April hedgerows

Bumble bee

Gorse

Violet

Blackthorn blossom

Ladybird

Herb Robert

Primrose

It's three years now since I started this blog. One of my earliest posts was a photograph of creamy Blackthorn blossoms on the ditch. Today just a short walk up the lane reveals again the quiet beauty of our wildflowers. While the coconutty gorse dominates and is blooming all over the hill, along the ditches there are small splashes of colour. Getting in closer (some of these are really tiny) there are ladybirds competing for space along the grassy highway, and bees busily buzzing.......

Take a deep breath, spring is here, summer is just around the next corner, and creamy blossoms are still as good as it gets........

There are some more Irish Wildflower images here

Blackthorn, a dark tree with a creamy blossom

In it's winter guise it is dark and foreboding and has a deep and bitter fruit but look at it's spring buds and flowers! A delicate, sweet and creamy blossom, the first wild flowers now to be seen on every hedge and ditch.

It's very possible that no one ever notices the magic of the Blackthorn's productions, winter or summer. That doesn't stop the year in, year out high drama of it. The Blackthorn doesn't look for any feedback!

It just keeps on doing what it does, and goes on being what it is, a Blackthorn tree.

Last chance to make sloe gin or vodka for winter cocktails

As the sloes are almost finished already I thought I would share my Sloe Gin recipe. Sloes are the fruit of the Blackthorn Tree and are prolific around here just now. Sloe Gin or Vodka makes a warming winter liquer, dark and sweet. You can drink it neat or you can mix it with other drinks and juices to create amazing cocktails.

The recipe is very simple, Gin/Vodka, sugar and sloes. So get a large bottle of gin and drink half of it. Fill back with sloes and 150 grams of sugar. Some people like to add almonds or even a cinnamon stick at this point. Turn the bottle every day for a week and every week until it is ready, the longer the better. It's a nice treat for the dark evenings up ahead.