Out into the meadows this morning, where the strong north-east wind was blowing across, producing gorgeous ripple effects in the grasses. The heads of the Crested Dog’s Tail and Yorkshire Fog, moving as were the Tall Fescue, Red Fescue, Cocksfoot, Soft Brome and False Oat-grass.
In amongst the greenery, were patches of bright yellow from Bulbous Buttercups and Meadow Buttercups, and from the Rough Hawksbit. Paler was the Hay Rattle and Meadow Vetchling, while the more orange tones of the Bird’s-foot Trefoil showed lower to the ground.
Lots of stands of the white coloured Corky-fruited Water Dropwort to be admired in the older meadows, the stems feel hard, smooth and ribbed compared with most other similar umbellifers.
Common Spotted Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids blooming pink, but the largest swathe of pink is from the Sainfoin, which is increasing every year.
A Wren, made a very noisy blast of song, as it perched on the twigs of the Hawthorn, such a tiny bird for the amount of sound produced!
Along the hedgerow a family of Great Tits chattered to each other, the duller colours of the youngsters easily distinguished as they popped in between the spikes and flowers of the Dog Rose.
A Chiffchaff called from its perch, the constant sound drawing my attention to this brown warbler as it sat, allowing me to admire the pale stripe above its eye.
Down in the woods one of our Rhododendrons is flowering, providing a splash of purple against the variety of greens, this plant rarely flowers and is not allowed to spread, as they can be very invasive and take over!