more missed opportunities

the bright yellow flower of cow-wheat, with its peculiar collar of hairs like a fur stole, and favoured food of the heath fritillary (none seen yet this year) and below the pretty flower of bastard balm, favourite food of bees.

on the road today

hedgerow painting by Mother Nature, and below the mysterious innards of the comfrey flower. (Linnaeus, the great cataloguer and botanist, was famous for his interest in things scatological, and the interiors of flowers are really very lascivious, but it is hard to find anything meaningful in comfrey's latin name, symphytum officinale ....unless it is a subtle reference to, well only doctors and physiotherapist will know).

.

some speckulations

a young mistle thrush learning to sing (above), and a speckled wood butterfly resting after mortal combat with another male (they are very territorial).

sylvan settings

little stream running past New Mill and along Broadgate lane. Not sure what the red flower is but it looks like a garden escapee.

and the relic daffodil

one solitary multi headed white daffodil, surviving from when the meadows were used to grow daffodils many years ago. Again I like the sense of the meadow crowding in on this lone specimen. Diversity is everything.

and some orchids

marsh orchid (top) just coming into flower, and heath spotted orchid below. Sorry Carletta, we were 10 days too early. I like these photos because they hint at the tangle of life in the meadows.