Bluebells at Pound Green – Bitter-vetch – ‘Wonky Horns’ – Annual knawel leaves – Ducklings – Teesdalia habitat – Pudford Sunset – Stork’s-bill on the verge
Pathway through the Bluebells at Pound Green Coppice, Wyre Forest. 22.04.26.Bitter-vetchLathyrus linifolius in flower on a scrubby woodland bank in Blackgraves Copse, Wyre Forest. 22.04.26.‘Wonky Horns’ is one of my favourite Long Horns roaming Hartlebury Common. She is unique in having offset horns. She recently featured on the cover of Worcestershire Biodiversity Duty Report, too. 23.04.26. Annual KnawelScleranthus annuus is an annual of disturbed sandy soils, so it’s no surprise that it is present on Hartlebury Common. This photo shows the fused opposite leaves, characteristic of the genus.A mother mallard and her ducklings, swimming in water that will be gone by the summer. The Bog, Hartlebury Common. 23.04.26.Typical habitat for Shepherd’s cressTeesdalia nudicaulis which thrives on the disturbed loose sand of Hartlebury Common. 23.04.26Sunset views north-west over the Teme Valley and towards Titterstone Clee Hill, from Pudford Hill. 23.04.26.Common stork’s-billErodium cicutarium blanketing the sandy, infertile road verge on Mill Road, Stourport-on-Severn.
Notes
This week, St. Mark’s Flies have taken to the skies coinciding nicely with the start of the hawthorn blossom. The docile flight of St. Mark’s Fly seems to make them the perfect snack for an acrobatic house sparrow, a behaviour that I’ve observed for the first time in the garden this week.
Tom the Botanist 
Leave a comment