Ilkeston - Just Around The Corner
w/e 23 February 2014
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
Some parts of the country have been flooded since
Christmas and others have suffered severe damage with high winds
and surging seas. Here in the East Midlands we have got off pretty
lightly and although we've had some gales and heavy rain, the
misery this has caused has been minimal compared to other areas.
We've had hardly any snow worth mentioning and none of the disruption
of previous years. There's obviously still time for the weather
to deteriorate before it gets better but even so, as early as
mid February, the signs of spring are fast becoming apparent.
Rose bushes pruned back in the autumn are showing some strong
healthy growth with a promise of some good blooms to come later.
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Not so welcome are the dandelions already beginning to flower.
A farmer once told us that once the weeds started to grow, the
soil was warm enough to start planting. It looks like we'll have
to do some weeding first though.
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One of the first heralds of spring, the snowdrop, can be seen
at various places in town and these are on the top of a stone
wall on Park Avenue.
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Just around the corner from the previous image, yellow crocuses
are beginning to push through the sodden ground on 'Illy 'Oleys
and other colours will not be far behind.
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A solitary clump of snowdrops are to be found in the churchyard
at St Mary's in the Market Place and stand out amid the green
of the grass near the Memorial Garden.
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They don't show up too well here but there are spindly purple
crocuses on the left of this picture with more white snowdrops
on the far right at the Red House on Wharncliffe Road.
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Crocuses are also beginning to appear in Victoria Park but it's
the clumps of snowdrops that are more obvious at the moment.
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The final three images here were all captured at the Stanton
Road Cemetery where just inside the entrance a couple of the
headstones are surrounded by snowdrops.
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Maybe not so much a sign of spring but a result of a damp winter
is the fungal growth on several of the tress in the cemetery.
This one watched over by the sentinel figure of the wooden sculpture
of the Ilson Giant, Samuel Taylor, also provides
shelter for some of the birds that frequent the area.
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Finally looking over the wall from Stanton Road into the cemetery,
the daffodil buds are shooting up. Some of the images above were
captured just around the corner from home but wherever you are
in Ilkeston, surely it's spring that is just around the corner.
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