Country Colour

The countryside is filling with colour as spring comes to an end and summer takes a hold. This morning, as we walked along Slack Road, the fields were filled with the bright yellow of Buttercups, swaying in the stiff breeze.

Always good value, in such vast quantity, Buttercups must surely rival any other flower for sheer exuberance.

Closer to home, we have discovered a stand of Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia).

A member of the Pea family, Sainfoin has been grown as a fodder crop for many years and it has the added property of being able to purge farm animals of intestinal worms. Since the 1950's, it has largely been replaced by Alfafa.

There seem to be quite a lot of insects around at the moment - the warm weather and a mild winter helping with their numbers. We've seen lots of bright red Soldier Beetles on the flat heads of Cow Parsley and this fabulous little Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis).

Yellow Flag Iris are adding their sunny colours to the scene too. These were growing alongside Mapperley Reservoir a few days ago, accompanied by a Coot, busy in the background.

Lastly for today, a new 'tick' for my life list. This time, an insect found in our own back garden, on a Teasel leaf. It turned out to be a brilliant bee-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans).