I was alerted by a sharp-eyed local resident to this bike which had appeared in the middle of our pond. I popped down to fish it out with our grass-raking grapnel and while I was there, I had a look around to see what was going on.
I was delighted to see hundreds of small fish but due to their size, muddiness of the water and complete lack of cooperation on their part I couldn’t identify them. How they got there in those numbers is a mystery, because the pond dried up only a few years ago.
We are blessed by some very beautiful wild flowers which although they can be very small they make up for that by their lovely colours and form, and also some brilliant names. I use the free PlantNet app on my phone to identify them, and I much prefer the common names so that’s what I’ll use.
This needs no introduction, but the display of foxgloves by the pond is spectacular. The bees love them.
This one is less obvious but the name makes up for it: Broadleaf Enchanter’s Nightshade:
You might think this is a buttercup, but this is a special type of buttercup called St. Anthony’s Turnip. I’m not sure why!
Another very tiny one, a very small type of geranium called Little Robin.
Apparently, plants with “wort” in their name have healing properties so you can probably guess what Hedge Woundwort was used for:
Finally, the most spectacular of all and easiest to photograph if the damselflies could please get out of the way: Yellow Flag
