Plum tree's have now begun to bloom down here  

I'm a little concerned though with the forecast for cold easterly type weather in the coming 10 days, this may herald proper frosts which will be damaging to the plum's. The last few years have been really rubbish for collecting plums as most tree's have failed to set fruit... i blame late frosts.

There are some on here that have been saying that since last November! Expect the usual downgrade/change by the weekend.

Even if an easterly did materialize it won`t be that cold,a tad chilly prehapes.

Some spring shot's to share..

Surprisingly round here very few daffodils in flower and grass is not growing at all. Although it has not been that cold a winter there have been a lot of frosts and the weekend warm spell only managed 11 degrees c and is back to 9 today with a cold damp wind

@picturesareme, nice spring shots, great bokeh too!

Had a local walk about.  Lovely fresh air and sunshine. No scarf or hat on...

I had a window of about one and a half hours today even though it was going to be clear skies all day according to meto. But it didn't work out that way it was cloudy all morning however I did get some spring photos this afternoon. I'm trying out a new lens and the photos may be a bit dark but I will learn how to use this eventually.

Nice Blossom.

Camellia.

Chamaerops Humilis in Flower.

Saw plenty of butterflies today and quite a few bees although they were not queen bees like others have seen.

First queen wasp in the conservatory today. Told it to go away again and it took the hint hotly followed by a rolled up newspaper.

Thank you 

The dull overcast skies and breeze made it very challenging to get those pictures, especially the cherry/plum blossom ones.

Cherry Blooms look great close up..

Any tree buds opening in April is quite early over most of Northern England except the most sheltered spots.
Horse Chestnut is just showing signs of life here but if they open too early they risk being shredded by wind or blackened by frost.
They struggle to survive at all unless in good shelter - I think we're about the limit of their range.

There's quite a difference in the bud burst time between South and North.  I've been to the Scottish Highlands in May and the trees there look like ours did in April, so there's about a month difference between about 350 miles.

I love to see Horse Chestnut leaves opening in Spring.  I think it's a spectacular tree when it blossoms and it seems to come out quite quickly once it starts so you see its progress by the day.  Another one I like is the Whitebeam, Sorbus Aria Lutescens.  When the leaf buds are almost out they're lime green and look like candles sitting on the branches.  I pruned my mum's fruit trees a couple of weeks ago when there was hardly a sign of buds but over the past couple of days the leaf buds have begun to open and have green showing now.

This year the frogs in my pond spawned a week later than they did last year.  My daughter lives a few streets away and hasn't got any spawn in her pond yet, although the frogs have been croaking tonight so I'm betting she'll have some before the weekend.

I didn't really think of frosts in Northern England because I didn't think you could have bad one's at this time of year enough to kill off anything budding too early. Clever tree when you think about it and I wonder if there's a correlation with future weather for that area depending on whether the buds open early or late? May is quite late for any tree considering that it will be September a few months later. Its like the tree is spending most of its time leafless.

I grew up in Yorkshire so I am familiar with Northern England but when I was a kid I wasn't really paying attention to trees coming into leaf etc. I'm surprised by Four saying its usually May as I can't remember it being that late but I am starting to get old and living in Yorkshire was a long time ago. Most of what remember nowdays is from here in the SW.

Good point. 350 miles doesn't seem much to folks nowdays because of modern travel but it does make a big difference climate wise. Torquay is closer to Santander in Northern Spain than it is to Inverness in Northern Scotland but I still didn't figure until this conversation that it would be so late up North. But I lived up north so its like I've forgotten the weather from my entire childhood. It must be quite depressing to have to wait until May. I don't mean any disrespect by that to this sites northern members it just seems like a wait too long.

Spotted a single swallow today - which is very early - however we often seem to get the odd one passing through which is not necessarily a resident.
Usually they arrive to stay about St George's day.
If two are seen together twittering around they are likely locals returning.
Also a few bumble bees and dopey small tortoiseshells on the wing.

A couple of weeks ago, frogs spawned in my mum's pond, then yesterday I noticed another mating pair.  However, today I've realised they were toads as there's a perfect double string of black beaded spawn looped around a clump of water plant. 

Spring time in Cyprus. April 10.

At Cadman's Pool in the New Forest yesterday

She actually had 14 with her - someone else's brood as well?- but they wouldn't all fit in!

One came to pose for the camera

Others had a species identity problem!

And finally a classic Forest pony shot

Great photos David, thanks for posting!