15 Sunday Oct 2023
Posted in insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, Common knapweed, purple flower, Small white, Small white butterfly
I had something different planned for today but ‘the best laid plans’ and all that. So, here is the first scene that greeted when I arrived at the local country park this chilly autumn morning, a lovely little Small white butterfly sipping from a pretty purple Common knapweed flower.
08 Sunday Oct 2023
Posted in plants, wildflowers
When I spotted these plants during a walk to a new place last week, I thought perhaps they were Sea asters (Tripolium pannonicum) and, indeed, they might be, but I’ve since heard how frequently other species of Aster self-seed on waste ground, which has cast doubt on my identification. These were growing in rough ground near a very busy road but quite close to the banks of a tidal creek. I’m going to have to ‘phone a friend’ but, in the meantime, if you’re familiar with Sea aster, please do venture an opinion in the comments.
01 Sunday Oct 2023
Posted in wildflowers
After dazzling you with 39 different wildflowers last Sunday, today I have just one offering, but I think it is equally dazzling. There’s just something about the blue of Sea holly that I simply adore.
24 Sunday Sep 2023
Posted in autumn, flowers, wildflowers
39. That’s the number of wildflowers I photographed as I wandered around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday. I was also on the look out for American birds (if you’re not local or a birder, you may not know that there’s been an unprecedented number of American birds found in western parts of Britain after the remnants of Hurricane Lee swept through last week), but the sheer numbers and varieties and colours of these wildflowers were very welcome compensation.
These beauties are in the order I found them as I walked: Oxeye daisy, Common ragwort, Common knapweed (with unusual contrasting petal colours), Eyebright, Bird’s-foot trefoil, Red clover, Black medick, Agrimony, Wild parsnip, Devil’s-bit scabious, Selfheal, Wild carrot.
Goat’s-beard, Yellow-wort, Meadow buttercup, Bramble, Creeping thistle, Large bindweed, Great willowherb, Common mouse-ear, Hogweed, White clover, Meadow vetchling, Daisy
Carline thistle, Scarlet pimpernel, Common centaury, Musk mallow, Flax, Rough sow-thistle, Blue fleabane, Creeping cinquefoil, Mouse-ear-hawkweed, Yarrow, Hemp-agrimony, Common fleabane, Tufted vetch, Spear thistle, Red bartsia.
17 Sunday Sep 2023
Posted in insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, butterflies on scabious, butterfly, Devil's-bit scabious, Painted Lady, Red Admiral
Monday’s blog featured the typical late summer/early autumn sight of a Meadow brown feasting on Devil’s-bit scabious. It’s one of the few plants that flower in abundance at this time of year at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park and, as you can see below, the east paddock is a sea of purple.
On Wednesday I noticed that the previous week’s heat had brought a small influx of Painted ladies, and counted four during my walk along one edge of the paddock. I’m sure there were, in fact, many more.
And, during Friday’s wander, the migrating Red admirals were pausing in the field to fuel their journey with slurps of scabious nectar. It’s such a valuable plant for the insects at this time of year.
11 Monday Sep 2023
Posted in autumn, insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, butterfly on scabious, Devil's-bit scabious, Meadow Brown
Nothing says late summer/early autumn to me more than a Meadow brown butterfly on Devil’s-bit scabious. This is a typical sight now at my local country park.
10 Sunday Sep 2023
Posted in flowers, plants, wildflowers
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the challenge for this evening’s #WildflowerHour on social media is #seedheads.
This is a topic I’ve posted about on here many times previously because I admire and enjoy photographing the sculptural aspects and diversity of floral seed heads.
Some seeds, those with silken, feathery or fluffy attachments, have obviously been designed to be caught and distributed by the wind; others, with tiny hooks or burrs, to be caught on the fur or fabric of passers-by and transported with them to new destinations.
This week I’ve pared back my photos, turning to black and white and trying to simplify the backgrounds in order to emphasise the shapes and designs of these remarkable seed heads.
09 Saturday Sep 2023
Posted in birds, plants, wildflowers
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, house sparrow, seed heads, sparrow eating seeds, wildflower seed heads
I was about to take some photos of the seed heads of this plant for tomorrow’s Wildflower Hour on social media (theme: #seedheads), when a gang of House sparrows flew in and started to eat the seeds from those seed heads, so they became the subjects of my photos instead.
06 Wednesday Sep 2023
Posted in insects, wildflowers
Despite being in a field full of blooming wildflowers this single buttercup flower was obviously the most delicious as all the little flying insects wanted a part of it.
03 Sunday Sep 2023
Posted in plants, wildflowers
This new wildflower comes courtesy of a local birding pal who also likes to botanise. This is Black horehound (Ballota nigra), which my Flora Britannica says is also known as Stinking Roger. It doesn’t explain where the name Roger comes from but I can understand the ‘stinking’ – I rubbed the leaves and was left with a nasty pong on my fingers.
Interestingly, when I googled ‘Stinking Roger’, I found that name applied to several different plants all around the world. Roger obviously has a reputation! Also, an entry in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary gave three other vernacular names: Black archangel, Fetid horehound, and Stinking horehound.
Despite its smell, Black horehound is a pretty enough perennial, a frequenter of path edges and waste ground, with lovely pinkish flowers arranged in whorls around the stem.
earthstar 
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