Cowslip bokeh

I can't believe the speed at which Spring progresses. Every day brings something new, and the sadder part is that something else is now over. We are in the in-between time, the blackthorn blossom is browning and falling, and the flowers of hawthorn or May are yet to come. In the grasslands of the Knott, the cowslips have sent up their flowering stems and their blossoms are opening amongst early purple orchids and a scatter of bluebells - plants that have benefitted from the winter grazing of the limestone grassland this last few years. I am watching the thistle rosettes on the disturbed ground in one of the areas recently coppiced, wondering if some of them will turn out to be the woolly thistles that aren't supposed to be here.

This morning early, the light was good, and was twinkling in the dew drops, and here I can take advantage of the hill top with the sun almost at cowslip level to pick up the twinkles in the bokeh. Above me, the willow warblers were singing sweetly, now here in abundance. The solitary redstart was still singing in the distance, let's hope a female stops by for him.

Now it's the weekend, we shall risk Gus meeting some girls along the estuary walk. I need to do some more allotment taming. Then on Monday, we have our long-awaited, postponed trip to Raasay.