Are you ready for your close-up Mother Nature?

I had some fun today playing around with a clip-on macro lens for my smartphone. It's part of an inexpensive little set I bought a couple of years ago.

I've taken stills with it before (see here and here) but today I fancied trying some video. The results were pretty good.

It was particularly nice to be able to catch some female hazel flowers. These tiny, delicate red blooms are often completely missed by passers-by while the much larger pollen-laden male catkins get all the attention.

Did you know that you can eat hazel catkins? They are quite nutritious, especially when young and loaded with pollen. However, they are very bitter and, rather like acorns, need to a bit of help to become palatable. In the case of hazel, simply roast them. It drives off the bitterness and makes them taste like toasted oats. Great from sprinkling on granola or mixing into energy bars.

I also spotted some mature (and quite woody) blushing bracket fungus and quite a few snowdrops and crocuses. 

Spring is definitely coming ....although so is snow apparently.