"Daffodils, that come before the swallow dares,
  And take the winds of March with beauty"
​                                                          Shakespeare

  Daffodils (narcissus) in their yellow petticoats and green gowns made their welcome appearance for Spring Equinox. Still a biting cold north easterly wind, but how lovely the lengthening days of light. . . daffodils shouldn't be put with other cut flowers or they will poison them. When they die down, even though untidy, they shouldn't be tied back or their leaves cut; leave them for six weeks and they will repay you double in bulbs for next year. Groups of bulbs may be lifted and divided in early summer to improve flowering.  Narcissus, loved for many centuries, were used in ancient Egyptian funeral wreathes.  Immortalised, among others by William Wordsworth as a  'host of golden daffodils' growing wild in the Lake District.

     Crocuses, the coming again of Spring or so the song of the Crocus Fairies would have us believe - 'yellow, mauve and purple, in brave array; white like a cup of light, hundreds of them are smiling up . . . ' 

  A brief walk by the Wyre Estuary passing a flock of ducks,huddled together at low tide, tall swaying sedge sings and bends in the wind. A family visit. A sign in the picnic area ( far too cold for a picnic.) Notice the sign  -  a family of thirteen used to live here in a two bedroom cottage! There are still damson trees here - picture for the autumn. Spring lambs happily munching the grass, and prickly gorse bushes.

Fast forward a couple of days - or backwards - Spring is shutting down, winter is not giving up without a fight. Blue skies turn grey, the bitter east winds are blowing snow in. March is roaring in 'like a lion'. Much of the UK is on red and amber alert with snow warnings, only a morning's fluttering here; there is snow in fairyland in my garden.