Into the woods

Primroses and bluebells in Penstave Woods.        An impressive Drinker moth caterpillar on the verge of Bittaford Road. Note the ‘horns’ of hair at either end. The moth drinks dew. Also the first early purple orchid. I’m fascinated by these mutant plants. They seem to be quite common along this stretch of road. Could traffic…

Spring at last!

There’s a dazzling display of dandelions, interspersed with lady’s smock, at the turning to Ivybridge station. The stitchwort is out in the hedgerows at last, with wood sorrel in shady spots. The first bluebells and buds of yellow archangel are showing in Penstave woods. There are newts in our pond again too.

New England Wood

New England Wood is Devon Wildlife Trust’s newest reserve, rescued from development by local campaigning. It could have looked like this desolate area nearby: Instead it is a beautiful haven for birds and wildflowers. There were flocks of redwings and some marsh tits. Sitting by the River Yealm, it is hard to believe that the…

More spring, more snow

A splash of purple scented violets under the viaduct, and the first few white specimens in the verge on Bittaford road this week. It was just light enough to take photos while walking home from the station. Dandelions were looking glorious in the sunshine; they are an important source of food for insects early in…

Sweet violets

Sweet violets make me happy. They look so delicate but flower so early, nestling under their leaves with an unmistakeable old-fashioned scent. There is a patch under the viaduct in Bittaford. The first cow parsley is flowering and the frilly hart’s tongue fern is still growing in the verge near Filham. Several other specimens were…

November

Teasel seedlings sprouting before they reach the ground: In the vegetable patch, there is a clump of field forget-me-not. Along Bittaford Road: Traveller’s joy

The end of October

Among the browns and reds of autumn, there are still many summer flowers out despite my book saying those like hogweed and greater burnet saxifrage should be over by September.

Late September

It is too drizzly for good photos, but there are still some flowers. Swathes of autumn hawkbit in the short grass of Moorhaven’s playing field, and something in the verge that I had missed earlier: balm. In the stream at the moorland edge of Wrangaton golf course, there is lots of water mint and a few flowers of devil’s…

Close up

At a first glance, you might think plants were all dying back now but looking closely there are many flowers still among the seed-heads. Here are some from the verge between Ivybridge station and Bittaford.

Wild parsnip

There are several sturdy plants of wild parsnip in Ivybridge station carpark. I haven’t seen it on any of my other regular walks. There were also lots of butterflies enjoying the ragwort, great willowherb, scabious and knapweed, and a dingy footman on the underside of a leaf. Walking back to Moorhaven, there were two winged casualties on…

Plymouth

A lovely selection of flowers at Mount Wise Redoubt, a part of Plymouth I hadn’t seen before. Many bushes of spiny restharrow (because its tough stems would stop or ‘arrest’ a harrow), with teasels, knapweed and field scabious. I think the knapweed is lesser knapweed but a less common variant that has divided petals like…

To the station and back

A poppy near the church in Bittaford, and some more poppy buds and capsules further on. All along the verge there are patches of zigzag clover, which is less common than white and red clovers but is plentiful here. Note the tapering, pointed stipules and widely spaced brightly coloured petals. Another interesting flower is agrimony, its tall…