Wonderful walk today. I'm noticing so many species flowering or budding. The hazelnuts right outside had catkins galore and several female flowers which are so lovely now that I know how to spot them. Interestingly, several trees have almost no catkins/flowers at all. Those are the trees that are in the deepest shade. Now I'm understanding why certain trees produce more nuts and others almost none at all. A gray squirrel was on a tiny branch in a big-leaf maple, munching away at a whole bunch of seeds he'd grabbed from the end of the branch. He was shoving them in just as fast as he could.

The wildflowers are coming! The milkmaids are everywhere in the understory, but the fetid adder's tongue have mostly already been pollinated and are done - I was surprised to see that. Up on "Trillium Hill" as I call it, the namesake flowers are literally everywhere. A huge redwood met its end this winter, and I wonder if the sudden burst of sunlight has prompted the little beauties to go wild. In the meadow I'm already seeing buttercups, and the wild plum trees are just white with blossoms. The neglected old apples and cherry tree haven't even leafed out or bloomed yet. Mugwort and coltsfoot are already coming up and the beginning of Solomon's seal is coming as well. The wild roses have their leaves coming in and the lone Acacia is started to leaf out too.

Mushrooms are still popping up here and there, mostly inky caps in the wood chips, some huge cup fungus in another leaf pile and a couple massive springtime amanitas.

The creek's level looks low to me but I haven't devised a way to measure that. Nonetheless there is a good-size steelhead roaming around the usual swimming hole that a fish always chooses and that always dries up in summer. Happily, the fence that was blocking the watershed further up was FINALLY cut so that fish could pass. Maybe a fish will go up further next time, now that they can. I'll keep watching the fish, as we usually do, and root him on to go up further or make his way to the river - they say March will bring more rain that could make it possible.

So, so, so happy we finally got Fish and Wildlife to cut the fence that was blocking the creek. Water levels are already coming down but they say March should bring more water. The few small steelhead we've seen in the pools should then have a chance to move down to the River or can head further up past the fence blockage and where the water runs year-round. Victory!

Spring is revving up and there are flowers coming up everywhere. Most of the spring plants are showing including Coltsfoot and Mugwort down by the water, and buttercups, hedge nettle and shepherd's needle up in the meadow. The old fruit trees are flowering and the wild plums are just white with blossoms. My two mystery trees remain mysteries although I know both are in the rose family and I expect I can check them periodically to see what fruit they produce.

I found more fungus than I expected after a fair spread without rain. The agaricus have finally popped up and the cup fungus and helvella are still holding strong in the meadow despite the warm sun. Lots of small species I couldn't identify were growing in clusters on rotting wood in both the oak woodlands, and creekside meadow.