Hoary rockrose The lemon flowers of Hoary rockrose open to the sun and spill over the limestone cliff of Scout Scar escarpment. They are glorious right now, eclipsing the more blowsy flowers of Common rockrose. On the cliff-edge, on the shallow limestone terraces set back only a little the rare Hoary rockrose grows thick over the rock, where little else can compete with it.
Hoary rockrose and Common rockrose grow close together, but rarely entwine. So it's difficult to show the difference between them. It's easier to see as you study them in situ. The flowers of the rarer rockrose are tiny, and paler, the leaves grey-green. Hoary rockrose grows in dense clumps whilst Common rockrose often shows as solitary flowers. It's been so warm and dry through April and May that the grass looks scorched, especially where hot rock burns it. And the first day of meteorological summer is yet to come, 1st June.
Hoary rockrose will quickly flower and set seed. It grows very close to the cliff- edge and on the cliff-face so now's the time to take a look.
Hoary rockrose will quickly flower and set seed. It grows very close to the cliff- edge and on the cliff-face so now's the time to take a look.
Skylark singing, redpoll calling in flight- they so restless they're hard to see. A glimpse of scarlet and black, a six-spot burnet moth- the first I've seen this spring. And meadow brown.
As new flowers come forth I glimpse a hint of colour in the grass. The first thyme of the season, and bedstraw is budding. I used to think of the anthills as floral hotspots but now they all look dried out and grassy. So far, I can find no flowers on the whitebeam, now fully in leaf.
28th May. Can't resist a half-hour dedicated to 'my' redstart and the opportunity to share his song and the glory of him There he is, in his ash tree- now in full leaf. Tinges of orange appear on the tree- is it an effect of drought- the tree grows on scree? His neighbour the blackbird sings from his favourite perch too. We listen to his song, whispering to each other- at a distance. Then he alights- catching the sun and he looks resplendent. I've been watching him since the beginning of May and I know how hard it is to isolate the source of song, to see him- especially with those beguiling tinges of orange on the ash tree.
Down in the Lyth Valley a farmer was taking a haylage crop, patterning the pasture as he cut. The patchwork of pastures turn golden in the hot sun, once cut. And there's a single square thick with buttercups.
Evening, and a swift flies dark across the crescent moon as the birds call shrill.
I recommend Springwatch 2020. Reflections on the good things that have come from lockd0wn, including cleaner air, cleaner rivers, quieter skies - so nature thrives. Superb photography- a video of a cuckoo of two or three seconds in stunning close-up. When I watch a naturalist setting himself to find a chiff-chaff nest I'm in awe. If only I could find my redstart nest- but it's somewhere in a tree-nest hole in the cliff face.
As new flowers come forth I glimpse a hint of colour in the grass. The first thyme of the season, and bedstraw is budding. I used to think of the anthills as floral hotspots but now they all look dried out and grassy. So far, I can find no flowers on the whitebeam, now fully in leaf.
28th May. Can't resist a half-hour dedicated to 'my' redstart and the opportunity to share his song and the glory of him There he is, in his ash tree- now in full leaf. Tinges of orange appear on the tree- is it an effect of drought- the tree grows on scree? His neighbour the blackbird sings from his favourite perch too. We listen to his song, whispering to each other- at a distance. Then he alights- catching the sun and he looks resplendent. I've been watching him since the beginning of May and I know how hard it is to isolate the source of song, to see him- especially with those beguiling tinges of orange on the ash tree.
Down in the Lyth Valley a farmer was taking a haylage crop, patterning the pasture as he cut. The patchwork of pastures turn golden in the hot sun, once cut. And there's a single square thick with buttercups.
Evening, and a swift flies dark across the crescent moon as the birds call shrill.
I recommend Springwatch 2020. Reflections on the good things that have come from lockd0wn, including cleaner air, cleaner rivers, quieter skies - so nature thrives. Superb photography- a video of a cuckoo of two or three seconds in stunning close-up. When I watch a naturalist setting himself to find a chiff-chaff nest I'm in awe. If only I could find my redstart nest- but it's somewhere in a tree-nest hole in the cliff face.
RSS Feed