Phenology - April

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain. 

T.S. Eliot - The Waste Land

Lilac coming into flower today, 25th April

April in England is the month when everything changes.
Suddenly all the soft ground vegetation and the grasses start to sprout, and the grey hawthorn hedges are green again, almost overnight:

Trees start to come cautiously into leaf - starting with elder...

And alder ...

And birch...

And the crumpled leaves of horse chestnut:

Wild cherry is in blossom:

Along with the acid-green flowers of Norway maple:

As the daffodils die off slowly, their place on the roadsides is taken by swathes of yellow dandelions, racing to do their thing before the Council ride-on mowers get them:

While in secret corners you can find cowslips:

And blue forget-me-nots:
 

There are spring lambs in the fields (though not round where I live), and gosling families on the river:

And itty bitty baby calves, cute as puppies:

The Romans gave this month the Latin name Aprilis, from the verb aperire, "to open," an allusion to the trees and flowers beginning to "open up". Everything is coming back to life.

And I love it :-)