Prime spring, Jakubowizna

Spring is the best season of the year; nature is fresh and green, exploding into life, and the warmth returns. Today, St Sophia's Day, is traditionally considered the end of the mid-May cold snap brought about by the Ice Saints (St Pancras, St Servatus and St Boniface - in Polish the 'cold gardeners' (zimni ogrodnicy). This year, temperatures exceeded 20C for four of the last five days, hitting 27C on Wednesday. Time to pop down to the działka and sample the joys of spring.

Below: setting off from W-wa Jeziorki this morning; I'm waiting for the southbound train to Chynów, approaching in the distance, while a train from Radom bound for Warsaw makes its way northward.

Below: landscape with orchard and railway, north of Chynów station

Below: one of the XII Canonical Views of Jakubowizna - the house on the corner of my street.

Below: another of the XII Canonical Views of Jakubowizna - the farm track coming off my street.

Below: a cherry tree buzzing with bees. I felt no discomfort in their presence; they were just getting on with their work, me - continuing on my walk. Click to enlarge.

Left: a lapwing (czajka), one of about nine or ten individuals I saw today flying around over the orchards to the east of the railway line between Chynów station and the DK50 at Nowe Grobice. 

Today is only the second time I've seen them around these parts; they used to be seen regularly in Jeziorki and Dawidy Bankowe, before work started on the S7 expressway extension. 

Very characteristic shape, call ('peewit') and flight characteristics.

Below: from my first ever visit to these parts back in 2014, I have come to associate hares with these orchards. This pair seemed elderly, but could still put on a burst of speed.

Below: market gardening, between Nowe Grobice and the DK50, much quieter now that the S2 tunnel under Ursynów has been opened and sanctions against Russia and Belarus start to hit trade in goods.

Below: the foreshortening effect of the 70-300mm zoom lens pulls together meadow and orchard in blossom, railway line and housing.

Below: quintessential Jakubowizna, the 'road' to Machcin II. I last walked this stretch six weeks ago when it was ankle deep in virgin snow.

Below: the farmhouse on the junction - if you are here, you're on the right road.

Below: my działka, looking its finest, full of forget-me-nots (which in Polish are niezapominajki - literally 'forget-me-nots'; they symbolise memory right across north-west Europe).

This time six years ago:
Classic car show, Nadarzyn

This time seven years ago:
Classic vehicles at London's VE-Day 70 celebrations

This time nine years ago:
Malodorous passengers on Warsaw's public transport

This time 11 years ago:
Inside Filtry - Warsaw's waterworks (Museum Night 2011)

This time 12 years ago:
Warsaw's Museum Night 2010

This time 13 years ago:
On Transcendence