Morning findings on a 10 May wellywander

Two violet plants where there weren't any before

Two baby beech trees; hope one of them survives

Dandelion with ants

Today's favourite dandelion

The Chinese Lantern tree is beginning to flower in spite of deers' chomping of its bark. I think I might put some chicken wire around it.

Solomon's Seal

The first Creeping Buttercup

Evidence of deer chomp (moulted hairs).
Red Campion might be flowering otherwise.

Deer moult; noticed the first flowering of
Ribwort Plantain yesterday.

New Calluna that Toad bought:
Calluna vulgaris 'Hammondii Aureifloia'.
He also got Erica x darleyensis 'Ghost Hills'

Bugle beginning to flower

A cracker of a morning

I watched the sun appear over the horizon from among the whins and brambles at the top of the field. It's going to be a cracker of a day!

In the shelter of the whins, brambles are still flowering, and in among the brambles the gorse flowers too.

Early morning light on brambles

and on a non-native oak leaf

                                                      Most of the dock looks like this >

< But some of it looks like this

And the bracken looks like this in the morning light. It is the golding glory of the hills in autumn and their greening glory in spring.

<< here I'm back at the south-east border of the Boggy Brae garden looking down towards the loch and I look back east to the rising sun >>>








before I scissor-step over the fence.

On my wander down the Boggy Brae, I notice a new crop of Glistening Inkcap mushrooms on the old rowan,

rain pock-marked wood ash from some garden bonfires,



and the crack patterns on an old birch stump at the same bonfire site.

I will take care with the secateurs today. Yesterday, while snipping rhododendron to feed to a small bonfire, my left hand got in the way and got slightly snipped. It's a very neat V-shaped cut. It'll be fine–one of those serves me right injuries!

Now I'm off out to begin my "dead hedge" building. More of that anon.

Have good day! It's a cracker of a day here.

This morning's light

From near the top of the field near my home
(click photos to enlarge)

The lower two photos were taken from near the bottom of my garden, which is level with the bottom of the field.

An early welly wander between showers

 The clouds were scudding by fast this morning when I wandered up the garden and over the fence into the field to watch what was visible of the sunrise.

There would clearly be some more rain soon but before it came I climbed over the forest fence, stepped over the burn...

...and found a new moss: Greater Fork Moss (Dicranum majus), a relative, I suppose, of Dicranum scoparium that grows in the garden.

Dicranum scoparium
Broom Fork Moss

Where I stepped over the burn is quite narrow. just a little further down, where it turns to run steeply downhill and into the sea, it is wider and, at the moment, gushier and noisier.

Walking back across the field I noticed this goo slime mould, or whatever it is. There were
several patches of it.

Just before doing my scissor step over the garden fence, I found a typical Boggy Brae sycamore leaf with its decoration of Sycamore Tarspot fungus, which is a sign of clean air. I like the brown and black together, and the different brown tones of the paler gilled fungus on the brown leaf above.



My trundle down the garden included checking up on the ever larger crop of Hare's Foot Inkcaps (Coprinopsis lagopus) on an old compost heap. On the young yew tree next to the heap I spotted a single berry. Couldn't see any others.

Yew berry

<< Hare's Foot Inkcaps

A little brightness under clouds

Out scything early

I didn't scythe all this. The farmer turned the hay yesterday evening. I expect he'll be along to bale it today.

First light on the field.
Saw a big fox lolloping down it and into gardens below.

Two colours of rose on one plant, with yarrow leaves

Morning grass

Morning buttercups

Time to get back out there and carry on mowing.