Sunny in South London.

 Working in central London all weekend and all next week. So a glimpse of the hills from a moving train will have to suffice for communing with nature. I sometimes walk a footpath on the brow of the farthest hill. Indeed I have observed this railway line from there and watched trains passing this very spot.

 

 It's a waiting game. There are intimations of spring but we're not there yet.

 On grey London days the Snowdrops in the garden give me hope.

 I look closely at the ground for small signs of spring. For example these little sprigs...

...will become these beautiful flowers. The exquisite Smyrnium perfoliatum.  

 Catkins are a familiar sight in late winter and spring. A catkin is a spike of flowers albeit hanging in most cases. Generally wind pollinated though by insects in some species (where the catkins tend to be shorter and fatter). Most appear before the leaves which as an evolutionary trait increases their chance of success by wind pollination.

 Catkins are single-sex flowers; typically (though not always) 'male' which disperse pollen to 'female' flowers or catkins. Plants with catkins can be monoecious (i.e. have both male and female flowers) or dioecious (i.e. have either male or female flowers).

 Hazel is a common catkin at this time of year (as seen above). Each one has up to two hundred male flowers which are wind pollinated. Being a monoecious species Hazel also has female flowers. I didn't think to take a close up but note what looks like a red bud on top of the twig that bears the Catkins, that is a female flower (resembling a tiny red tassel).

 Moreover Hazel avoids self-fertilisation because the female flower becomes fertile after the catkins on that tree have ripened and shed their pollen. Thereby the female flowers are more likely to cross-fertilise with pollen from another tree. The resulting fruit is the good old Hazelnut, up to four from each bud.  

 Reducing these Fig trees for the third year running. They were getting so tall that the upper branches were becoming unreachable even with a stepladder and pole saw. A standard piece of advice for hard pruning overgrown trees and shrubs is to do it over the course of two or three years rather than one drastic chop.

 I have reduced their height by about a third in total as well as thinning out some of the voluminosity. Figs grow very quickly but I think from next year I will be able to maintain them from ground level using the pole. The saw is interchangeable with a pair of loppers operated by pulling a cord which should be sufficient to trim new growth at the top. 

 I walked past that patch of Winter Aconites again today [see last entry]. This time they were illuminated by bright winter sunshine and the golden yellow flowers were unfurled as if to greet the light.