Life at No.22, New Zealand, England

A Blooming Lovely Spring – UK & NZ

Suzanne

The fog is lifting,

 flowers are blooming,

 birds are twittering,

the sun is shining,

 windows are opening,

with people wondering. 

Has Springtime finally arrived?

 BLUEBELLS

20170502_150105_edited (1)_edited
Devon – this was our usual dog walk area.

The beauty of a field or clumps of flowers. It is a feast for sore eyes when, for years, we had the opportunity to wander around the countryside of the UK.

Though, do watch out for impostors.

I did not realise there are two types of bluebells in the UK.  One is the indigenous English one with its drooping flowers along one side of the stem; they are sweetly scented and have white pollen.  The other variety is from Spain, who would have guessed that!!  Those ones have flowers all around the stem, don’t have a fragrance and have blue pollen.

Fact: Over half of the world’s bluebells are grown in the UK.  Enjoy them from April to early May.  Though with changeable weather, this is only a guide.

NZ Fact: We do have both the English and Spanish varieties.  It’s not overly popular here, even though many English bulbs do well in our soils. 

DAFFODILS

Nothing says spring like the sight of daffodils.

What could be more cheerful than the breathtaking sight of seeing daffodils alongside the road or country lane, swaying to and fro?  They even now come in various other colours; my favourite mine is still the beautiful bright yellow.

Fact:  There are native and hybrid varieties of Daffodils, like the Bluebells.  It is best viewed in early spring before the heatwave arrives!

Daffodil field in nZ
Taniwha Daffodils, Hawkes Bay, N.Z.
Kowhai flower_edited
The Kowhai – NZ Native flowering in spring

NZ Fact:  Daffodils are very popular in NZ.  Daffodil Day (Friday, 30th August 2019) is a significant funding source for the Cancer Society.  As well as New Zealand’s first movie, musical Daffodils, a true story about bittersweet romance against a Kiwi backdrop.  Best viewed during the winter months [June – August].

A COUNTRYSIDE WALK

A place to enjoy spring more would have to be the wide-open spaces of the countryside. Paths are made of green grass and, luckily for us, not mud. On our last wandering through a paddock, only the older was to be seen, not a lamb in sight.

Mt Taranaki in Spring
Spring in Taranaki – Mt Taranaki

Fact:  There are over 280,00 hectares of land managed by the National Trust to wander around.  There is no shortage of countryside walks to enjoy in the UK.

NZFact: As of July 2009, 8,763,300 hectares of New Zealand’s land were legally protected for the primary purpose of conserving biodiversity. 

BIRD WATCHING

Tui and Kowhai tree
Tui in a Kowhai tree

Though this is not something that we do regularly, it is one that we do appreciate during an early morning walk or as the sun goes down on a pleasant Spring day.

The chorus of birds twittering early in the morning must undoubtedly be the best natural morning alarm invented.  Then, there are the birds of prey flying majestically and effortlessly over the freshly ploughed field.

Fact:  In the UK, March to May is the time to hear the fantastic “Dawn Chorus” from these birds: blackbirds, robins, wrens, chaffinches, pheasants, warblers, thrushes and finches.

NZ Fact: With many Kowhai trees out in flower at the moment, the Tuis are having a feast.  

5.  PRIMROSES AND BEES

Last but not least is the abundance of Primroses all over the countryside.  Some would say they are more like prolific weeds; maybe they are lovely and dainty weeds.

You see, without an assortment of abundant flowers all over the countryside, the bees would have nowhere to gather pollen to pollinate those beautiful blossoms for us to enjoy upcoming fruits in summer.

Fact:  Shakespeare introduced the phrase “the primrose path” or “the primrose way” to signify a lazy and pleasant route through life. 

The National Trust – Our best spring gardens

Department of Conservation – Parks and Recreation

Heritage New Zealand

LINKS to other bloggers – Spring flowers

Su – Zimmerbitch

Jude – HeyJude

Deb – Debs World

N.B.  I have updated this older post and included some New Zealand spring photographs and facts.

Disappointingly, I have found out many of my old post photographs from the Globalhousesitterx2 blog have not been transferred to the relevant post.  Gradually, I will go through them, one at a time.

Published by Suzanne

Travel and Life Musings from New Zealand and Beyond. . . . . . .

90 thoughts on “A Blooming Lovely Spring – UK & NZ”

  3. Very nice – the primerose looks gorgeous! I don’t think we have that here – I’ll have to research. Happy Spring to you – the rain returned for us today but at least the temperatures are warm. It’s derby day here in KY and normally we would be putting our salad gardens in – but we are a few weeks late getting to the yard work this year because of the lonnnnnnng winter.

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    1. Yes, the primroses are gorgeous. I think it has been a long winter for many people in the Northern Hemisphere.

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    2. Spring is my favourite season, how lovely to read this post and see the comparisons between our two countries. Your Kowhai tree is beautiful! I really should visit NZ during springtime.

      And thanks for the link 😊

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  6. Your pictures are beautiful. On the other hand, there’s the Canadian spring. Here it is early May. Yesterday massive winds with rain coming at us horizontally tearing at the magnolia flowers that had just emerged earlier in the day. Daffodils were bent to the ground. Dead leaves whipped into a vortex. Will winter ever end?

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    1. Thanks Fran, nature must take most of the credit 🙂 It was rather hot as we went walking along the Thames today though I have a feeling that this glorious weather is short lived. Anyway, I am sure warmer weather is heading your way. Hopefully sooner than later!

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  7. Nice that you are enjoying the spring weather – here in the parts of Europe we are, it has yet to settle in. Freezing last month in France, and not a lot warmer again in Spain. Roll on summer (or will I regret saying that?)

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    1. Would you believe it was 25 deg on our return back to home base and we feel rather tired after doing a long walk. Though thankfully it was shady for a part of it. Love that the UK has so many lovely walks under the umbrella of trees. I think you will regret saying that 🙂

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    1. Thanks, though today it was the Thames river we strolled down and the temperature is now in the mid twenties!!! Luckily for us some of the walk was under trees and really enjoyable.

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    1. Yes, I think they will be. Though many more stunning ones will be blooming for you to enjoy. Especially when visiting historical homes. By the weather today, the UK could be heading for a heatwave during summer 🙂

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  10. Ah. You had me a ‘Bluebells’ (see the fabulous opening sequence of Howard’s End for a wonderful example). But then you mentioned ‘Birdwatching’! Which, um, is one of the most exciting things I get up to these days. You know, instead of clubbing.

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  11. I wish I could step into a portal and be transported to the UK right now! How beautiful are the flowers, the countryside, and those sheep? The tulips, daffodils, and scilla are just starting to make an appearance here in Minnesota, U.S.A. Everything is very late (almost a month) due to our cold spring with late snowstorms. Thanks so much for sharing the natural spring beauty of the U.K., Suzanne!

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    1. Thanks very much. Nature has to take most of the credit for the photos. Pleased that you enjoyed my blog.

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    1. More like summer today Ritu, even got a bit of a sweat happening on our walk today 🙂

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  15. Neither the bluebells or the daffodils have been very good this year. The bluebells in my garden have only just started to open and the daffodils lasted only a few days. It probably didn’t help that they were covered with snow twice.

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    1. Yep, covered in snow would have dampened their spirits, just a bit!! I have come across quite a few bluebells in the last month. The daffodils not so much. Too cold then too warm for the old daffodils! We are off to a couple of large gardens soon. Will be interesting to see what is flowering!

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    1. Thanks Claire, yes we are enjoying the weather, and did so walking around RHS Wisley which had Arts and Crafts stalls. Which was a lovely . Very busy around this part of the woods, getting closer to London is no doubt the reason!

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  18. Spring is such a wonderful season, especially when it finally warms up and the winds (here anyway) diminish. Your photos of the flowers are magnificent, Suz. Thanks for throwing some U.K. summer my way. Here in Santa Fe, the birds have been building nests and sing happily, the cacti are flowering, and the days are getting warmer.

    Those grassy fields with sheep must remind you of your home country. 🙂

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    1. You are welcome Liesbet 🙂 Oh yes, the sheep and the fields of green grass, a hint of NZ. Though the sheep are a different breed.

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    2. You are welcome Liesbet 🙂 Oh yes, the sheep and the fields of green grass, are a hint of NZ 🙂 . Though the sheep are a different breed than we mainly use back in the homeland.

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        1. Ouch, and there will be a few more sun kissed people feeling the pain after this weekend. Funnily enough we find the sun over this side of the world less harsh than NZ or Australia.

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    1. Thanks Sam, we can’t believe how sunny it is up here in North Yorkshire. Last year it was the complete opposite. I am sitting outside enjoying catching up with “stuff” as well as the sunshine and no wind 🙂 Hope you are feeling much better now?

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    1. Thanks Janis, the blue bird is a Tui, sings a magical tune, lovely to listen too. The weather isn’t playing nicely at the moment, very windy and coolish with snow in southern parts. Summer soon 🙂

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  33. This is a lovely post Suz and your photos and information are superb. I love the collection of facts, there’s just so much knowledge! Thanks also for linking my post up with it, you are very kind to include me as well.

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