My interest in plants extends to herbal medicine and floral folklore. Often found in gardens, such plants are easily accessible.
I find poisonous plants fascinating too. I would like to visit the Chelsea Physics garden as well as the Alnwick Poison Garden in Northumberland. Over the past week, a few wild flowers that I have noticed blooming would probably be found in these gardens, these are;
– White bryony (Bryonia dioica) scrambling over Dogwood (Cornus). White Bryony has poisonous berries and the plant has a very strong unpleasant purgative affect. A few deaths linked to this plant have been recorded.
– Woody Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara).
Also called Bittersweet the plant would make someone incredibly ill; the berries if eaten would cause vomiting and convulsions. There have been a few deaths linked to this plant. It is from the same family as Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna, See Woodland Trust).
I saw other wildflowers blooming too such as the intriguingly named Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea lutetiana). Confusingly this flower isn’t from the nightshade family at all but is actually a Willowherb. One folkloric belief was that this plant would give protection against Elvish spells.
I also saw Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) along the verges.
I continued to see many birds and insects throughout the week. After many days since the last time, I was happy to see the juvenile Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) back in the Rowan tree (Sorbus). Also on Monday I had a Juvenile Robin (Erithacus rubecula) follow me around. Clearly the instincts for locating food near gardeners starts early.
The first moth I saw last week was an adult female Bee moth (Aphomia sociella). These moths are so called because they lay eggs in bee and wasp nests and also bee hives. Their larvae eat the comb, causing damage and are therefore a pest for beekeepers.
Other moths I saw were two Rosy tabby (Endotricha flammealis) moths
and a Dark arches (Apamea monoglypha) moth.
On Wednesday I was working near a fantastic old Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) tree. Countless Honey bees (Apis mellifera) and Marmalade hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus) were busy flying to and fro pollinating the flowers.
As the summer continues more and more butterflies become visible. I have seen lots more Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina), Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and Large white butterflies (Pieris brassicae). One of them seen here on some lavender (Lavandula).
Also on Wednesday I observed two butterflies that I have never seen before, a Marbled white (Melanargia galathea) on Verbena bonariensis
and a Small skipper butterfly (Thymelicus sylvestris), also seen on the Verbena bonariensis.
Later on the same day I also saw ten Azure damselflies (Coenagrion puella) around the pond.
On Friday morning, as I was going to work, I had to usher a Common green lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea) outside so it could find some aphids to munch on.
Then lastly on Friday I saw a Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) on Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’.
Bee in the Moment 