ragwort

and the equally invasive (see below) ragwort plus very drab butterfly, it may be a ringlet but I am not sure because it is very pale for south west types.

angelica

angelica and bee, the angelica plants seem huge this year, perhaps the incessant rain has suited them

willowherb

all of the willowherb family are out, this is the invasive rosebay.

enchanter

enchanter's nightshade is out, with its minute delicate white flowers. Latin name is ciraea lutetiana, for Circe the enchantress.

thank you

I cannot tell you how much I hate the scum who do this, and the people who pass the laws that encourage it by taxing those who dispose of waste legally.

hemp agrimony and honeysuckle

the rain has made for a luxuriant undergrowth this year. The red flower is hemp (for its supposed similarity to hemp proper) agrimony, a flower I always associate with the end of summer not the middle, and of course the yellow flower is fragrant wild native honeysuckle .

one flap in a butterfly's mind

this year's crop of black berries is beginning to form. The drab butterfly is a meadow brown, said to fly 'lazily' although can anyone really know the inside of a butterfly's mind? It might be trying very hard and in any case more than one flap of its wings could well cause mayhem (like the Lifton tornado which I saw but did not photograph, no camera!!).

excitement at Whiteford

as always tonight's concert at Whiteford ended with a beautiful series of bangs, and Google report that they exceeded their bandwidth, is this a reference to the number of fat people on the stage?

holidays by the seaside

One sunny day! The pond seems much bigger. Downderry beach on a beautiful day.

rock pippit

a rock pippit by Venterdon Pond, well quite close.

betony

the beautifully named betony is beginning to appear in fields and hedgerows, if it can push up through the constant rain.

slugs and all

At least something is enjoying the wet weather. The red and black fringe reminds me of the skirt of a hovercraft; perhaps that should be hoover all my plants craft. In fairness this slug and about ten others were all on this specimen of hogweed. Maybe it was a slug slugfest.

mad dogs

what you cannot see is the crisp about six inches above Harriet's snout. And to think this time last year we were winning prizes.

comma

It looks like a fritillary but it is a new bright comma, it will gradually look more and more dilapidated and tattered; it is feeding on some common valerian. It is a butterfly of woods and glades. It was not in the ultra secret site of Greenscoombe.

eyebright weeping for us

a closer view of eyebright. These minute flowers are hard to photograph on the spot with the wind blowing and dogs running by, but this is a good photo with a lot of detail down to the droplets of dew.

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.