Anthill with flowers of thyme This July weather is so unsettled it's hard to know what the day may bring. Saturday was predicted to be sunnier but the day was overcast and cloudy. Few birds or butterflies on the wing But rain brings forth flowers and we delighted in the flora of Heslington Barrows.
Insect populations diminish and the numerous anithills of the yellow meadow ant are not the floral hotspots they were some decade or more ago. So we linger over an anthill thick in flowers of thyme with a mass of purple betony close by
Insect populations diminish and the numerous anithills of the yellow meadow ant are not the floral hotspots they were some decade or more ago. So we linger over an anthill thick in flowers of thyme with a mass of purple betony close by
Our morning is shades of thyme and floral pathways. It is the season of lady's bedstraw whose fragrance is delightful. Herbal fragrances and the scent of juniper. A kestrel is clamorous and flies above the mature oak we love- The oak, it has history. There used to be a letter-box slit in a low bough, now scarred and grown closed. Here a female cuckoo once gurgled in its leafy branches. The cuckoo is gone and the skyalrks are slient, their breeding season over. The stonechat family are quiet. The fledglings have left the nest and they go further.
With a cool and unsettled July following a prolonged spell of drought the later flowers respond differently. The dark red helleborine I photographed about two weeks ago still looks fresh. Hawbit and hawkweed flourishes, although there are no pollinating butterflies. It is the time of abundant scabious and a few harebells appear.
So, will Sunday live up to a forecast that brings high pressure and rather more sun?
So, will Sunday live up to a forecast that brings high pressure and rather more sun?
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