I got home last night in the semi-light (hoorah!), which allowed me time for a little wander around my Woodland Garden (it's a grand title for a little shady area under the Sycamores).
It was so encouraging to see the Wild Daffodil leaves poking through and the Cow Parsley already looking dense and luxuirient.
But it is this little beauty that really brightens the woodland floor:
It is Mezereon, which sounds as foreign a plant as you can imagine, but it is probably a British native (it is hard to be sure with some plants) that grows in a few chalky woodlands around the UK.
It is in the Daphne family (some garden centres stock it by its Latin name Daphne mezereum), and as you can see it is a rather open shrub bearing blushing pink flowers right now in late winter.
My shrub has been in the ground for about 8 or 9 years, and is still only thigh high, so this is a good plant for a small garden, and there are some widely available cultivars whose flower colour is even more intense.
Of course I planted it very much with wildlife in mind, wondering what would visit it, and I have to be honest - so far not too much. But it does bear berries, and there is one bird that is well known for nibbling the seeds out from the flesh - Greenfinches.
Well, I await that pleasure, but for now I'll just enjoy the promise it brings of a woodland about to burst into life.
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
As ever, thanks for the tips, Peter.
You'll be interested to know that Mezereon is self-fertile, and don't need pollinators.