15 Sunday Feb 2026
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
Though we did have a blue-sky day yesterday, it’s been a long, grey, wet winter; earlier this week one Scottish city, Aberdeen, was celebrating seeing the sun after 21 days of its absence! The weather’s not been that dismal here in south Wales but it’s been dreary enough to make the sight of spring flowers even more heartwarming than usual. So, today here’s some multi-coloured flower-power Crocuses to brighten your day!
08 Sunday Feb 2026
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
Tags
Cowslip, primrose, Primrose family, Primula veris, Primula vulgaris, Primulaceae, spring flowers
Primulaceae is the collective name for the members of the Primrose family, and I was delighted, during the several hours today when there was no rain, to find the two most common Primulaceae species in flower.
I found Primroses (Primula vulgaris) in several locations – in a local park where they may originally have been planted or may be wild (the park is mostly wild so it’s difficult to be sure); along the fence line of a horse paddock; on the edge of a small woodland, and under trees in another park.
And it was a very nice surprise to also find Cowslips (Primula veris) in bloom, growing on a grassy, south-facing slope behind a local hospital. I only spotted three plants there today, where once Cowslips and Primroses were abundant. I’m fairly certain the diminished numbers can be attributed to the mismanagement of the green spaces around the hospital (in the wildflower area one of those generic signs has appeared, saying the cutting regime has been changed to benefit the flora and fauna, which seems to mean they completely abandon the area, when they should really be cutting and removing the clippings in the autumn). Still, it was a wonderful treat today to see the sun in the sky and these little drops of sunny yellow at my feet.
20 Sunday Apr 2025
Posted in insects, spring, wildflowers
Tags
Allium ursinum, British wildflowers, Dark-edged bee-fly, Honey bee, Ramsons, solitary bee, Speckled wood, spring flowers, Wild garlic
The first two days of the Easter break were very wet so I’m glad I took these images last Sunday. One of our local parks has the perfect environment for Wild garlic – Ramsons, if you prefer, Allium ursinum. A shallow ravine runs through the park, with a small stream meandering along its base, and, at this time of year, the steep sides of the gulley are carpeted with the lush green leaves and bright white umbels of garlic flowers. Elsewhere in the park, under tall old trees, the path is also lined with Wild garlic, so anywhere you walk, whenever you breathe, your nostrils are almost assaulted by garlic’s strong smell.
Though I know some people can’t tolerate this odour, it doesn’t seem to affect the insects, neither attracts nor repels them; a flower’s a flower, with the pollen and nectar that nurtures them. Last Sunday’s walk wasn’t particularly sunny but I still found a few creatures feeding greedily: a Speckled wood, a teeny solitary bee and a Honey bee, and a Dark-edged bee-fly.
02 Sunday Mar 2025
Posted in spring, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Colt's-foot, Coltsfoot, Coltsfoot leaves, Coltsfoot seedhead, signs of spring, Spring colour, spring flowers, spring wildflowers, Tussilago farfara, yellow wildflowers
Every year I celebrate my first sighting of Colt’s-foot (or Coltsfoot, if you prefer; Tussilago farfara), as the aggressive way it punches its way through overgrown vegetation, layers of dead leaves, even a covering of gravel seems to express for me Nature’s determination to put the cold dark days of winter behind.
And, of course, the sight of these bright bursts of golden yellow seems to mirror the sun’s reappearance in our skies and the ever-lengthening daytime hours.
My focus for this plant has always been on its flower so this year I thought I would also show what comes after. This is a plant whose leaves appear much later than its flowers; in fact, the flowers are often beginning to set their seed before the leaves emerge. The shape of the leaf, supposedly resembling the shape of the underside of a colt’s foot, is how this plant got its common name. And I think you’ll agree that the seedhead is rather beautiful too.
09 Sunday Feb 2025
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers, winter
Though a tremor of the winter
Did shivering through them run;
Yet they lifted up their foreheads
To greet the vernal sun.
And the sunbeams gave them welcome,
As did the morning air—
And scattered o’er their simple robes
Rich tints of beauty rare.
Soon a host of lovely flowers
From vales and woodland burst;
But in all that fair procession
The crocuses were first.
First to weave for Earth a chaplet
To crown her dear old head;
And to beauty the pathway
Where winter still did tread.
~ four verses from the poem ‘The Crocuses’ by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)
24 Sunday Mar 2024
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Spring colour, spring flowers, white wildflowers, white-flowered wildflowers
As I mentioned yesterday, this week’s #WildflowerHour challenge on social media was to find native and/or naturalised white-flowered wildflowers and, by walking around with my eyes engaged in a weird version of vertical tennis spectating (eyes to the ground for plants, eyes to the skies for birds – not recommended!), I managed to find seventeen white-flowering plants.
I felt the lushness of Daisies (above) deserved a photo all of its own. The following sixteen are Bramble, Common chickweed, Common mouse-ear, Common whitlowgrass, Cow parsley, Danish scurvygrass, Garlic mustard, Hairy bittercress, Hogweed (purple edged but mostly white), white-flowered Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Snowdrop, Sweet violet, Three-cornered leek, Wild garlic, and Wild strawberry.
18 Sunday Feb 2024
Posted in wildflowers
I’ve been checking this little area each time I’ve passed in recent weeks, looking for early signs of growth. It’s very overgrown with straggly brambles and long grass but, last Friday, after poking about the area with a stick, I found what I was hoping to see, my first Coltsfoot flower of the season.
This spot, on the edge of a local park, is where I’ve seen my first Coltsfoots in bloom in the past but, as seems to be the case with most flora and fauna, this flower is at least a week earlier than my sightings in previous years.
22 Wednesday Nov 2023
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
Spring? Oh, wait. We haven’t had winter yet. Well, I found my first flowering Primrose – the traditional harbinger of springtime –lurking under the trees and shrubs in the scruffier part of a local park during today’s walk. Although it has been even wetter than usual this autumn, it has been very mild so perhaps that has fooled some plants into thinking spring is just around the corner.
23 Sunday Apr 2023
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
As I write this, we actually have April showers but, luckily, they weren’t falling on me or this random selection of April flowers from today’s walk. First one to name them all gets … a gold star!
18 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
Tags
crocus, Lesser Celandine, primrose, raindrops on flowers, Snowdrops, Spring colour, spring flowers, Winter aconite
As the remnants of Storm Otto continue to blast and batter, a local meander turned up these glorious spring flowers, little beacons of colour and light on a grey winter’s day.
earthstar 
You must be logged in to post a comment.