This is the time of year when the snow and ice gradually vanish. In the cycle of thaw during the day and freeze at night, there are fantastic crystal patterns to be found if you have the time to crouch down and look.

i have not had enough time.

There were the fluffiest of snowflakes falling this morning, perhaps one of the last snowfalls of the winter.

I wished I could get a photo of a snowflake as it was falling, but it proved almost impossible.

At times the snowfall was quite heavy. Three crows flew by overhead.

I spent some time crouching and kneeling, trying to capture individual snowflakes. Some landed on blades of grass.

If they landed on a moist leaf, I barely had time to focus my camera before they vanished.

Some snowflakes landed on other snowflakes, and where hard to see. And on an oak branch, I found a few snowflakes that had landed on a spider’s thread.

Just a few days ago there was still snow on some of the trees; now the ice and snow are melting.