Author Topic: Wild flowers  (Read 116125 times)

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Offline hollins

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #150 on: November 02, 2011, 03:39:16 pm »
Not a clue about mosses but that is such a beautiful picture as are the ones you have just posted of the ponies and the misty hills viewed from the Orme. Fabulous!
 $thanx$

Offline Yorkie

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #151 on: November 02, 2011, 04:00:44 pm »
Obviously not many rolling stones in that area!     &shake&
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Offline snowcap

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #152 on: November 02, 2011, 10:53:00 pm »
look like hedgehogs when i take my glasses off

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #153 on: November 05, 2011, 09:55:14 pm »
Much to my Sons disdain I love watching Country Tracks unfortunately for him it's on at the same time as he wants to watch the Simpsons.... but hey he'll get over it  :P I think it's a really interesting programme I mean did you know there are approximately 30,000 Roseringed parakeets breeding in the wild in Britain? Well ok south London.  Numbers have increased 30% just this year  :o   The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have said they need to cull the birds by poisoning or introducing a predator.  The full story below.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23389796-cull-of-the-parakeets.do

Another issue discussed on the show was a disease which affects Sycamore trees called Tar Spot.  Black irregular spots can be seen all over the leaves, the disease may cause premature leaf loss but on the whole causes little damage to the life span of the tree.  Apparently the only way you can reduce the spots is to sweep up and burn the affected leaves but no remedy is available.
Many of the trees on the track at the back of Oakwood (adjacent to the Sychnant pass) are affected. 

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=750


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Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #154 on: November 07, 2011, 12:49:00 pm »
Hollins has posted some lovely autumn colours on the gardening thread.  Here are some of the autumn colours on the Great Orme. 

In the second photo, the berries on the twig are hawthorn and hanging from the twig is a vine of black bryony berries. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #155 on: November 07, 2011, 12:51:40 pm »
I know that I've posted a dandelion clock before but I couldn't resist adding this one, with a single seed caught on the edge of the clock and just waiting for a breath of air to float it away. 

Offline snowcap

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #156 on: November 07, 2011, 11:32:50 pm »
whats the betting it ends up in my garden lol

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #157 on: November 21, 2011, 05:23:55 pm »
Hollins, I'm a bit late thanking you for your kind comments at the top of the page.   $thanx$

As Nemesis mentioned a little while ago, autumn is the time when a lot of fungi produce their fruiting bodies and there are plenty of toadstools "mushrooming" on the Great Orme at the moment.  Here's a selection of them. 

Nemesis, I agree with your comment in the gardening thread about eating wild mushrooms - I wouldn't chance it either! 

Gavin Maxwell, writing about the place where "Ring of Bright Water" was set, said that when he first moved there he had plans to live off the land, including eating wild mushrooms, but he reckoned that for every edible one there was a near-identical poisonous species - that would be my fear too. 

I worked for a while with a chap, Dave, who was an expert on identifying fungi and he used to lead "fungus forays".  Another colleague, Jonathan, and I went along on one of these but the other participants seemed to think that Jonathan and I weren't taking it seriously - while they were keenly collecting every little toadstool to identify, Jonathan and I were saying "Can we eat it?" and taking only the edible ones.  (Dave must have known his stuff as we both survived!)  However, if I'd paid a bit more attention I might have had more idea about identifying them. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #158 on: November 21, 2011, 05:31:49 pm »
In the gardening thread there's been a mention of how well bedding plants are surviving at the moment.  There are various wild flowers "hanging on" too, including the common rockrose.  These need plenty of sun to open fully but given that there are still quite a lot of flowers about.  They look so delicate but they must be pretty tough. 

Some seed heads, like the black knapweed, also look very attractive in the sun. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #159 on: November 21, 2011, 05:40:28 pm »
I can't resist adding some more photos of mosses but I haven't tried to identify these yet.  Mosses show up well at this time of year, when many of the bigger plants have died down and it's not too hot and dry.  Many mosses appear to shrivel up in dry conditions but recover when they get more moisture.  The low sun lit these up and brought out the colours beautifully. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #160 on: November 21, 2011, 05:47:22 pm »
Another couple of mosses and some ivy.

Ivy at the reproductive stage is much more bushy than the trailing, vegetative ivy and the leaves don't have the typical ivy leaf shape.  Now that the leaves on their supporting trees have fallen, some of the ivy plants look almost big enough to be trees in their own right. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #161 on: January 15, 2012, 09:20:31 pm »
Here are some picture of the frost on a range of foliage this morning. 

Offline hollins

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #162 on: January 15, 2012, 11:11:06 pm »
Blodyn, you have totally excelled yourself today. The frosty pictures are quite beautiful as are the Orme views. Even the barbed wire fence looks good.
Fabulous, more cards, maybe?

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #163 on: January 16, 2012, 09:44:42 am »
Hollins, you really are very kind.   $thanx$

I think this is the first "good" frost we've had here this winter.  Certainly the first when I've had a chance to get out with a camera.  I'll have a think about some cards. 

Offline Llechwedd

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #164 on: January 18, 2012, 12:20:32 pm »
Blodyn thanks once again for your superb photos. an absorbing hobby.  What kind of camera have you got and I assume a zoom lense?

I sat in the sun on Sunday in Hyde Park listening to the parakeets screeching in the trees.  They are mostly green and very difficult to see. They have been as far as the Royal Albert Hall i.e. half way across the park for a number of years now.  It's funny watching foreign tourists looking puzzled at the racket.  On the whole think I prefer sea gulls but then maybe I'm conditioned.