And the more the plant diversity, the more animals and birds make it their home. It's a bird watching paradise there, methinks. This is what happens when you let Nature do it's business. This is a native forest that hasn't been disturbed in a long time because it belongs to Killarney National Park, it's protected. But even compared to other parts of the park, I still find this one special. It's surrounded by the lake, so it has shore, it has different woods of beech, willow, swamps and mixed woods, providing many different habitats in one place, hence it's diversity.
The forest seems quiet, silent, asleep. Oh, I love this transition between late Winter into early Spring. Despite the quietness and silence, below the surface seeds and bulbs are sprouting, pushing their way into the light, feeding on the composted leaves and nut shells that fell during the Autumn months and covered the forest floor. This is Nature's way. No Monsanto required. It regenerates itself.
The hazel trees are adorned with dangling catkins, that dance in the wind.
The lone crow creaks above my head.
The delicate wood anemones, primroses and celandines will soon embellish the forest floor again.
The sun is rising higher above the horizon each day. This is the beautiful silent dance of early Spring, the rising to Imbolc.
~Blessings~
