Wildflowers

It is also a great time of year for wildflowers, as you can see here in Sugley Dene.

Yes, the lurchers and I are having a long lazy walk today.

The greening of the understorey

It's a beautiful morning here in Denton Dene and we can see that all of the shorter trees in the wood are coming into leaf. This part of spring is their chance to grab at the sunlight while their loftier neighbours are still slumbering.

It's May tomorrow; hal-an-tol, jolly rumble-oh!

Hodgkin Park

Today, as a treat for both the dogs and the boys, we went to Hodgkin Park in Benwell. I have to admit it was as a treat for me too, as I misspent my childhood in Hodgy Park.
It is undergoing a major facelift; they have removed the shrubbery and left the trees. They have reclaimed the Victorian stream, though without the paddling pool. They have put in some really great play equipment and a basketball court, which was being used to play football when we were there.
The boys had great fun down by the stream, much as we did when we were their age, except it was all overgrown then and the only bridges were fallen trees.
The picture shows the reclaimed Victorian fountain. I was very pleased to see that they have set up a gravity fed system to work this.
The mallards in the picture got a bit of a scare when Amazon decided to jump in and join them. Thankfully the water was either too cold or too deep, so she climbed straight back out.