First ladybird of the year

I spotted my first ladybird... sadly, I also spotted my first lily beetle..

 lurking amongst the dried stems of the garden geranium,

and lots of little scraps of colour, too

 double primula,












and picotee primula,

 pretty purple crocus,














dainty little dutch iris,




and the first of my scillas is also out, with promises from friends to come, too..



















and also some very strange fungi,  these black hard looking blobby things on an old field maple stump.

Edited to add, I think this is called 'King Alfreds cakes', or , more prosaically, Cramp Balls!







so, yes a good bit of today was spent in the garden, digging over one of my weed beds.. and now I am thinking what to put in to replace all those weeds I removed...