Spring

Since my last skiing trip of the winter, the spring has arrived rapidly. Mostly above freezing temperatures with rain quickly got rid of the snow, though I personally would have been happier without the rain, since there is already enough water in the terrain. I originally planned to go on a backpacking overnighter with the kids this weekend, but when I had to spend Thursday and Friday in the bed with a high fever and some vomiting, this didn't happen. On Saturday I felt better, and spent a lot of time outdoors during the weekend strolling around in the neighbouring forest with and without the kids, in an attempt to get rid of the intense aching in the back after having been in the bed for two days. Hence a status report of the spring where I live.

It feels almost unbelievable that I was skiing on 30 cm of snow two weeks ago on mires, so I wanted to check see how the small mire 200 meters from my backyard looked. It was wet...

Generally, there is a lot of water in the terrain.

No overnighter, but twist bread is ok.

And pancakes also seem acceptable.

There is still some snow in the pine forest, and it will take some time before the spring is seen there in the form of new green plants. There are a number of evergreen plants there, though.

In other type of forests, and especially open places, the first spring flowers are already there.

Liverwort.

Coltsfoot

The lakes are still mostly covered with ice...

... but the birds are already returning to the nearby wetland.

Coot.

Whooper Swan.

Common Goldeneye.

The night temperatures still occasionally go below zero, but the ice quickly melts again.

This kind of winter-to-spring transition is optimal, at least from my point of view. Ski season continued into April and then a quick transition into real spring, not like last year when the ski season ended around March 20th and then nothing happened almost for a month.