Early Primroses.

The forecast storm has rampaged over Europe causing flooding and deaths but Britain only caught the edge of it last night. There are some flood warnings in the east of the country but nothing out of the ordinary here. In fact for most of the day it was sunny and warm. I put in a full day's work in the garden which was very satisfying. I started what I thought would be a quick task, clearing the long grass growing around the 4 azalea bushes on the grassy bank by the drive. Unfortunately on closer inspection the grassy bank turned out to be mainly weeds which I couldn't leave. By the time I had used my trusty screwdriver to remove the dandelions, buttercups and plantains, leaving the primroses and daisys, there were a lot of bare patches on the bank which will need reseeding. Before that I need to give the leylandii hedge on the top of the bank a trim so that I can clear up the trimmings before throwing down some grass seed. I found my very first primroses of the year growing in the shelter of the hedge. The previous 2 winters have been wet and warm and the spring flowers have appeared very early on but all the experts are saying that this winter's bad weather will delay the spring flowers by at least a month.
While up in the chickens' run I spotted a few visitors to my neighbour's lake. I couldn't see the second call duck, maybe it was successful in its attempts to get home to Ashelford Farm.