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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: #FloralFriday

Happy #FloralFriday!

26 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, wildflowers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

#FloralFriday, bumblebee, bumblebee on flower, lilac wildflower

From me and the bee …

181026 bumble on wildflower

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Zigzag wildflowers

19 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#FloralFriday, autumn colour, British flora, British native flowers, British wildflower, Penarth, Penarth zigzag path, Zigzag path

Back in June, I wrote a blog post about the insects I’d found when out walking along one of my local trails, the zigzag path that runs down to the marina from upper Penarth. I was critical in that blog of the man-made wildflower patch I’d found, a rectangular area adjacent to the path, where perfectly good local wildflowers had been ploughed up and the area sown with some artificial wildflower mix.

181019 yellow flowers (1)
181019 yellow flowers (2)
181019 yellow flowers (3)
181019 yellow flowers (4)
181019 yellow flowers (6)
181019 yellow flowers (5)

I had some contact following that post with the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Parks and Open Spaces Officer, who was pleased to learn the insects were doing well on the site and said he was ‘surprised if they [the landscape team] didn’t try and use native wildflowers. Hopefully they will spread out and add to the seed-bank all over the site in time.’ I haven’t had the heart to tell him that Council operatives strimmed that wildflower patch a couple of months later, before the plants had even had time to flower, let along spread their seed. What an incredible waste of money that planting scheme was!

181019 zigzag wildflowers (1)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (2)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (9)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (8)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (3)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (7)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (15)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (13)

Luckily, the Council operatives haven’t yet strimmed or mown the rest of the vegetation growing alongside the path, and the steep banks have been awash with wonderful colour over the summer months. Even as recently as this Wednesday, when I decided to photograph all the different flower species I could find, there was still a lovely variety as you can see.

181019 zigzag wildflowers (4)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (5)
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181019 zigzag wildflowers (10)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (17)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (6)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (16)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (11)

 

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A Mallow

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#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.

180907 eyebright (1)

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#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.

180831 devil's-bit scabious (3)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (2)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (6)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (5)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (4)

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!

180831 devil's-bit scabious (7)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (10)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (9)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (11)
180831 devil's-bit scabious (8)

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On the umbel

17 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#FloralFriday, British insects, British wildflowers, insects on umbellifers, umbellifer

180817 umbellifers

Be it ever so umbel, there’s no place …
better to enjoy a snack of nectar and pollen.

180817 on the umbel (1)
180817 on the umbel (2)
180817 on the umbel (3)
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180817 on the umbel (5)
180817 on the umbel (6)
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180817 on the umbel (8)
180817 on the umbel (9)
180817 on the umbel (10)
180817 on the umbel (11)
180817 on the umbel (12)

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More crane’s-bills and a stork’s-bill

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#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.

180713 Cut-Leaved Cranesbill

Cut-Leaved Cranesbill (Geranium dissectum)

180713 Meadow Crane's-bill

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

180713 Pencilled crane's-bill

Pencilled crane’s-bill (Geranium versicolor)

180713 Common stork's bill

Common stork’s bill (Erodium cicutarium)

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Ravishing rhoddies

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, parks

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#FloralFriday, Bute Park, language of flowers, rhoddies, rhododendron

180518 rhododendrons (1)

Did you know that in the Victorian era, when flowers were used to convey not-so-hidden meanings, the rhododendron symbolised danger? I really can’t imagine why, except perhaps the danger of being stung by a bee if you put your face too close to the rhoddies’ extravagant blossoms. These beautiful blooms entranced me during a wander through Cardiff’s Bute Park on Monday.

180518 rhododendrons (2)
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180518 rhododendrons (7)
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180518 rhododendrons (10)

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This week in wildflowers

23 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

#FloralFriday, British flora, British wildflowers, Colt's-foot, Daisy, dandelion, gorse, Groundsel, Lesser Celandine, Red dead-nettle, Speedwell, Three-cornered garlic, wildflowers

What a week it’s been weather wise! We’ve gone from a generous dumping of snow and temperatures hovering around -5°C last Sunday through occasional rain, sunny periods, UV factors up and down, zephyr winds and mustang gales. Is it spring or isn’t it? Well, I’m seeing increasingly more wildflowers so I guess it must be. Here’s a selection from this week’s wanders.

180323 colt's-foot

Colt’s-foot (Tussilago farfara)

180323 daisy

Daisy (Bellis perennis)

180323 dandelion sp

a type of Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.)

180323 gorse

a type of Gorse (Ulex sp.)

180323 groundsel

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

180323 lesser celandine

Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)

180323 red dead nettle

Red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)

180323 speedwell

a species of Speedwell (probably Germander) (Veronica sp.)

180323 three-cornered leek

Three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum)

 

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We have blossom!

16 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, trees

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#FloralFriday, blossom, Cherry blossom, Cherry tree, spring, Spring has sprung, springtime

180316 blossom (3)

The ornamental cherry outside my living room window is a little behind last year in its blossoming, probably because of that really cold snap we had a couple of weeks back, but the blossom started to open this week. Spring!

180316 blossom (5)
180316 blossom (6)
180316 blossom (2)
180316 blossom (4)

180316 blossom (1)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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