Albert Einstein once said 'look deep into nature then you will be able to understand everything better'.

So, in these troubled times we all need cheering up and our lives enriched.

Perhaps the best way of achieving these aims is to listen and open our eyes to the myriad sights and sounds the natural world has to offer.

Like birdsong for example. I know birds don't sing for our benefit but we can enjoy their melodious offerings nevertheless. The rich flutey songs of our local blackbirds (pictured) ; the vibrant musicality of a song thrush; wistful offerings of our garden robins by day and night ; the thrilling song of a soaring skylark; chiffchaffs calling and chaffinches singing their rollicking songs, all guaranteed to make my heart sing too.

Visually I have enjoyed the beauty of our blossom trees, all of which seem to have put on a better then usual display this spring giving bees a kick-start to their season with ample nectar in their delicate pink and white flowers, while magnolia and forsythia grace gardens and roadside verges.

Glossy golden petals of lesser celandine carpet woodland margins and stream banks. Primroses too are in bloom.

The plant's generic name is derived from the Latin meaning 'first rose' alluding to its ability to flower early in spring.

In the middle ages a brew was concocted from primroses and used as a 'cure' for gout and rheumatism.

Wood anemones and cowslips too are out.

So, even if our movements are restricted we can still 'look deep into nature' by wandering briefly out doors albeit 'lonely as a cloud', or in our gardens or just by looking out of the window where there will be plenty to see and listen too thus brightening up our lives.