The dramatic blast and whoosh of Spring this month (despite jackets and heating still being needed the moment the sun goes behind a cloud) has been so universally felt and talked about that I do not feel a traipse round the garden with a camera would add very much to this blog or to the world at large.

And yet I feel it SO fiercely. The winter we have just gone through was so cold and dark, metaphorically for us as well as meteorologically, that I despaired of ever being returned to the light.

But the Green Man finally began to stir and some brave birds began to challenge the darkness with a tentative chorus at dawn. Now there is an ecstasy of song from every bush and yesterday we saw three martins flying, although they have not yet returned to our nests. The sunlight lays open the unimaginably youthful greens of the trees and it is this one sight that I have tried to capture – to stand for all the rest.

This Aspen is my favourite tree. It looks wonderful, it sounds wonderful and we planted it!