Allium Ursinum and the Fair Maids of February

Our little patch of woodland, formerly known as Owl Wood,  lacks owls but is otherwise teeming with wildlife and nature.    The place has always had its fair share of pigeons, pheasants, jackdaws, magpies, wrens, robins and owls.   

Unfortunately, these days the owls have abandoned the place, though I do hear them out and about at night,       However,  woodpeckers seem to visit very regularly which is a new development.    I have yet to spot them, which says more about my eyesight than the camouflage skills of the woodpecker.


Squirrels visit and do their best to demolish bird feeders and delight in teasing the dog.   There are a couple of hedgehogs quietly slumbering through the worst of the winter weather, warm and cosy in their hibernation nests.   We even have the occasional deer and once in while the fox drops by, which is less worrying now that we no longer have any hens in the woods.

Right now there are numerous 'Fair Maids of February' - snowdrops - so named because of their habit of flowering in February, though they were a little earlier this year. 
Little signs of activity everywhere, new growth, the promise of Spring to come, sometime.

These strange-looking things are the very first shoots of the Allium ursinum -  bear leek, wild garlic!   

Of course they don't look anything like this right now, they are tiny little shoots, but they do have a very intense garlic smell.


In a few weeks I should be busy in the kitchen turning out some seasonal treats.

Baked goodies, wild garlic bread, flans, scones, pesto and anything else I can come up with.   A seasonal treat to be enjoyed.

But first we have to get through winter.