Reasons to be cheerful

I have been doing some extensive clearing of brush, dead branches and undergrowth in the woodland strip that boundaries two sides of our holding. The woodland varies in width from about ten feet to thirty feet at its widest and is a couple of hundred yards long. I do some tidying up in parts of it each year but the last week or so I have concentrated on a rather neglected stretch which I wanted to bring back under control and make it more accessible.

Anyway, on the way to the area I am working on this morning I spotted the first winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) of the year. Hyemalis is Latin for winter flowering. It was a solitary clump on the woodland floor. The small bright yellow flowers, among the brown crispy fallen leaves, shone out. They are typically woodland plants and take advantage of the light available before the canopy of leaves form on the trees. 

It was nice to see such an intense yellow gem in mid-January. Today's micro-delight.

Winter aconites. The flowers have not opened
yet. The yellow stands out particularly well
against the deep green ruff of leaves.