harbingers of spring 2

meanwhile the puddles in the woods are a seething mass of tadpoles, and the water-boat men are once again demonstrating the properties of surface tension

harbingers of spring

barren strawberries, wood sorrel, stitchwort, and dog violets, all out together as Spring gathers force

red deadnettle

red dead-nettle is supposed to be very common, but perhaps due to changes in farming practices it is not that common locally. Like many common "weeds" it has a fascinating and complex flower, with an upper hooded lip, and a deeply notched lower lid with darker markings. In the old days (many many years ago) it was boiled and eaten as a pot herb, and used to make pig swill. It was also used to treat scrofula, the King's evil, a form of subcutaneous tuberculosis.

poor robin

this poor little robin came to grief today despite every effort to save it. It had been attacked either by a cat or by a hawk, or possibly another robin.

purple toothwort

and a last look at purple toothwort (aka Aunt Columbia), before it is swallowed up by the lush green leaves of wild garlic.

greenscombe

Greenscombe meadows, showing the beautiful late winter colours, just before Spring repaints everything, and for any Americans who may be visiting Latchley (it is a small world).

spring time

for all those still suffering from Northern hemisphere winter blues, daffodils by the Tamar, Cassie in winter coat (due to be shorn next Wednesday).

cousins

Dad's second cousin once removed, hanging about at Sepilok. He says they are semi wild but I think they don't keep pets. Baby is about 3 months old.

Meanwhile down at the golf club, three Dutchmen were talking about their rounds. The indigenous people call the proboscis monkey the Dutchman because of his prodigious nose and fat belly.

to see more pics of Borneo, go the web album (link)

wood anenome perfection

well, we are all back from our hols in Holwell (well named I think for vacations), and they are back from visiting their second cousins in Borneo. Of which more later no doubt. But can anything anywhere compare with the perfection of a wood anenome bathing in the sun? The weather has been fine and warm in the last two weeks, and everything is bursting out all over. Spring is here. Hooray!

back soon

we are off to Tanya at Holwell on our hols for a bit, while they have a good time. Back soon.

Andy's of Callington

There are murals all over Callington. This is the most subtle of them, and for some reason it puts me in mind of The Canterbury Tales. Andy can unlock just about anything.

St David's day

and we couldn't let St David's Day (see link) go by without a picture of the native wild daffodil we found this morning growing by the Tamar. They are just coming out. And the love birds are on the wing.

the road to Norton manor

Spot has been thinking. He is pleased to be a part of the 14th cosmic billennium (abb), and a small part of planet Earth's 5th billennium. As a billenniard (or should that be billionaire) he thinks it is amazing that he should enjoy a four hour walk followed by biscuits, because he is very very small in comparison to some things he has seen at the Galaxy Zoo (link), and yet there is room in the universe for his tiny pleasures. He has taken to thinking about the journey he makes, and has calculated that his life as a fraction of all the time that has passed, is as long as one millimeter on a journey of about a million miles. That is not very far to get, is it? Maybe it is the travelling that counts. And yet American bankers have lost trillions of dollars, and British bankers pay themselves about the same amount per year in pensions. How did they get it all into one suitcase?

more fun at the dentist

even earlier than usual, and some way (about 2 miles upstream) from where we found this unusual plant originally, the ghoulish looking purple toothwort. I think the name may come from the tooth like appearance of the bracts on the buds (see bottom picture). Its cousin, toothwort, is a deathly pale colour, hence its other name of corpse flower. Now that I have found this plant in two widely separated places I am sure it has become naturalised.

more for galanthophiles

we came across this unusual and beautiful snowdrop variant this morning. It appears to have a petal growing through the main axis of the flower. Does it have a name?

And thanks to Derrick for this link , for snowdrop fanatics.