Among the ivy there is new green

and the hawthorn trees are in exuberant fresh leaf

Everything isn’t lovely however – among the nettles (no, I don’t do nettle soup) are unfolding leaves of giant hogweed. It looks quite attractive when it’s new, but it’s decptive. It towers to about seven feet high, shading everything else out, seeds as prolifically as dandelions and has roots that go down as far as hell. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, they sting worse than nettles and can cause terrible burns to unwary children. Our council is quite good at spraying the stuff on the roadsides, but it seems impossible to keep up with it.

On the other hand, however, we do have the cuckoo flower, just getting into its stride. The pear blossom is out and the early flowering cherries,and I heard the first skylark.