A Mallow

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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#FloralFriday, British wildflowers, Mallow, Malva species, Penarth Rail Trail

This beauty is definitely a Mallow (Malva sp.) but it seems paler than the Common mallow (Malva sylvestris), whose flowers are usually a much deeper pinkish-lilac with even darker stripes.

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I found it growing on Penarth’s rail trail, a railway line to Barry that fell foul of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s and has since been converted, in part, to a much-used walking and cycle path. The trail is edged on both sides by houses so this plant could very easily have flitted over a back fence or been dropped as seeds by birds. Whichever, its flowers are a very pretty addition to the foliage that lines the trail.

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Eyebrights

07 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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#FloralFriday, British wildflowers, Euphrasia, Eyebright

I’m not even going to try to put a name to this little flower except to say it’s an Eyebright, one of around 20 very similar (and 60-plus hybrid) species of Euphrasia. They’re pretty and very dainty little plants, though easily overlooked as they’re don’t grow very tall and so are often obscured by surrounding grasses and overwhelmed by other wildflowers.

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According to Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica: ‘Their name and old medicinal use are a classic example of the Doctrine of Signatures. The flowers, like tiny violets in shape, are mottled with purple and yellow blotches and stripes, not unlike the colours of a bruised eye, and compresses and tinctures made from them were prescribed for all manner of eye disorders.’

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On the scabious

31 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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#FloralFriday, bees, British insects, British wildflowers, bumblebees, Devil's-bit scabious, flies, hoverflies, insects on scabious, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Succisa pratensis

180831 devil's-bit scabious (1)

Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) has a beautiful flower that paints the wildflower meadows at Lavernock Nature Reserve in shades of purple lusciousness and provides some very welcome late summer nectar and pollen to a host of insects, particularly bees, flies and butterflies.

And that name? Well, the story goes that the devil was not pleased that the plant’s medicinal properties were healing the skin conditions of people suffering from bubonic plague and scabies so, in a fit of rage, he tried to kill off the plant by biting off the ends of the plant’s roots. Ever the party pooper!

Bumble- or humble-bee?

24 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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bumblebee, bumblebee on flowers, Hemp agrimony, humblebee, knapweed, scabious

180824 bumblebee (1)

Bumble: verb; move or act in an awkward or confused manner (Oxford Dictionary).
Personally, I think it’s a bit sad that the beautiful bumblebee is associated with confusion and awkwardness of movement, though I admit they can seem rather stupid when they fly in the open windows of my apartment and then bump repeatedly against the glass trying to get out again. Most other insects seem able to work out where the open window is.

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When it comes to finding nourishment though, they seem perfectly able to home directly in on the next delicious flower. And I’ve recently discovered that the bumblebee wasn’t always so named – it was originally the humblebee, not because it was considered modest or lowly but rather because of the humming sound it makes as it flies along.

Patterns in Nature, 6

19 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, wildflowers

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circles, circles in nature, nature's patterns, patterns in nature

The circle is ‘the first, simplest and most perfect form’
~ Proclus Lycaeus, philosopher of ancient Greece

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What do ladybirds eat?

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, ladybird, nature, plants, wildflowers

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7-spot ladybirds, aphids, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, harlequin ladybird, ladybirds, Wild parsnip

I googled ‘What do ladybirds eat?’ today because I was trying to work out why there are so many ladybirds – about a 50 / 50 split between 7-spots and Harlequins – on the Wild parsnip plants at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. It turns out ladybirds are particularly keen on aphids and, as you can see in some of my photos, there are rather a lot of aphids on these plants. Good news for the ladybirds!

The flower of the moment is …

03 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterflies, Common fleabane, fleabane, insects on fleabane, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Pulicaria dysenterica

The flower of the moment is Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) or, at least it is at Lavernock Nature Reserve.

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I’ve read that Fleabane usually grows in ditches and damp meadows so, despite the recent drought conditions, I guess there must be water somewhere below the wildflower meadows at Lavernock, as they are currently awash with these bright golden flowers. And, at a time when most other wildflowers have dried up and died off, the Fleabane is providing a much-needed source of pollen and nectar for butterflies and other assorted mini-beasties.

One smart critter

14 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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British insects, Oedemera nobilis, Swollen-thighed beetle, wildflowers

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The Swollen-thighed beetle (Oedemera nobilis) is very easy going when it comes to what nectar or pollen it eats. Judging by the number of different flowers I’ve seen it on, my conclusion is that it will slurp and snack almost anywhere, and this would seem to be a very good tactic for its future survival because the more specific the dietary requirements of an insect, the greater the chance it will suffer from changes to its environment and food plants. Being a generalist makes the Swollen-thighed beetle one smart critter!

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More crane’s-bills and a stork’s-bill

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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#FloralFriday, British flora, Common Stork's-bill, Crane's-bill, Cut-Leaved Cranesbill, geranium, Meadow crane's-bill, Pencilled crane’s-bill, Stork's-bill, wildflowers

It’s Floral Friday so I thought we’d take a look at a few more of the beautiful Crane’s-bill family and one of their cousins, a Stork’s-bill. I think you’ll agree that they’re all rather lovely.

Cut-Leaved Cranesbill (Geranium dissectum)

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

Pencilled crane’s-bill (Geranium versicolor)

Common stork’s bill (Erodium cicutarium)

Wild word: fasciated

11 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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#WildWords, fasciated, fasciated thistle, fasciation, thistle, wild words

Fasciated: Adjective; (Botany) Showing abnormal fusion of parts or organs, resulting in a flattened ribbon-like structure (Oxford Dictionary).

The thistle in my photo is an example; instead of developing in the circular shape that is usual for this plant, the flower has, for some unknown reason, become distorted into a flattened and elongated, almost oblong shape.

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