Windflowers

I was out walking yesterday - essentially the same walk as reported here, but in less sunny, more blowy weather, and in different, more numerous company (a loose but long-standing fraternity of walkers with interests in historic buildings and landscapes - the nearest thing to a group to which I, as a chronic non-joiner, can be said to 'belong'). The snowdrops are now gone, but in their place, in ancient woodland sites (and, in smaller clumps, on occasional hedgebanks) are glorious dark-green, white-starred carpets of Wood Anenomes. This is their moment of glory, before the leaf canopy blocks out the light and the windflowers retreat underground until the next time. To me the Wood Anenomes seem, in their simple understated way, among the most beautiful of all English flowers - and every year more so.