Buds, birds and flowers in the woods

It's warming up a lot now (in the daytime at least), and this weekend we took advantage of the sunshine for a walk in the woods. There's loads of Spring flowers out now, like the Wood Anemone (all the following flower pics are from Sweep Wood):

the Lesser Celandine:

and of course the Primrose:

There's Daffodils too - I thought these were probably garden escapees, at the top of Sweep Wood, but there's one further down the hill too, which is odd:

What's particularly noticeable is how the strip in Sweep Wood that we coppiced this winter and last is really green as it gets so much light:

Compare this to a patch near our camp in Chestnut Coppice, which won't get much sunlight for a few weeks yet:

Not to be outdone by the flowers, some of the trees are in bloom too, like this Plum at the top of Sweep Wood:

Our own fruit trees are budding, like this pear:

and the wild Apple:

Some are a bit further behind, like this Sycamore:

While others already have leaves, like Elder:

and Hawthorn:

Meanwhile the willow has its catkins on:

With all these flowers coming out, it's not surprising to see bees around:

and also butterflies, like this Comma:

There was even a Ladybird sunning itself:

The birds are very busy right now, singing to mark out their territory. Here's a Robin, a Blackbird, a Blue Tit and a Pigeon:

Oops, I guess someone ate the Pigeon!

Last but not least, we found a huge bone. I assume someone's dog dropped it, unless we have cows in the wood...

Mike