Wharfedale Naturalists Society, wharfedale-nats.org.uk AS January winds slowly to its end, the weather seems to be doing its winter worst – snow, ice, rain and endless mud! It’s difficult to believe in Spring. This was especially clear to me as just before Christmas John and I made our way over the Moor to Skipton for our vaccination. A pale wintry sun illuminated bleak, frost-ravaged fields and the trees paraded their black skeletons across the landscape. Then, this morning, sunshine! I ventured into the garden and discovered my Witch Hazel covered in the untidy, auburn tuffets of female flowers lit to a foxy blaze by the low sun. These showy flowers are the equivalent of the carmine tufts we used to look out for as children on our hedgerow hazels, appearing late and awaiting pollination from the lambs’ tails of the male catkins. I also spotted the shiny disks of celandine leaves and fat buds on the camellias. In fact, the year is at a tipping point. We can still enjo