Winter in Britain often seems to drag on forever, with gloomy, cold days and grey skies. So the sight of the first spring flowers is always a welcome reminder that winter will soon be over. 

I took these photos in early February. We had had a light dusting of snow overnight and it was a cold day, but the sun came out and it wonderful to be able to spot these first snowdrops about to burst into flower. In a week or two they will be in full bloom.

Snowdrops are one of our first spring flowers to bloom, swiftly followed by crocuses, daffodils, bluebells, aconites etc. If you are lucky you can find snowdrops in the countryside, but they are also widely grown as garden flowers.

It is also possible to go and view large collections of snowdrops in country estates, such as Kingston Lacy in Dorset, which I wrote about in a previous article. 

Many stately homes and gardens in Britain have a section of their grounds planted with snowdrops. As most of these gardens do not open to the public for their normal season until April each year, they often have special 'Snowdrop Days' in February/March to allow visitors to come and enjoy their snowdrops. Here is one example - www.rodmarton-manor.co.uk/garden.html 

Snowdrops like a good, rich soil and light shade, so they do well in sites like this on the edge of woodland, with plenty of rotting leaves enriching the soil. 

After the snowdrops have finished flowering it is possible to divide up large clumps of snowdrops and plant them around the garden in smaller groups, thus allowing them room to spread into new large clumps. If you do this every couple of years you will have a wonderful carpet of snowdrops to welcome in the spring. 

Soon after I took these photos the heavens opened and we had a hailstorm. I don't think winter has quite finished with us yet!

1st March

I returned to the same patch of woodland and took some additional photos of the snowdrops, now they have come into full bloom.

Next to the snowdrops one solitary crocus was just about to burst into flower. Finally, spring really does seem to be on the way. 

The snowdrops only really open their flower heads when the sun is shining. Yesterday they were closed. Each variety of snowdrops has a different pattern on the flower head. Some look like little faces!