Today was beautiful and so Fizz and I went on a flower hunt.
I had promised to take her to see the Bluebells and there is an old Sweet Chestnut coppice not far from here that should do the trick. So that is where we are heading. On the way we are going to look for flowers.
We don’t just want any old flower, we want new ones that we don’t recognise. We want to learn something. So off we go.
This is the track up to the Badger sett. I left a camera out there last night and I want to pick it up on the way.
The first wild flower that catches my eye is Herb Bennet. I know this one and I have photographed it before but these are nice fresh flowers and I can’t resist taking a few shots.
Next it is pick up the camera and it is disappointment again. This main sett has so many entrances and I am just trying to find one that is being used. There seems to be a lot more badger activity in the fields behind the farm but if there are going to be cubs they would be here.
This time we got nothing. A Tramp in the Woods, that’s all.
There is more disappointment to follow as we make our way along the track.
One of the things that I particularly wanted to do today was photograph the female of the species St. Mark’s Fly. It is called that because it usually appears around St. Mark’s day, April 25th and the adult flies only live for about a week so the window of opportunity is quite narrow. They have gone and I have missed that one, never mind, I’ll get it next year.
The white flowers that line the track are Cow Parsley, flies seem to love it.
Okay this is more like it. This is a flower that I don’t recognise. Just what we were looking for.
I think that I know it is a Crane’s-bill because the flower looks exactly like one that I do know well, Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill but this one doesn’t have dove’s feet.
Now I have to take lots of fairly boring pictures of the leaves, the stem, the form of the plant. I have to get as much information as I can and I will find out what it is when I get home.
That is cool and now I know that this is Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill, Geranium dissectum. I am happy now, I have learned something.
The next flower that we see falls into the same category as the first herb. We know what it is but it looks too good to pass it by.
Herb Robert.
We are nearly at the woods now but first we have one more flower.
It is a Comfrey but I am not sure which one.
Now I just have to spend a little bit of time looking at these flowers
Beautiful. Gardeners love Comfrey and grow it as a green manure. I think this one is Russian Comfrey.
Now I am seeing weird geometric patterns everywhere.
Okay that is just Ribwort Plantain.
Come on Fizz, let’s go see the Bluebells.
The wood is beautiful and peaceful. Birds are singing and it is still and warm. It would be very easy to fall asleep here.
Stupid dog, look at the pretty flowers.
Leaving the wood (I will do a separate post on Bluebells) the next flower that we see is Wild Arum.
Not really a flower but you know that. (it’s a fly trap)
We headed back through the fields towards the farm.
The Dandelions are all spent now, any yellow that you see in the field is Buttercups.
Here we found our final flower of the day.
Red Clover.
And that was the end of our flower hunt.
Tomorrow is another day.
A Tramp in the Woods 