Springtime. An Alchemy Occurs.

                                                   ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN

A mere week after a heavy dump of snow fell over Scotland the weather changed, getting 12 degrees warmer during the day, causing the snow to melt rapidly under a warmer sun and life to start anew. One of the beautiful gifts of living in a cold country is this fast change- sometimes within a few days of each other- as a week after the snowdrifts, at low levels, we had this...

Unfrozen ponds and green grass visible again in the parks. Victoria Park pond here.

Humans are not the only things confined to a small local area. Swans and other water birds, looking for food and warmer city temperatures, leave the colder countryside behind and arrive in greater numbers on the park ponds. As the ice increases nightly across the surface their world also gets smaller and smaller, just like ours did this past year. Only by swimming through the long hours of darkness for several weeks in ever tighter circles can an open area of water remain, crammed with an assortment of different birds, but just like elephants in Africa creating/widening or maintaining water holes by digging them out with their tusks, it's the power and greater weight/ size of the swans, that most years, keeps a small patch open and unfrozen for the rest to enjoy.

 Mallard Ducks in perfect alignment.

 Come the spring though, like us, they start to get restless, hoping to fly off with the better weather and leave mere puddles behind. A ballet dance on short legs captured across Swan Lake. A testing of wings. They sense... they know....

'She' arrives. The deepest blue on the ridge line heralds her approach. An alchemy occurs. The unique, often sharp edged perfume of Spring on the breeze.

Birds dance in flight.

From dead winter debris the phoenix rises again,  hopefully ever year, but as recent events prove, this should never be taken for granted. It is the first miracle and should be treated as such- always and forever.

A crocus sea in Victoria Park in early March.

The 'rights' of Spring.

A thrush approves.

No artist's palette looked more impressive than this.

A colour splurge.... without austerity.

"Hello young lovers." An outpouring of intense rejuvenation.

Soon new life will burst forth and the trees will unfold this seasons mint fresh green canopy in a dazzling array of different shapes and hues.

 Daffodils will replace crocus within a few short weeks.

 Sometimes all three overlap together.  Crocus...

Snowdrops...

 and daffodils...

and at night my pure skies always blaze with glory...

strange pink sunsets....

When proper alchemy occurs...

It  turns base winter landscapes into shining bars of gold and silver....

 for the wonder of us all.

International women's day? There is only one true contender for me. Mother Nature...of course... without which, none of us, male or female, would be here. There is a reason for that name, which many living in towns and cities, separated completely from the countryside that feeds them, tend to forget or ignore, most of the time...but we are all her subjects every single day...existence only possible from one meal to another.

and on the highest mountains of all, winter may linger longest...

So smile and rejoice.... With a worthy runner up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y03rs28H__E