Pussy Willow.

  Pussy Willow.   Photo. John Elliott

 The two warm spring days which brought out the Brimstone and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies which had overwintered are now but a memory, and we are back to chilly wintery days. Plant life however is pressing on, with the delicate leaves of Cow Parsley and the triangular hastate (arrow head shaped) leaves of Lords and Ladies  prominent along the hedgerows. Hazel, with its long yellow catkins and Sallow, better known as Pussy Willow, with its silvery, furry catkins, both flower early in the year and before the leaves appear.  Both these are wind pollinated, with the pollen from male trees being carried on the breeze to flowers on the female trees.