Gone for a Walk

This is a great time of year for anyone interested in wildflowers.  Last night we saw Mark Schofield on Countryfile (see blog-post below) showing Ellie Harrison, who happens to have a degree in ecology, the wildflowers on a Lincolnshire road verge.  While much is made of flower meadows on the Chalk and Lincolnshire Limestone where the poor soils reduce competition from grasses and vigorous herbs that dominate some of our prettier flowers, there can still be plenty to look at along the road-verges, tracks and footpaths wherever you are.

I've just been for a short walk along a bridleway near my house on the Coastal Marsh.  The fields are growing wheat, barley and rape but the dyke banks and path edges are a profusion of flowers, even in this nutrient-rich environment.

I spotted Viper's Bugloss, Meadlow Vetchling, Tufted Vetch, Meadowsweet, Creeping Tormentil, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Lesser Trefoil, Common Knapweed, Great Willowherb, Pineappleweed, Mayweed, Red and White Clovers, Poppy, Common Mallow, Field and Hedge Bindweeds, White Campion, Hemp-nettle and Dog Rose. There was nothing especially rare, but we need to appreciate the commonplace.  Actually, there's nothing too commonplace about seeing these flowers growing together in profusion on a warm summer's evening.

Biff Vernon

Photo: Robin Drayton  via Wikimedia Commons