2023
Cowslips
Cowslips Look out for cowslips in dry, infertile grassland and roadside verges, occurring on lime rich soils. Its dark yellow flowers with an orange centre are held in drooping one-sided clusters borne on the top of a stout stalk with a basal rosette of crinkled leaves. They have a sweetly fragrant smell […]
12 April 2023
Dandelions
Dandelions Look out for dandelions – not too hard to find. While this perennial plant keeps its leaves during winter and occasional plants bloom from January, the splash of yellow is now everywhere on roadsides, grass verges, weedkiller free unmown lawns and urban areas. They are opportunists, surviving in crevices with infertile […]
12 April 2023
Ivy berries
0 Ivy berries Look out for the last Ivy berries, now black, soft and partially eaten by birds such as blackbirds, thrushes, robins and wood pigeons. They also provide food for holly blue butterflies. This stage of Ivy is not always recognised because the leaves are simple, more oval than the more recognised […]
6 April 2023
Lesser Celandine
0 Lesser Celandine The glossy, yellow, star-like flowers of Lesser Celandine (pictured above), provide a stunning display on hedge banks. Resembling buttercups, but with more and narrower petals, these early flowers have now appeared on the heart shaped leaves which were among the first green vegetation to emerge after winter. The shiny flowers […]
4 April 2023
Winter Heliotrope
Winter Heliotrope Look out for one of the baddies – winter heliotrope with distinctive kidney shaped leaves, which are downy on the underside. It grows in shady places along roadsides where ground has been disturbed or existing vegetation sprayed. It creeps along by rhizomes or underground stems carpeting large areas of ground […]
15 March 2023
Frogspawn
0 Frogspawn Look out for frogspawn which are the eggs of frogs who return to the same area where they were born. Males arrive and croak to attract females. Each female lays about 2,000 eggs which are fertilised by sperm shed by the males over the eggs. Eggs absorb water, swell into jelly […]
8 March 2023