Snowdrop Watch.

Out walking under leaden skies, the cold nipping at my fingers, I search the hedgerows and the woods eagerly for the first signs of Spring. 
We mark the change of season boldly, as if we can tether it, hold it here securely to give us hope for renewal and growth. But nature's Spring is far more subtle. Her change is quiet-hidden beneath the tangle of faded stems, softly peeking from beneath past layers of leaves, the hidden treasure is spotted, the first Snowdrops! These beautiful little flowers with their sense of wounded gentleness, are a simple gift looking truly magical against the stark backdrop of the sleeping woodland.

Here is the wonderful poem Snowdrop by Alice Oswald:

A pale and pining girl, head bowed, heart gnawed,

Who's figure nods and shivers in a shawl

Of fine white wool, has suddenly appeared

In the damp woods, as mild and mute as snowfall.

She may not last, she has no strength at all,

But stoops and shakes as if she'd stood all night 

On one bare foot, confiding with the moonlight.

One among several hundred clear-eyed ghosts

Who get up in the cold and blink and turn

Into these trembling emblems of night frosts...

-Alice Oswald.