2/7/14

A warm bright morning with the softest breeze. There is nothing to hurry for so I enjoy strolling along the morning walk. Charlie and Jazz are happy to mooch along enjoying smells.

I take the short cut across the field. That way I am nearer to the trees so there’s a chance of seeing birds and there is shorter grass where I can see what is growing. I  was leafing through my flower guide yesterday when I  found a page of  Forget- me- nots . I had assumed the ones here are just garden escapees but now I know they are not   I decide I need to identify them while there are enough flowers left at the top of the long stems of seeds. I pick one to take home. I don’t think there is any danger that they are rare.

There are patches of yellow toadflax, dotted with orange in the shorter grass. Small groups of Self Heal remind me of pirouetting bumble bees with purple tutus. There are still some vivid blue Wood Speedwell nestling along  this stretch too.

 Walking  this way I look along the furrows of planted pine seedlings. Despite the weedkiller spray earlier in the year , there is little evidence of trees below the vegetation. Where the spray killed all the weeds at the time new ones have sprung up. Walking earlier in the year I thought  “ they look like Groundsel but not quite the same ” when I looked them up they turned out to be Heath Groundsel, a taller, paler version of the yellow weed  in my garden. They are unattractive straggly plants with clusters of tiny yellow brush flowers but en masse between strips of mauve Yorkshire fog the overall striped effect in the morning sun is a delight.

I notice that the Mahonia shrublings alongside the track are starting to sport bunches of berries ripening. When I turn the corner onto Meg’s track I am greeted by a glorious patch of them. Some leaves are different shades of green but many are red and orange. This group gets  lot of sun and there are stringed bunches of dusty  blue fruits hanging in contrast against the spiked leaves. I stop and look for a while trying to tease out all the colours until I realise I have no dogs with me. I walk on a find Charlie and Jazz have come to look for me. As soon as they realise I am there they turn round and go off on their own explorations again.

As I walk along the drove the bracken are crowding to the edge pushing away less vigorous  plants. I find a couple of raspberries which I pick and eat. Vipers Bugloss are stretching out their startling blue spikes and Ribbed Mellilot are straggling across the with their tufts of yellow pea flowers. My book says they are  “possibly native in Southern England and Wales but introduced elsewhere”. According to the little map shaded pink in the book they are counting eastern England as South so I assume these are not introduced.

There are scores of butterflies stuttering across the tops of the grasses and bracken.  I think I see some Meadow Browns with a dash of orange on their open wings, dancing among the numerous brown Ringlets. When I get back to the car there is a Greater knapweed in flower close by. I count five Ringlets sitting clustered on top of the purple flowers and a small tortoiseshell. They  seem sociable and are patient of my peering at them.

The Goldcrest sings as I walk along but it hides among the treetops as usual.

The Forget- me-not turns out to be a Changing Forget- me- not. The flowers change from yellowish to blue.