You'll know by now I'm sure, that I'm bored of people telling each other (on soashul meedya these days) that "isn't it INCREDIBLE - LOOK! THE DAFFODILS ARE OUT ALREADY!!!!" in January or February despite, surely, surely, SURELY by now, KNOWING that there are many hybrid varieties of daffodils/crocuses etc deliberately BRED to flower before their traditional flowering time of late February. Indeed there are several varieties of hybridised daffodil which flower every year in December and January - and yet the same people announce their amazement each year at the sight of these flowers - which clearly demonstrate global warming (and not errr.... at all.... horticulturalists' skill and business acumen).

Look. I'm not saying global warming doesn't exist - it clearly does... and we (humans) are clearly facilitating its (terrifying) acceleration, despite what the *cough* famous climatologist Nigel Lawson (among others) says.

But... it (AGW) isn't demonstrated by hybridised (by a human hand) winter flowers.

Now.

That all said, it was again a lovely late winter's day today (we're a full month away from Spring springing). I went for a long walk in the warm (15c) sunshine and photographed a couple of flowers (Blackthorn blossom and marsh celandines - see below... complete with a tiny wee pollen beetle you'll see in the last photo of the marsh celandine).

It was wonderful to get a bit of colour in my eyes and to my face today - but I'm mindful that these temperatures are a bit weird in mid February.

Of course, this time last year we had endured the "beast from the east" earlier in the month - and as late as the middle of March 2018, after our frogs had spawned en masse, we had a VERY cold "snap" - which froze our pond and killed a lot of the spawn.

These days, the old adage "ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out", might be a little bit pessimistic - but I'll not count my Spring chickens (so to speak) until my birthday... in mid April.

I hear the weather will be nice this weekend too.... we (me and my eldest boy) are off to watch my beloved Bristol rugby club play Harlequins at Twickenham (Stoop) - so that spot of nice weather is well-timed (it's much nicer sitting in a warm, dry stadium than a frrrreeezing, wet one!).

Whatever you're up to this weekend, have a good one, eh?

TBR.