I have a friend staying with me for the Bloomsbury Summer School and the British Museum Colloquium. He has a cold and I've been working in an office all week so I dragged him over the road to walk in the Woodland and Stave Hill with me for some fresh air yesterday. It was warm and bright, and although the sun was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds it was very attractive. I didn't do much in the way of taking photographs, although that had been my intention, because there wasn't much new that was in flower.
Our first target was the Downtown Pond. I wanted to see if the heron was on his usual perch. At first glance he didn't appear to be in the vicinity, but as we approached there was a flapping of wings and he took off not from his usual perch, but from the pond itself, vanishing off into the reeds. It was staggering how much of it is parched, the water having retreated several feet, leaving aquatic plants sitting on dry land. Presumably their roots are still reaching saturated levels because they don't yet seem to be dying.
In Stave Hill there were some Meadow Brown butterflies and lots of grasshoppers, but apart from a few other human visitors it was very quiet. Below are a couple of the very few photographs that I took.
I'm sorry that I haven't yet posted the next Rotherhithe Heritage installment. It feels a bit like saying "the dog ate my homework" but in fact my beastly Sony Vaio laptop ate the lengthy first installment. It took ages to research, write up nicely, illustrate and embellish and I need to take a small break and start breathing normally on the subject before starting all over again. Part of me cannot quite believe that the wretched thing isn't sitting there somewhere. I need to rebuild the machine because it is no use if it eats things! Very frustrating. This is my third Vaio and every single one has been a pain.
I haven't put captions on the following photographs but I'll try to go back and do them later in the week. But note that the Budleia globosa is back in flower, which is lovely, and that there's a teasel in the making. I managed to spend an afternoon at the British Museum "Origins" colloquium today, and stayed for the Sackler lecture. Not bad at all but it means that I only got home an hour and a half ago and I still have a ridiculous amount of things to do before a 6am rise - I just don't have the time to hit the plant books tonight.
Our first target was the Downtown Pond. I wanted to see if the heron was on his usual perch. At first glance he didn't appear to be in the vicinity, but as we approached there was a flapping of wings and he took off not from his usual perch, but from the pond itself, vanishing off into the reeds. It was staggering how much of it is parched, the water having retreated several feet, leaving aquatic plants sitting on dry land. Presumably their roots are still reaching saturated levels because they don't yet seem to be dying.
In Stave Hill there were some Meadow Brown butterflies and lots of grasshoppers, but apart from a few other human visitors it was very quiet. Below are a couple of the very few photographs that I took.
I'm sorry that I haven't yet posted the next Rotherhithe Heritage installment. It feels a bit like saying "the dog ate my homework" but in fact my beastly Sony Vaio laptop ate the lengthy first installment. It took ages to research, write up nicely, illustrate and embellish and I need to take a small break and start breathing normally on the subject before starting all over again. Part of me cannot quite believe that the wretched thing isn't sitting there somewhere. I need to rebuild the machine because it is no use if it eats things! Very frustrating. This is my third Vaio and every single one has been a pain.
I haven't put captions on the following photographs but I'll try to go back and do them later in the week. But note that the Budleia globosa is back in flower, which is lovely, and that there's a teasel in the making. I managed to spend an afternoon at the British Museum "Origins" colloquium today, and stayed for the Sackler lecture. Not bad at all but it means that I only got home an hour and a half ago and I still have a ridiculous amount of things to do before a 6am rise - I just don't have the time to hit the plant books tonight.
Buddleia globosa
Wild Teasel
Family: Dipsacaceae
Species: Dipsacus fullonum
Biennial
Family: Dipsacaceae
Species: Dipsacus fullonum
Biennial
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