Cambo in February

 One of the delights of February in Fife is the display of snowdrops at Cambo.

 Snowdrops line the banks of the Cambo burn pushing their way through the fallen leaves.

A clump of primroses.

Pale blue scilla.

 Brightly coloured aconite.

Snowdrops against a background of the strap-like leaves of black mondo.

 The exposed roots of a tree in the woodland.

 Horseshoe fungus (Fomes fomentarius).

Early Spring Bulbs 2015

A bank of snowdrops and aconites near the Largo Parish War Memorial.

Some sunny days and suddenly snowdrops are springing up everywhere,

 Aconites and some snowdrops at the back of the Temple car park

A bank of snowdrops at the side of the path leading up to the Serpentine Walk.

Some tiny purple crocuses at the side of the old railway track path.

First Bulbs of the Year in Flower

Aconite in flower at the back of the Temple car park in Lower Largo.
Although very windy the temperature has gone up and the snow on Largo Law has almost disappeared. Bulbs are beginning to flower.

Behind the aconite the green shoots of snowdrops.

In the Serpentine Walk there are several clumps of snowdrops along the path that are almost out.

Snowdrops tucked into the base of a tree.

A patch of snowdrops catches the afternoon sun.

In Bloom at Cambo

A beautiful day to go to Cambo to enjoy the snowdrops, one of the highlights of the early spring in Fife. Snowdrops line both sides of the path down to the sea.

A mixture of aconites and snowdrops

A colourul patch of crocus.

 Crocus bulbs naturalised in the grass.

A witch hazel in flower in the Winter garden.

First Snowdrops

There is a piece of rough ground on the banking, just at the start of the Serpentine Walk in Lower Largo, where I always look for the first snowdrops. About the same time as last year, in spite of all the snow and frost. In the garden too snowdrops and aconites are beginning to show.

Promise of Spring

Early Spring Bulbs ( Click to enlarge)

Just opposite the War Memorial in Upper Largo there is a wooded area where there are clumps of snowdrops (single and double), aconites, and pale purple crocuses. After this long cold Winter, it's good to see the first signs of Spring.

Aconite

In spite of the cold, snowy weather the first bulbs are beginning to push through the soil. These aconites were growing at the back of the Temple car park in Lower Largo. There are snowdrops, aconites and daffodils beginning to show in our garden. The snow from Monday disappeared today, but has been replaced by heavy rain.

Early Spring Bulbs

Early Spring-flowering Bulbs

The photos for this collage were all taken in my garden within the last four weeks.

Flowers in Bloom - Mid-February

Bulbs -Early

Winter aconites

Snowdrops (Single and Double)

Scilla

Mini-cyclamen

Iris reticulata (Dwarf Iris)

Crocus

Daffodils (Flowers just beginning to open)

Other Flowers in Bloom

Hebes (3 different)

Wallflower - perrenial and biennial

Hellebores (2 different)

Omphalodes

French Lavender

Primulas - various

Campanula

Ceanothus

A Circular Walk from Lundin Links

The weather was better yesterday, after a terrible 24 hours of driving rain. We set off for a walk in the afternoon. From the centre of Lundin Links we headed down to the pier.

Looking down onto the bay, could see that on this exposed rock apart from the gulls there was a large flock of very tiny birds. I'm not very good at identifying small waders, but I suspect these were dunlin.

Carried on to Lower Largo Harbour. Gulls often stand on the tops of the mooring posts. This one is a black-headed gull. In winter they lose the black head. all that remains is a dark spot near the eye.

The beach was out, because of the high tide, so walked along Main Street in Lower Largo to the Temple carpark. At the back of the carpark there are some steps up to the old disused railway track, now part of the Fife Coastal path. There is a track uphill to the left which leads to the Serpentine Walk. This is a snake like path that leads to Upper Largo. This walkway and the surrounding trees are now in the care of the Woodland Trust.

Just at the beginning of the path there were some patches of snowdrops, the first that I have seen in bloom.

There is a good view of Largo Law from the path with the village of Upper Largo nestling at it's foot.

The long narrow Sepentine Walk with trees on either side.

We have a Breathing Places Nature of Britain calender produced by the BBC and the Open University, which suggests things to look out for each month. One of the things for January was Ear Fungus on elder trees. There are some dead elder trees on the Serpentine Walk and we found the ear fungus on a broken off branch.

At the end of the walk we crossed the Main Road and turned back towards Lundin Links.

Sheep may safely graze. Sheep in the field, in the shadow of the ruins of Largo House, seeminly unperturbed by the traffic rushing by on the main road.

At the War Memorial we turned right towards the entrance to Keils Den. This is a lovely wooded area which surrounds both sides of the Keil Burn. Again it is in the care of the Wodland Trust.

A patch of aconite in bloom at the side of the road.

Another fungus. Not sure of this ones identity though. Ash seed was another thing we were looking out for, and we saw this on the far bank.

From the entrance to the Den we walked above the steep sides of the Den till a path drops down to a bridge. We crossed the bridge walked back along the other side of the burn, to a public footpath along the edge of a field which leads back into Lundin Links

Aconite

The first appearance of aconite flowers just peeping out above ground. Snowdrops are beginning to push up through the soil, but not in flower yet.