Oxeyes and friends

03 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, wildflowers

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British insects, British wildflowers, insects as pollinators, insects on Oxeye daisies, Oxeye daisy, Pollinating insects

These photos were taken over 3 days, as I meandered around the local fields and meadows. The ‘friends’ are a wide variety of creatures that all pollinate Oxeye daisies just by flitting/hopping/flying from one to the other, including ladybirds and their larvae; an as-yet-unidentified mirid bug; at least two spider species, including crab spiders using their colour to camouflage their presence; a wide variety of flies; crickets young and old; solitary bees; good numbers of Swollen-thighed beetles, male and female; and a very confiding Meadow grasshopper – they usually hop off when I approach. And these are just the insect species I managed to photograph – I know there are more I missed.

New awakenings

23 Sunday May 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Common comfrey, Field scabious, Flax, knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Red campion, Red valerian, Spring colour, Yarrow

Despite our un-spring-like weather, more and more wildflowers are coming in to bloom. Here are some I’ve noticed during the past fortnight’s ramblings in my local countryside: Comfrey, Field scabious, Flax, Knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Red campion and Red valerian, and Yarrow. Though my video shows a decidedly blue-pink range of hues, there are other-coloured species in bloom – it’s just that I intend doing some family- or species-specific blogs so will save those photographs for now.

159/366 Daisy power

07 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, daisies, insects on Oxeye daisies, Oxeye daisy, wildflowers

I walk past this magnificent display of Oxeye daisies quite often, and it always makes me smile.

200607 ox-eye daisies (1)

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.

200607 ox-eye daisies (2)

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.

200607 ox-eye daisies (3)

178/365 Oxeyes

27 Thursday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, daisies, Dog daisy, Horse daisy, Moon daisy, Moonpenny, Oxeye daisy, white wildflowers, wildflowers

I’ve gone butterflying today – fingers crossed I’ll have some beauties to show you tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope these Oxeye daisies will brighten your day as much as they always do mine.

190627 ox-eye daisy (j)

These are Leucanthemum vulgare, also known as Dog daisies, Horse daisies, Moon daisies, Moonpennies and Marguerites. Once abundant in agricultural grasslands, they’ve been driven out of those areas, mostly because of the industrialisation and chemicalisation of modern farming, so now they’re the early colonisers of brown-field sites and roadside verges, and flourish in unimproved grasslands.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

If you want to know more about these cheery flowers, check out Plantlife’s website, which always has a wealth of fascinating information about Britain’s wildflowers.

A wildflower catch-up

25 Friday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Bush vetch, Common vetch, Herb Bennet, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Russian comfrey, Wood avens

Time to catch up on which wildflowers are currently flowering in the waysides …

180525 Bush vetch

I often see the mottled purplish flowers of Bush vetch (Vicia sepium) in the wonderfully scruffy areas on the edges of roads and paths.

180525 Common vetch

Often accompanying its Bush cousin, the Common vetch (Vicia sativa) has a delicate pink, often single flower, very much like the popular garden plant the Sweet pea, to which it is also related.

180525 Oxeye daisy

There’s something innately cheerful about the Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), which also goes by the common names of Dog daisy, Horse daisy, Moon daisy and Moonpenny (I almost typed Moneypenny!).

180525 Ragged-robin

The perfectly named Ragged-Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) likes to have its feet in damp places so look for it in marshy areas, near drains and streams.

180525 Russian Comfrey

Given the deep purple of its flowers, I think this might be Russian comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum), a hybrid of Common and Creeping comfrey. I found it growing well in a coastal location near where I live.

180525 Wood avens

Though officially known as Wood avens (Geum urbanum) I always think of this plant as Herb Bennet, which, according to Flora Britannica, is a corruption of the medieval Latin herba benedicta, meaning the blessed herb. Its roots were widely used in herbal medicine.