Old Mill by the stream

I met Freddy Fisher, our local post man, in the woods today with his springer spaniels. He told me a lot about the land between Old Mill and Luckett; after the first world war the land was used to provide gardens and allotments for unemployed local men. This explains why there are so many unusual plants in this area. Freddy is a mine of information which should be taken down and recorded for posterity.

alkanet

this is the inaptly named green alkanet, one of my favourite blue flowers at this time of year

brimstones bluebells and campion

all of a sudden there are lots of brimstone butterflies in the woods, the top photo is on bluebells, not our lovely native variety but the big fleshy Spanish variety, and the bottom photo is on campion for contrast. They are very quick in flight and rarely seem to settle with wings spread.

ducks in a row

I am not sure what type of water fowl these were. There are mallards in the middle ground and sheep safely grazing. Poor lamb to be consumed so by one so consumed by life.

Tamar images

the same scene as last week but with the benefit of bright Spring sunlight.

flocking sight

I thought at first that this was a large gathering of buzzards, but it was probably gulls of some sort catching a thermal as the wind got up in the afternoon.