Wild Clary at MellsBush Vetch, near IfordMayfly by the River Avon, of the kind known to fly fishermen as the Drake Mackerel. This one has its serial number painted on its abdomen!Silk Tents of Ermine Moth Caterpillars, in a hedge near IfordErmine Moth caterpillars in their silk tent. Both the caterpillars and the adult are white with black spots, like the magnificent robes of “ermine” (Stoat pelts) worn by Lords (and Monarchs at their Coronations).A sea of Wild Garlic in coppice woods near IfordCrosswort, near Iford; a handsome plant in the Bedstraw familyYellow Rattle near Imber, on Chalk Grassland, playing its usual role of weakening the tall grasses — it’s parasitic — and so allowing the beautiful and varied flowers including Orchids space and light to grow.
Holly … Flowers … if that seems an oxymoron, you’re not alone! Holly is a flowering plant, despite its spiky evergreen leaves. Another curious thing is that it is dioecious: it has separate male and female plants. This plant is a male, and each flower has four anthers producing pollen.
Tree Pipit singing sweetly. Its perch has been well drilled by Woodpeckers.Wide views over heath, hill, and woodland as far as the eye can see: Puttenham Common from Hillbury Hill FortThe Tarn on Puttenham Common, a remarkably big body of water surrounded by beautiful Oak – Birch – Holly forestAn enormous coppice stool of Holly, a most surprising tree to find coppiced, beside the main forest track running north from the Tarn. It must be ancient to have grown to such a size. A fabulous big moss, I think AtrichumAnother gorgeous big moss, surely Polytrichum
How’s that for an amazing Rhododendron bush?Kew – Pollen Cones of Austrian PineKew – glorious blue flower spike … a whole meadow’s worth of themKew’s Daisy Lawn with Canada Geese
The English seem unemotional … except for their passion for nature
