Colours of the Month - March

March colours - or a few of my favourites and which seemed to convey the fresh sunshiny month that was March.

The fragile blue and brown of Blackbird eggshell; fuzzy grey and yellow of Pussy Willow; the uplifting yellow and white of Magnolia Blossom contrasting with a black inner husk; fresh and zingy greens of Vibernum leaves and Euphorbia bracts, set against the deep bud red of the Alder...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the Season - Blackbird eggshell blue

Blackbird eggshell blue may vary from bird to bird and egg to egg, I don't know about that but I'm sure about the colour of this particular shell that I found while walking with friends on Torrington Common. Though it has equal percentages of Cyan and Yellow, an extra 2% of Black tipped it back slightly (I reckoned) from green towards blue - so that's what I named it.

I'm afraid that little bird didn't make it - listening to Gotye on a springy Spring day...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Sparrow feather black

Last week I found a small circle of feathers in the garden, virtually nothing else left. On close inspection I decided that they could only be the remains of a Sparrow, we have a lot of them living in our garden, they are really noisy and I love them! A few years ago we were sitting in the garden on a summer evening and a Sparrowhawk snatched a Sparrow straight out of the sky just above us. Startling to see, and pretty brutal too.

The measurements of the (tiny) feathers...

large  - 6 cm
medium - 4 cm
small - 2.5 cm

According to Pete (who knows about these things), it almost certainly was a Sparrowhawk capture not a cat (not seasonal and not that colourful, but I felt bound to record it).

..from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season Pussy Willow grey

A focus on Pussy willow (Salix Caprea) which are in flower right now showing off their beautiful furry grey catkins. These, after being in the house for a short time became covered in pollen, outside it may be a week or two before they look like this, expressing this understated but very stylish colour combination of yellow and grey...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season Horse Chestnut bud red

This image might look a bit on the stark side, but it's exactly how the Horse Chestnut tree looks at the moment. It won't be long before the tree bursts back into leaf and candles of flowers again. 

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.