have produced catkins and it seemed to me that there is a heavy “crop” this year. I don’t know when these catkins first appeared, since I haven’t been along the river bank in daylight for several days, but I don’t think that they were there last weekend, when the countryside was still blanketed in snow and ice. This was a difficult shot because the catkins kept blowing in the wind, and it didn’t help that had forgotten the equipment needed for a quality control of images. My reading specs.
