purple and blue

at this time of the year there is a distinct change in the colour of wild plants from white and blue to purple and yellow. Self heal, tufted vetch and betony feature in these photos, all in and around the woods and meadows at Greenscoombe.

basking shark

I don't know why but the gaping mouth of a foxglove reminds me of a basking shark. The interior of these flowers is fascinating. There are very fine white hairs standing up on the floor of the plant; what are their purpose?

blue damselfly

a damsel fly of some sort, resting with its wings folded over its back unlike dragon flies which tend to rest with wings spread out. At last we have been able to go for a long walk.

ready to go

this year's brood of martins is almost ready to go. Their parents have been finding it difficult to hunt in the rain and the wind, but are very busy now making up for the loss of food, hence the Oliver Twist impressions.

nemorosa incognito

At last the sun has returned. This afternoon like butterflies we went out and warmed our metaphorical wings. There were hundreds of marbled white and meadow brown butterflies in the meadows today. Underfoot the meadows are full of summer flora, including the minute but pretty eyebright. There are at least 19 overlapping species of eyebright and apparently (according to Marjory Blamey and Richard Fitter) experts demand at least 6 specimens before identifying them. The non expert can only make intelligent guesses .... this is clearly a major challenge.

reflections

If you are wondering why there haven't been any pictures for a few days it is because it hasn't stopped raining. We can't even get out of the Terranosaur without getting soaked. As a result there has been nothing to photograph, except a dessicated little bat found by Jane Parry Davies in the glass of water she keeps by her bed. It is not clear to any of us how the bat got into the water, but it certainly doesn't look like it drowned. It may be a wandering pipistrelle from the belfry across the street, or it fell in from a beam. It's not even an old bat. They have the most amazing little hind feet, with five sharp little toes. Since when have we had a monsoon in June? It reminds me of the summers we used to have in Plymouth in the 1950's (until 1959 when drought struck and we all had to share a bath (3 boys one after the other; of such experiences are our formative days made). I don't recall any drowned bats though.