old sea salts

all along the roads you can see clumps of this pretty little white flower, scurvy grass. It is a salt loving plant and is usually found by the coast but it has spread along the verges in Cornwall where salt is spread on the roads during the winter. In the background is Linkinhorne Church, and Bodmin moor by Caradon radio mast. I am not in this picture.

vanity

along with this pretty peacock butterfly, getting about and refuelling on some dandelions

May be here

and growing in the meadows are the first cuckoo flowers, May is almost here

wood-sorrel

the woods by the river here are full of wood sorrel, superficially like wood anenomes but with clover like leaves, and smaller flowers. These flowers have many religious associations and are sometimes called alleluia. This specimen is growing on a dead moss covered tree trunk, a typical spot for it.

sticks and stones

you would think I said something rude. She seems to think my mouth is bigger than my brain

Harriet logging in

Harriet bit off more than she could chew. She is showing signs of developing a bite worse than her bark, hard though that is to imagine.

down by the lynher

good walk today, down by the river Lynher (said "liner"), near Kerney bridge, below Golberdon.

anonymous

for some time now anonymous has been leaving comments on my blog. This is her first appearance on it in person, I think we are related and she may be my half step species sister. And she done lamb without crisis! The boss was well pleased. 

stone breakers

and some opposite leaved golden saxifrage.

Greenscombe woods

the view from the top of the woods is very impressive, the bladderseed field is very brown and parched at the moment.

dog violets

These very pretty flowers are appearing everywhere now, with their distinctive little nectar horns.

dog days

Last night was seriously bad, I was shut out by mistake for hours, and then I had my first nightmare about being shampoo'd. This is a picture of me escaping, and there are some dog violets at bottom right. This is a very remote part of the parish, very close to the bladderseed field.

winkers

I went out and rolled in fox droppings today; everyone I know well thought the aroma was very nice and pungent (what do foxes eat?), but I was taken away, shampoo'd, hosed down and generally humiliated; I ask you what is wrong with these people? Now I smell disgusting. The boss tried to make it up to me by telling me that in the old days periwinkles were hung around the neck of those about to be executed and I should consider myself lucky that he hadn't thought to stop and pick some instead of just photographing them. Why periwinkle?

in for a soak

Ash buds just coming into flower (before the leaves appear). They say ash before oak you're in for a soak, oak before ash you're in for a splash.
Well, here's to a warm summer with rain at night.

watch this space

help help, I am definitely getting braver. As you can see Harriet is admiring me for swimming out into the middle of this raging torrent to rescue mum. This is the Tamar just above Latchley. Dead river snake beached in foreground.

marsh marigolds

today's little gem, a very vivid fleshy member of the buttercup family, used by farmers to protect their cattle from witches and fairies, and also called kingcup. These are big specimens. Leaves are heart shaped and grow from the base.

marsh marigolds

this morning I found a patch of beautiful marsh down by the Tamar; here I am smelling (of) marsh marigolds. Towards the top left is a patch of wood anenomes. Very pretty.

woods

oh what a tangled wood we see when first we practice to perceive (with apologies)... purple toothwort. If you enlarge this photo you will see little patches of purple on the stump in the foreground and in the bottom left corner.

more toothwort

this parasitic plant has no leaves. It is very striking this year against the leaf litter. And goes very undisturbed which is probably why it is here every year. It is not a native plant, and may have come into the Endsleigh area on one of the many foreign species planted out in the woods over the last 250 years.

Cornish daffodils

Endsleigh is the big house in the background, Harriet and Max providing contrast, the Tamar running quietly at the bottom of the meadow. Cornish daffodils (real wild ones) in the woods. No daffodils in Devon. Come and see them in Cotehele. at http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/national-trust/cotehele.htm

toothwort

today's little gem, purple toothwort, growing on a tree stump (possibly hazel or ash), down by the Tamar, a little way below Endsleigh House.

dogfish 2

No, may be it was frogs I was looking for. Personally, if I was a tadpole I would want a bit of breathing space, a pond to myself, a des res. Nine of us was bad enough in one very small pond.

dogfish

I could swear I saw a fish in here somewhere.

Cornish vinca

a patch of periwinkle, always in the same place every year come what may. This is probablly the lesser variety, but it could be intermediate or even greater, in any case it is very striking at horse height.

on the art of barking

Barking is an important part of my life. It must always be loud and purposeful. Bark whenever someone you know wants to gain entry to your house, otherwise remember it is rude to bark at strangers. Find someone to bark with, this is much more fun, especially if conducted as a polyphonal chant in separate and discordant keys. Bark meaningfully, that is imagine you are looking at a large snake and cannot understand why no one else can see it. Try barking at night, this always sounds much louder and will impress everyone so much they will get up to listen to you more closely. Make sure the barking noise is set at a frequency that everyone can hear, you will notice a pleasant look will cross their faces, and they will often join in by barking back, usually in the limited form of a shirrup noise repeated in a rising crescendo. Yipping is also fun but needs someone to yip with, for example get your best friend to lie across the middle step of a flight of stairs then yip to pretend you can't go up, and when friend has been forcibly removed and you are at the top of the stairs, yip again because you can't get down. Never do anything without barking. Barking is part of the inexpressible rightness of being (thank you, Kundera).

thanks to the boss for his helpful comments and criticism.
Spot

Veronicas

more of the ivy leaved speedwell, showing the more lilac coloured flower and the very pretty blue anthers.