Spring around the Lake
Nature is waking up
There are buds on all the trees, some even have their catkins, others still hide them. The Eranthis or winter aconite in the wooded area around the lake have withered, and instead, the pilewort have taken over.
The weather these past three days has been beautiful albeit quite cold, with a clear blue sky during the day — now longer than the night — and starlit at night. Venus now reigns supreme in the western sky, while the almost full moon to the south has dimmed the stars. The catkins on a willow close by just looked like little stars by daylight against the blue sky.
Yellow may well be the dominant colour this time of year, but blue and violet also provide little pockets of beauty. The March violets have not yet shown themselves, but the blue anemones are beauties to look out for — and I found them again this year, a lovely carpet of blue on the slope above the lake — and difficult to photograph on the rather steep slope.
Blackthorn is one of the abundant bushes around the lake — good to know if you are a fan of spice for your schnapps, as the berries are among the best-loved ingredients in local spiced schnapps. There is an age-old tradition for spiced schnapps in this area in the north of Denmark, but that is a story for another time. The white flowers on the blackthorn are among the most beautiful in spring, only challenged by the pink cherry blossoms.
The great crested grebes are back at the lake and they were out fishing and socialising. I have not seen them doing their mating dance yet but shall keep looking for them.
I have been going to the lake to look for the great crested grebes over the past month, but this was the first time I have seen both of them back on the lake. They are exceptional birds and so graceful.
During the latter part of the day, a number of fluffy clouds started to appear and slowly teamed up to give the sky a dusty hue. The day ended with a slightly misty sunset, although quite scenic through the branches of the ash trees with their tiny mauve flower buds ready to explode with their bright green flowers.
Enjoy April with all its quirks and rain showers. I am off to the garden.
