Yesterday the weather finally broke and a downpour washed away the hot and heavy weather we’ve been having. After a bit of a set-back, I’ve been at home for the last two weeks and have honoured a self-imposed house arrest, but having just been signed off for another fortnight, and feeling slightly stir crazy, I decided that rest and recuperation would have to include some modest walks. So yesterday evening found me beating the familiar path to the Cove and across the Lots.
I hadn’t left the driveway before I stopped to spend several fruitless minutes trying to photograph the bees and hover flies sampling the flowers on the Lime tree in our neighbour’s garden. The flowers where swinging pendulously on long bracts in the stiff breeze and even catching a sharp image of them proved to be beyond me, but I’ve posted this one anyway because I think it catches something of the warm evening light. I have no idea which of the many species of Lime this tree is, but I hope that it might be Silver Lime because its nectar is narcotic to bees.
There’s a lot to be said for dawdling: a brisk march might have burned more calories, but I might have missed the effect of the sunlight on the Lime flowers, and I would certainly have missed these tiny flowers…
…on Goosegrass, or Cleavers, growing tall in the hedges around Town’sfield. Our kids call it Sticky Weed because the plant is covered with tiny bristles which means that thrown at a jumper it will invariably stick. It needn’t be a jumper, any garment will do – particularly if it is one of mine, as far as the kids are concerned.
The hedgerows are currently thronged with critters: spiders, bees, hover flies etc. all busy going about their lives. Mostly they don’t sit still long enough for me to get pictures, but this red-eyed wonder was having a breather…
…probably negotiating with Jeff Goldblum for the biopic.
Of course, not all of us are in such a hurry…
…this tiny snail, at home on an ivy leaf, was moving at a pace I could appreciate.
The back of the Cove has been awash with the yellow and green of these tall plants for awhile now.
Last year I thought that they might be Sea Radish and I’m sticking with that assumption in the absence of a better guess. In fact the flowers are just about finished now.
And are giving way to these swelling seed pods…
The tide was well in…
…and unusually the wind was sufficient to provide the sound of the lap of tiny waves against the shore.
More rather fetching seed pods on the grassy bank above the cliff, this time on some sort of vetch, perhaps Bird’s-foot Trefoil?
This large, bulbous fungus is growing on the same tree trunk where last year I watched Starlings feeding their nestlings.
In the Lots, wild thyme and Lady’s Bedstraw are abundant…
Once again the wind didn’t help here and I shall have to return to try again.
This Thistle was a little more cooperative…
Prickly though it is, it seems to be occupied by a number of tiny red mites (you might need to view the full size photo on Flickr to see them.)
As ever, it was just great to be out and about.
Beating The Bounds 