Today there were a few Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum) blooming on the forest floor at Green Timbers Park in SurreyBC. I thought the Lily of the Valley would be first, but these Trillium surprised me. Pleasantly.
Beautiful little flowers, grabbing as much sun as they can before the canopy fills in overhead.
As the days warm up, the flowers on tall Mahonia (Berberis spp.) shrubs are just starting to open up. They’ll progress into purple berries that are edible when ripe and touched by frost.
I noticed this little community on top of a stump in the forest. The dying leaves and the fungi on a rotting stump, along with moss and a young plant seemed to cover off a lot of the cycle of life in the forest.
Boy, just a few days ago, I posted about the first day of spring with a photo of indian plum flower buds on a branch. I was in the same park on Thursday, and the flowers had bloomed and were starting to fade.
Just 7 days and they’re done.
Never let anyone tell you that you have all the time in the world. (my pensive share for the day 😉
I’ve seen pussy willows in the spring before, but this is the first time I’ve seen pollen buds associated with them. In the  two photos below, you can see some that are yet to release and some where the pollen has already taken flight.
Sweet.
Ok, not the first full day, but spring did start here just before 10:00am. I’m excited, because for various reasons, this is the first spring I’ve been able to fully enjoy since 2011. I plan to make the most of it.
Once again I headed over to Bear Creek Park here in Surrey. It’s spring break this week for all the schools, so the park was packed with rug rats running everywhere, parents watching proudly.
I took a short walk around the garden area of the park and found what I think is an indian plum, or osoberry (Osmoronia sp.) heralding in the season. I expect those flowers will break out in a couple of days.
Between rain storms, I headed off to a different park yesterday, just a few blocks south of where I usually go at Green Timbers Park.
It’s called Bear Creek Park and it’s much more developed, with a fitness track, playing fields, gardens, sculptures and various other features. It’s also at an ever so  slightly lower elevation, so the buds are just little further along.
One thing I love about the new growth in spring is the colour of the leaves. They’re a vibrant green, and with some trees like cottonwood, you can even smell the newness. As the spring and summer pass, the leaves take on a deeper green and harden up for the heat of late summer and fall.
Everything has a cycle.
I was quite happy with the shot above from Nikon’s 28-300 lens. For a walkabout lens, it’s reasonably sharp and quite versatile. When I was using a DX camera, I loved the 18-200 lens that Nikon offered. The 28-300 offers about the same range on my full frame cameras.
Yesterday in the park, I noticed this jelly fungus sprouting on a fence. Â It was hard not to see the bright orange on the old fence, and I saw it on a couple of logs as well.
Apparently conditions were just right for a bit of sporulation.
I guess it’s not really ‘occasional life in the forest’. The fungus would be there all year. What I noticed was the fruiting body; the rest of it is feeding inside the wood.
Well, after a week or two of snow and rain storms, the skies finally cleared out today. So with the sun calling, I went for a walk, and look what I found. Don’t ya just love spring?
Occasionally I’m there when a Great Blue Heron has a catch.
donsca 