bud burst

that wonderful moment as the sticky buds realease the tender green chestnut leaves... It's so sad that many of the ancient chestnut trees around here have leaf miner disease and become dried and mottled long before autumn.
I sat having coffee with a friend this morning when we were entertained to see a heron land in her neighbour's willow tree - neither of us had ever seen a heron in a tree before. Blow me down if this wasn't the first thing I saw on blip http://www.blipfoto.com/admirer - a heron in a willow tree! I had been much too slow to get my camera.