Fine

Another warm and beautiful day for a walk.  In fact, the rather stiff breeze this morning, made it all the more comfortable, even with the sun shining brightly once more.  Having left home and made a fuss of some of our favourite dogs who were being walked past the house, we decided on what we call 'The Farm Walk', taking in Head House Farm and the old West Hallam Colliery pit lines.

Where the local Wildlife Trust cleared hundreds of trees earlier this year and erected barbed-wire fencing (we wonder what for, as the fence stands alone and open at both ends), wild flowers have taken over. Among the most common are Evening Primroses which are blooming all over the place.  Here too, we find the stately form of Weld (Reseda luteola).  Commonly used in days of yore as a bright yellow dye, it was often mixed with Woad (a blue dye) to make green hues, particularly the well-known Lincoln Green made famous in the Robin Hood stories.  A few Poppies are still flowering along these paths too.

Making for home, we came across a small patch of Wild Carrot (Daucus carota), an attractive plant and easily identified when in bloom, by the single red flower which sits in the centre of the dome-shaped inflorescence of otherwise white flowers.  Most odd, but most attractive too.