Signs of Spring 2 - daffodils and small parrots

Kew's tropical house

What better place to look for signs of emerging Spring than at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in southwest London. (Fortunately I happened to have a meeting there.)

These old gardens host glass houses ancient and modern and a cornucopia of plant life.

Including 'a host of golden'...

daffodils!

Spring at Kew Gardens

Flying overhead came a flock of introduced ring-neck parakeets; very noisy at first but then quite quickly sleepy in the setting sun.

(I spotted a sign on an gate saying 'please close to limit the damage caused by badgers' and a quick enquiry revealed that the extensive gardens, which are hemmed in on all sides by buildings, host two badger sets. The staff run badger walks in the season. And the badgers are known to have arrived in 1914!)

Sunset at Kew Bridge