I am not sure how well this post is going to work. Visibility was poor today. It is day two of our Wild Boar hunt and we can’t just stay indoors. If you want to be a Big Game Hunter then you have to be brave.
On the way I want to go and take a photograph of the Elm Trees that we looked at yesterday but we can’t remember where we left them.
Eventually we do find them. I knew that they were in the corner of the field, I just wasn’t sure where the corner was.
Now to find the woods and the camera.
We found a hedge and followed that.
In the end we found the wood and I did get lost in the wood but then we found the camera.
I was in two minds about leaving the camera out there for another night. I thought we could just go up there and have a look.
What we found was thirty seven videos on the card. Some of the bait had been taken but not all of it. I had baited with raisins and bread. Raisins are invisible and smelly and I had hidden the bread under leaf litter, I could see that some bread had been exposed but not eaten so I didn’t expect to find Boar videos. (We can’t view them until we get home) I suspected Squirrels but decided to leave the camera out for one more night.
We got thirty five videos of Foxes, poor quality and not worth looking at and then this…
I can see what it isn’t. It isn’t a Fox or a Boar. I thought maybe an Alsation Dog or a Big Cat.
It could be anything really but it’s not. It is a Fallow Deer in it’s grey winter coat. Can you tell that it’s grey?
Well I am just going to say that the weather was against us today. The camera is still out there and maybe we will have a clearer night tonight.
Now cast the fog from your mind.
Lamium purpureum, The Red Dead-nettle
Known as Red Dead-nettle in the UK, the flowers range from pink to purple. Other names include Purple Dead-nettle and Purple Archangel and are perhaps a little more descriptive.
The Dead-nettles are so called because although they look a bit like Stinging Nettles they have no sting.
The flower is best described as a corollla, this is the name that we give a flower when it’s petals are fused together to form a tube.
The opening of the flower has a top “hood” petal and two lower “lip” petals.
Under the hood there are four stamens, two long and two short and a style with a two lobed stigma (not shown)
Leaves are heart shaped with small, regular toothed edges and hairy. Towards the top of the plant they can appear quite purple.
In the UK the flowering season can start as early as February and last until November. In fact this year I took my first pictures of the flowers on the second of February. This makes them very important to wildlife.
Another name for this Dead-nettle is the Bumblebee Flower they are rich in nectar and pollen and much loved by insects.
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Lamium
Species: Lamium purpureum
This is another great post. Dead-nettles are beautiful, we got to see Bambi, and Foggy Doggy found her ball. Maybe still boars…………
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Thanks Sarasin 🙂 I had cameras in this wood last January and I saw Deer on nearly every visit but I never got them on camera. Maybe I have found something they like to eat. I know that there are Boar around here, people have been seeing them for months. We might still get Boar.
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I hope so, but whatever you do capture will still be neat to see!
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I loved your post. The video was awesome and the nettle was beautiful. I even got a good laugh out of the title because it reminded me of a T-shirt I had when I was much younger. On the front of the T-shirt was a drawing of a deer slung over the hood of a car, and on the back of the T-shirt it read, “I shot Bambi’s mother”. Of course, that’s only funny when you’re young.
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Thank you David 🙂 Fizz and I enjoy making these posts. I am glad you enjoyed reading it.
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Colin, Is it possible that you could add one item, like a ring or a match that would give people who will never see these fantastic flowers, some idea of the size?
And we will all continue to wait for the boar and the beast.
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Thank you John 🙂 Yes that is a very good idea. The pictures that I am using for these flower posts were all taken last year but as soon as they start to bloom again I will sort that out.
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Oh dead nettle, where is your sting? Beautiful plant!
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Thank you very much Becky 🙂
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Wow, I can see how folks can get lost in a fog, truly thick as pea soup! I love the photo of the hedge and the trees beyond, and of course, the foggy doggy! 🙂
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Thanks Eliza 🙂 I seem to have a talent for getting lost in woods, especially at night or in fog. I think it is when I can’t see a horizon just the things directly in front of me and I start going in circles. Never mind it is nice to wander 🙂
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I have never sean anything in the wild like a boar, so I am really hoping that you catch one! We have tons of deer here in Massachusetts, but we are at least two months away from the earliest flowers.
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Thanks Karen 🙂 We have Boar here but they are a bit thin on the ground and very secretive. We will catch one one day.
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Wonderful fog and bright eyes gleaming! Loved it all.
Elouise
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Thank you Elouise 🙂
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This reminded me of Norstein’s animation “Hedgehog in the Fog”, only without any hedgehogs 😉
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Thank you RR 🙂 I think that I can do Hedgehog. In October a neighbour asked me to watch his chicken coop for a Fox and it turned out his problem was more thorny than that.
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They do like a bit of fowl every now & then. I found one eating a blackbird, which was making a terrible noise. I was surprised it could catch it!
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For a second there I thought it was Hound of the Baskervilles with those glowing eyes in the fog 🙂 Great entertainment as always and nice nettles too!
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Thank you Stephanie 🙂 I thought so too. I have been on at those Baskervilles to keep the bloomin’ thing on a lead but do they listen? 🙂
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And there’s me thinking a Corolla is a boring Japanese car. Foggy here too, I quite enjoyed the fresh feeling walking home in the dark.
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Thank you Stephen 🙂 I must admit that I do like walking in the fog, especially in woodland.
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Wonderful, as always and that flower is amazing. Beautiful. I can’t believe flowers start growing in February. We can’t even plant un the 2nd week in May, maybe later. By Sept or early Oct., it’ over 😦 Fizz looks good in Mist.
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Thank you Gigi 🙂 Spring starts early here if you know where to look. Only a few weeks to go 🙂
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I photographed a Red Deadnettle close up for the first time last spring and was amazed at what I saw. My eyesight isn’t so good so the photos were an eye-opener. Your pictures are so much better than mine and show this little flower in all its beauty. I enjoyed the foggy films.
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Thanks Clare 🙂 I can’t see the things that my cameras see This digital age is wonderful.
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Oh isn’t it!
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sure does look like you shot Bambi to me…
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Thank you Maureen 🙂 I shot at her again last night but missed. Without the fog she saw the lights come on and jumped away. I only had her for a second.
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I agree. I’m sure too that it was Bambi. Happy New Year!
Marianne
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Thank you Marianne 🙂
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That one flower looked like a heart. Did you see it?
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Thank you Sandi 🙂 The third picture perhaps? Looking into the mouth of the flower, they are quite heart shaped.
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They’re beautiful. Happy Trails!
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HI Collin- -Dennis here from My Selfish Gene (I’ll see if you accept html when I hit Post). Just want to let you know that I have started my weekly feature of recommending a site of some sort and am recommending your blog tomorrow. Always enjoy it. I posted one of your nettle pics too. Hope you get some traffic and exposure.
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Many thanks Dennis 🙂 That sounds like a really good idea and I am thrilled to be a part of it. Most of all I am delighted that you are enjoying our ramblings and I do like your Chinese Crested Dog 🙂
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Great photos of the dead nettle. I have the same problem with the bigger beasts, they come out at night and disappear quickly. The wild boar can make a lot of noise though!
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