Signs of Spring

We went out last weekend for a 'signs of spring' walk, which is where we try to find as many signs of spring as we can (not including the fact that it's warm and sunny enough to go for a walk in the first place).  We went to Etherow Country Park at Compstall, which is suitable for wheelchairs (that's me) and has the added advantage of an excellent cafe.  And did I mention the boats?  There is a model boat club that meets there as well as the sailing club.  If you're really lucky both the model kind and the sailing kind will be out.  The model speed boats were having races which was great fun to watch.

As for signs of spring, they were a bit hard to find.  There were some buds and flowers, but no baby birds yet.  We fed those that were there anyway, which is always fun; I guess the ducks and geese are used to seed being thrown at them by enthusiastic little ones (watch the video in the Google story to see what I mean!).  We found buds, and bees, and amazing tree bark textures, and new leaves, and red stems, and a few flowers, and lots of ducks and geese and coots.  And a squirrel and the mandarin ducks (which I stupidly forgot to photo).  It was a lovely afternoon, and now I'm looking forward to more as the weather warms up (I hope).

So here by the magic of Google (with a little editing) is our afternoon searching for spring.  And in case you need a taster of spring too, here's the mosiac:

Just so's you know, the 'wings' on Stephie's jumper are from when she was a pterodactyl last year.  Obviously.  What else?