29 Monday Jun 2020
Posted in insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
beetle, British beetles, Rutpela maculata, Spotted longhorn beetle, umbellifer flowers, umbellifers
This Spotted longhorn (Rutpela maculata) was happily minding its own business, feeding on the umbellifer flowers growing along the edge of a woodland ride, as is its wont, when …
Incoming!
And so the necessity of life as a beetle takes over, the need to reproduce, to continue the species. Lunch might have to wait.
21 Sunday Jun 2020
Posted in nature, wildflowers
Tags
Betonica officinalis, Betony, British wildflowers, Stachys officinalis, wildflowers, wildflowers in road verges
This was a pretty find in an unmown roadside verge earlier this week. It looks more pink than my wildflower guide and most online images show, but I’m fairly sure this is Betony, which now goes by the scientific name of Betonica officinalis, but was previously Stachys officinalis.
Its common names include Common hedgenettle, and Bishopwort or Bishop’s wort, and my Flora Britannica labels it ‘one of the great “all-heals” of medieval herbalists’. The various old herbals claim it was effective for everything from treating arthritis and gout, to preserving the liver and curing drunkenness. Roman physician Antonius Musa reckoned it counteracted sorcery, and Christians planted Betony in churchyards as a ghost-busting tool.
I’ve read that various subspecies are available that produce different flower colours so perhaps this is one of those and the plants have developed from seed dropped via bird droppings, though the verge contains a wealth of other wildflowers – Yarrow, as you can see in one of my photos; Oxeye daisies; Knapweed; Bird’s-foot trefoil; and even three Pyramidal orchids. Before the high-rise apartment blocks and office blocks were built, this riverside location must have contained a wealth of wonderful plants and, perhaps now that the verge is not being mowed, the plants are making a comeback.
19 Friday Jun 2020
Posted in nature, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Bulbous buttercup, buttercups, Creeping buttercup, identifying buttercups, Meadow buttercup
I’ve been trying to learn about buttercups, specifically how to identify the three species that are most common in my area and, three cheers, I think I’ve finally got it! Each species has several distinguishing characteristics – these are simply the features I find most helpful.
Meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris): This is probably the easiest to put a name to, partly because it’s the tallest and also because its leaves are very distinctive – they are quite finely cut, and remind me of geraniums. This is the buttercup I see most often, especially in local wildflower meadows.
Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens): I see Creeping buttercup frequently too, and find its leaves the best way to identify it – they are broader, with three lobes and with pale marks on each lobe.
Bulbous buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus): Bulbous is the buttercup I see least often. The distinguishing feature I find easiest to remember is the way the sepals underneath the flower bend back against the stem, rather than cupping the flower. I had to turn over a lot of flowers before I found this one!
14 Sunday Jun 2020
Posted in nature, wildflowers
Tags
Agrimony, British wildflowers, Creeping cinquefoil, Dyer’s greenweed, Evening-primrose, Prickly sow-thistle, Silverweed, Smooth sow-thistle, yellow flowers
It’s grey here in south Wales today, which is not a bad thing as we desperately need the accompanying rain, and it also makes me appreciate even more the days when vibrant, sunshiny, cheery yellow is the dominant colour of my day. Here’s some of the yellow that’s been brightening my walks in recent days.
Dyer’s greenweed (Genista tinctoria), found at several local sites, and the food plant for the larvae of a couple of rare moths, though I’ve yet to find any.
Evening-primrose (Oenothera agg). There are several different species, which can be difficult to differentiate, and they also hybridise with each other, hence the ‘agg’.
Silverweed (Potentilla anserina). The Plantlife website has some fascinating information about this pretty plant – did you know, for example, that Roman soldiers used to pad their shoes with Silverweed to ease their feet on long marches?
Prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper). Most thistles have flowers in shades of pink-lilac-purple but not this one. I’ve included two photos, one to show the structural beauty of the flower, one to show the prickly leaves.
Smooth sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus). Another sow-thistle, but without those pesky prickles, and with flowers a more lemon-yellow.
Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), a plant of hooking-bristle seed heads, as you may remember from my earlier post Hooked, September 2019.
Creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans), a plant that thrives on waste and bare ground.
07 Sunday Jun 2020
Posted in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
I walk past this magnificent display of Oxeye daisies quite often, and it always makes me smile.
It runs alongside a local footpath, behind a wire fence that borders a school playground, and transforms an ugly bank of earth, which prevents footpath walkers from seeing the children at play, into a stunning floral flourish.
You might be forgiven for thinking the flowers look a bit ‘empty’ – where are all the insects that love feasting on these wildflowers? Well, though sunny, this was quite a windy day, with huge clouds scudding rapidly across the sky, changing bright warmth to grey coolness in the blink of an eye. But, when I looked closely in the more sheltered spots, the insects were there, sometimes more than I expected on a single flower head, sharing the nutrient power of these glorious daisies.
31 Sunday May 2020
Posted in nature, wildflowers
Tags
Anacamptis pyramidalis, Bee orchid, British orchids, Grangemoor Park, native orchids, Ophrys apifera), Pyramidal orchid
You might be wondering what pyramids and bees have in common. Well, in this case, they’re both orchids: the Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) and the Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera), and I was very pleasantly surprised to see rather a lot of them, especially the Bees, during my most recent walk around Grangemoor Park.
With their classic triangular shape, Pyramidal orchids are easy to identify. They usually flower during June and July, and each flower spike can contain up to a hundred individual flowers. Interesting fact: the Pyramidal orchid is the county flower of the Isle of Wight.
Bee orchids are my favourite orchids. Their markings and furry texture may be intended to attract bumblebees (and the flowers also produce a female bee smell, apparently) but it’s their laughing ‘faces’ that enchant me and always make me smile. And the people of Bedfordshire made the perfect choice when they selected the Bee orchid as their county flower.
29 Friday May 2020
Posted in nature, plants, wildflowers
When I saw this field of Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata) nodding their flower heads in the gentle breeze, I had to make them my post for the day.
My Flora Britannica lists several common names for this plant, including Fighting cocks, Short bobs, Soldiers and sailors, and Black Jacks, which all come from the fact that the plant is apparently used for children’s games. This is not something I had heard of but it seems one variation of the game is similar to conkers, where kids try to knock off each other’s flower heads.
Though the gardeners amongst you may regard this as a pesky garden weed, I think it’s an attractive plant. Its flowers provide sustenance for insects like butterflies, moths and hoverflies and, if its seed heads are not chopped off, they provide food for seed-eating birds like Goldfinches. Interestingly, though, the Plantlife website says ‘ribwort plantain is surprisingly unpopular with slugs and snails [as] they find the leaves unpalatable.’
24 Sunday May 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
The occasional smatterings of rain we’ve had in the last few days have eased, ever so slightly, the drought conditions hereabouts, and the flush of new growth that was evident during this morning’s early walk through the fields at Cosmeston included my first Common spotted orchids of the year. Superb!
14 Thursday May 2020
Posted in insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
British insects, Buttercup, Grangemoor Park, Oedemera nobilis, Swollen-thighed beetle, Thick-legged beetle
You know summer’s just around the corner when the Swollen-thighed beetles (Oedemera nobilis) start to appear. The Ox-eye daisies and buttercups were full of them at Grangemoor Park on Tuesday.
12 Tuesday May 2020
Posted in insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, Common blue butterfly, wildflowers on road verges, wildflowers on roadsides
One of the benefits of some local councils not mowing all the road verges at the moment is that wildflowers that would normally be strimmed to death are now being allowed to grow and bloom.
Not only does this mean we get to enjoy their glorious rainbow of colours but the wildflowers’ pollen and nectar also provide a nutritious feast for all the newly emerging insects.
And it was on one such uncut verge that I spotted my first Common blue butterfly of the year today, this stunning, pristine, little male.
If only the councils would mow less all the time, then we’d be able to enjoy both the flowers and the insects all through spring and summer, and it would also go a little way to reversing the huge decline in insect life that’s happening all over the world.
earthstar 
You must be logged in to post a comment.