Winter/Spring

It was definitely still winter on Three Barrows and Wacka Tor today, but in Didworthy it was spring. Water everywhere, but flowers coming up despite the snow, hail, sleet and high winds we had yesterday. It was good to see a few sunshine-yellow dandelions out as they are an important early source of nectar for…

Winter again

A month ago at White Oxen there were drifts of primroses and snowdrops, a few white sweet violets, self-heal and dandelions. A nuthatch was noisily proclaiming its territory. Stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) is native in parts of Britain (in a band from Kent to North Wales, according to Harrap’s Wild Flowers) and nationally scarce. This specimen,…

New growth

A couple of weeks ago, under wintery skies, there were already new shoots of hemlock water dropwort, wild garlic and lords-and-ladies in the verge, the first flowers of pink purslane and clumps of snowdrops.  

Spring flowers and another alien

Not a great photo, but this may be another alien species, Kontikia ventrolineata, so called because of the stripes running along the midline. Found under an old metal parasol base. There are better photos on this website.       In the woods at Shinners Bridge, lots of dogs mercury, snowdrops, and split open seed capsules…

March inventory

Linda lent me her camera, which seemed a good excuse to take stock of what is growing between Moorhaven and Green Lane this month. On March 12th 2016, there were the first flowers of golden saxifrage and pink purslane, with a solitary purple and yellow flower of ivy-leaved toadflax that was a bit too small for the…

First cow parsley

I realised I had better post last weekend’s pictures before this weekend begins. Little to report, thanks to almost constant rain, but I saw the first flowers of cow parsley,  snowdrops,   and Dog’s Mercury   These leaves of ransoms or wild garlic are edible   while these beautiful bright green shoots are definitely not: Hemlock…