At last, a host...

Spring is late: there's no doubt about it, but apparently this can be a good thing. It seems that if it occurs at the proper time - not in the middle of winter, for example - then the effects are more long-lasting. The hard winter experienced in the UK this year produced far fewer mild days, which can cause insects and hibernating animals to wake up and forage for food. When none is to be found, they either return to sleep, or perish in subsequent cold spells. This is, obviously, a bad thing from their point of view.
 Spring at the right time gives hibernating animals the proper length of sleep that they require, and they benefit accordingly. Plant life finds it similarly beneficial, as do insects.
 Incidentally, the last time spring happened this late was in 1976: a summer of high temperatures and drought.

There is, however, ample evidence that the season is getting into gear, as the display of daffodils shown here testify. Photographed at Branksome Dene, on the Dorset coast this morning, it is the best spectacle of these flowers that I have so far encountered.

24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/1000 second at f/5.6. ISO 200.

© 2010