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On my way to the oak I only took this picture of the fields to the southwest
of the lane.
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Here she is. A very comfy seat can be had leaning against her trunk.
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Another oak, this one sitting in the middle of a field. I liked the way
the sun and cloud shadow make the grain look like velvet.
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| A better lit oak further towards Grange. I love the sky with
its little, fluffy clouds. |
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The bridleway that used to end at the road in Grange has been
moved so that it now ends at the byway that goes to Upper Sampshill Farm.
Next to the new bridleway there was a hill of soil. It was covered in pink
poppies like this one. |
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| This is a cultivar of the opium
poppy, Papaver somniferum, var Pink Dawn. It's perfectly legal to grow
in the UK. Seeing these pictures it's easy to understand why people would
want to. It's a yummy flower. |
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Another plant with pain reducing properties is the white willow,
Salix alba. It often grows near water. |
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Here we can admire the elegantly tapering silvery leaves.
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More robust, a newly sprung bramble leaf. This shape of leaf
is called palmate because the individual leaflets are arranged in the shape
of a hand. Horse chestnut is another common plant that has palmate leaves.
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At the top of the byway I'm looking back to Sharpenhoe.
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A very cuddly tom accosted me. I was quick to oblige and scratch
him behind the ears. Aren't those white whiskers pretty? |
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When I had left the tom behind, I noticed this combine harvester in the
field opposite.
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The Swedish "Virtuella Floran" tells me that this plant is
called Fat-Hen in English. Be that as it may, it's a common weed but one
that is unusually attractive. Young plants have this glamorous silvery
dusting on their tops. It's not hard to imagine a fairy collecting the
dust and use it as flour.
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Well with a page called Botanical Specimens, what do you expect?
This is camomile but if it's German or Roman I don't know. The German
camomile is called Matricaria recutita, the Roman is called Anthemis
nobilis. Either way they flowers smell lovely, particularly when crushed.
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One last look towards Sharpenhoe. It's funny because I've
never actually been there. I've just seen it from afar. Maybe I'll go there.
One day. |
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