First ones of the season seen recently either beside Middlegate or New Quarry –
periwinkle, buttercup, cowslip (see pic.), speedwell, white deadnettle and single flowering head of cock’s-foot grass. All early, particularly the grass, except for speedwell and white deadnettle, one of the few plants for which flower-heads can be found throughout the year in favourable locations.
(Ongoing thoughts on empirical challenges to traditional ideas to follow.)