paintings by nature no 3891:- marsh woundwort

I never cease to marvel at the beauty and complexity of common things. This photo shows the beautiful intricate markings of the flowers of marsh woundwort, to be found growing in ditches near you.

something new - gipsywort

It is always exciting to stumble across something completely new. This is gipsywort. It is supposed to be common although I have never noticed it before. Superficially it looks like white deadnettle. It is the source of a black dye that, in the past, itinerant fortune tellers were supposed to use to give themselves a more swarthy appearance that would lend credibility to their gipsy/ancient Egyptian origins.

red admiral of Venterdon

a beautiful day has brought out a lot of red admirals and painted ladies, and they are drawn like magnets to buddleia flowers.

a small visitor

a wood mouse, caught sunbathing, and surprisingly unworried about posing for a photograph.

fingerposts

these fingerposts are scattered through the parish. I am sure they exist elsewhere but they are very characteristic of this area. Beals Mill to the right, Bray shop and Stoke straight ahead; I can't make out the name at the bottom.

Returning to it later (22/8), I can see it says Calstock, which is surprising because it is by no means the closest village in that direction.

lesser stitchwort

the white flower is lesser stitchwort. It has very slender stems that are trailing through the more robust stems of knapweed. If you enlarge the photo you can see the characteristic cinnamon coloured pollen on the flower second from the top.