Welds and Caps

With such an abundance of flowers to enjoy at the moment, it's often tricky to chose what to photograph. But two have certainly caught my eye over the past week or so. The first going by the curious name of Weld (Reseda luteola). This plant is closely related to the fragrant Mignonette and has been used as a source of a rich yellow dye for at least 3000 years, possibly longer than Woad. It's also thought that it was mixed with the blue dye of Woad to produce Lincoln Green - supposedly, Robin Hood's colour of choice.

The second flower to mention is a much smaller and less obvious. Found growing around some of the fishing points around Mapperley Reservoir, this is a blue flower called Skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata).

The attractive little flowers are rather hairy like many other members of the Mint family, to which this belongs.

The scientific name 'galericulata' means 'hooded', in reference to the individual flowers having a hooded appearance. The leaves can be dried and either made into a tea or smoked in a pipe, as an anti-anxiety drug.  Just the thing I need..!

Meadow

Two plants with 'meadow' in their names, are in full bloom right now. Firstly, the spectacular, blue flowers of the Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense).

These are growing close to Mapperley Reservoir and are present in abundance. as the plant ages towards the end of Summer, the leaves and stems will darken and turn red, adding to the spectacle. But for now, we can just appreciate those wonderful flowers.

The second of our 'meadow' themed flowers can also be found in great numbers growing around the reservoir, but is almost everywhere else where the ground is moist. This is the Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).

Huge quantities of frothy, cream-coloured flowers fill the air with a delicious scent at this time of year. Indeed the flowers were once used as a 'strewing herb', literally strewn across the floors in houses to freshen the air and make your average medieval home a little more pleasant to live in.

Here those lovely creamy flowers are competing with the white umbels of the Hog Weed along the footpath at Mapperley Reservoir.

Not only a feast for the eyes, but for the nose too.

Dotty

It's amazing what turns up in the back garden from time to time. Often, these interlopers take the form of insects and a couple of days ago, I found this, hiding under the watering can rose.

Following some extensive searching on-line, I think I have identified it correctly as a Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae).

Common and widespread in Britain, it is a frequent visitor to urban gardens. Their larvae feeding on many of our garden plants. Two years ago, we had a caterpillar of this species in the garden...

... but this is the first adult I've seen.

Damsels

The countryside is filed with Damselflies at the moment. as we walked around the lakes of straw's Bridge this morning, there seemed to be hundreds of them flitting about. This one obliged by settling on a leaf for me to take its photo.

It turned out to be a Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans. Common in Britain, they congregate around rivers, lakes, ponds and canals and are tolerant of slightly polluted water. This species is most easily identified by the sky blue eighth segment of its abdomen.

The lakes were looking beautiful this morning, despite the rather overcast conditions.

Its all looking very green right now...

And the resident Mute Swans were still on the look-out for food from anyone who ventured by.

Snake!

Don't worry, this blog post does not have anything remotely reptilian about it. The snake referenced in the title is the name of a rather intriguing little insect called a Snake Fly (Raphidia notata).

On our walk this morning, we stopped for coffee at the Mapperley Reservoir picnic area and this little charmer, was found already occupying our bench when we arrived - so we shared the seat.

Snake Flies are supposed to be fairly common in the British Isles, but this is the first I have ever seen - so another new 'tick' for the list. About an inch long, they feed on aphids, scale insects and a host of other garden pests, so they are a good friend to the gardeners among us.  There are four species of Snake Fly in the UK, three occurring on conifer trees, and this one which prefers Oaks. This one turned out to be a female as it has a long ovipositor or egg-laying tube, looking like a sharp tail sticking out of its abdomen.

Despite Malcolm's suggestion that I should squash it, we left her still sitting on the bench when we continued on our walk.

Country Colours

No walk this morning, as we had other things to do, but I thought we'd have a few more pictures of our recent walks around the area.
Along the old railway lines, where much improvement work has been done over the past year or so, the wild flowers are spectacular. Without a doubt, the most numerous are the Ox-eye Daisies.

In some places, they are just breathtaking...

particularly when set against a backdrop of Red Campion.

Growing tall and proud along the fence-line are several Great Mullein plants. Statuesque and beautiful, they too, make a wonderful display.

These spikes of large, yellow flowers, contrast with the grey, velvet-like hairy stems and leaves.

These flowers are popular with the bees - as well as with us!

Common

We start the new month, with some 'common' flowers from our recent walks around Shipley Park. Starting with an exceptionally pretty little flower to be found along the old railway lines - Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea).

Small and rather delicate to look at, this is a common plant (as the name suggests), found growing in fairly dry, gravelly conditions and is a member of the Gentian family.

I have mentioned the Common Spotted Orchids several times in recent days and have posted a few pictures of them growing in the meadows around these parts. A couple of these delightful plants have taken root in our front garden, one of which had started to flower. Unfortunately, this flower spike was broken off  recently - we think by a passing cat or dog. Disappointing as this was, it did give us a chance to get a closer look at the individual flowers as it stood in a glass of water on our windowsill.

Lastly, a plant which is easily overlooked but is still rather common. The English Stonecrop (Sedum anglicum) is a succulent plant which hugs the ground closely and grows among stones and pebbles, making it even harder to spot.

The succulent leaves are often tinged with red as in this case, making them slightly easier to see, particularly when growing among the grey stones of this old car park.