This is the commonest fumitory, especially round the south of England. It is Common Fumitory, Fumaria officinalis. There are quite a few fumitories (Dense-flowered, Fine-leaved, Few-flowered, White Ramping, Purple Ramping, Tall Ramping, Common Ramping) and the key to telling them apart is to look at the sepals (the translucent, white, pointy 'shield' at the junction of the flower stalk and the flower in the top left picture) and the fruit plus bract.
The fruit in Common Fumitory is a truncated sphere with fruit stalk longer than bract (bottom left (x20)).
The family name comes from the Greek name for the plant which meant 'smoke'. The reason (so obvious when pointed out) is that the watery latex of the plant, when put in the eyes, causes them to weep, just like smoke. Good old Dioscorides; never one for arcane connections.
Not the sycamore leaf, but the black spots. It is Rhytisma acerinum or Tar Spot. It is an ascomycete fungus and more specifically the fruiting body of the fungus. It doesn't harm the tree.
Most of these have 'gone over' already but I came across one in reasonable fettle when I was doing the WeBS survey. It is Creeping Thistle, Cirsium arvense, and is one of our commonest thistles. It differs from Spear Thistle and Marsh Thistle in having smooth, furrowed stems.
Despite being an important food plant for over 20 species of lepidoptera, many finches and other invertebrates, it is classified as an injurious weed under the Weeds Act (1959)!
This is Common Reed, Phragmites australis, which is a grass. It forms large beds on suitable substrate and has been of great economic importance historically, primarily as a roofing material.
Ecologically reed beds provide habitat for a wide range of species. Three birds dependent on reed beds are the Bittern, Botaurus stellarius, the Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, and the Bearded Reedling (aka the Bearded Tit), Panurus biarmicus. Many others are associated with them, e.g. Reed Bunting and Sedge Warbler.
I was down on the RSPB reserve doing a slightly overdue WeBS count and picked up a few species amenable to photographic capture. This was one: Water Mint or Mentha aquatica. It smells minty (being a mint).
This was taken back in mid-July but I saw one the other day so thought I'd mention it. An unmistakable butterfly known to most people, the Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, is not resident but comes up from Southern Europe to breed, the offspring returning in the Autumn. That's quite a journey for a small bird, let alone a butterfly.
I keyed this out to Common Yellow Sedge and a couple of people agreed (including a BSBI expert). It is particularly diminutive, growing as it does in closely cropped turf in the Ashdown Forest. It's Latin binomial is Carex demissa.
This lovely mushroom was growing in Pete's woods. It is a Matt Bolete or Boletus pruinatus. Despite its appearance it is edible.
Now is the best time for Bolete or Cep or Porcini mushrooms. Of course you have to avoid eating the naughty ones.
My old friend Pete finally took me to see his 'new' woods out near Heathfield today. It was a beautiful morning and during a beating of the bounds I noticed these two up to no good on some old Marsh Thistle heads. There isn't much sexual dimorphism but from their behaviour when first seen I'll wager one's a male and the other female.
They are Sloe Bugs, Dolycoris baccarum, although they are usually not found on Blackthorn (sloe) but rather on a wide range of plants, with an apparent predilection for Rosaceae.
Besides the chequerboard markings, the identification is clinched by their hirsute nature (zoom in on the image) and black and white antennae.
This is a male Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus, also known as a Cross, Diadem or Crowned Orb-weaver spider. It is one of our commonest spiders in the UK. The females are larger and have rounded abdomens: they occasionally eat the male after mating. These spiders can bite if provoked. It is like a mild bee sting.
Meadow Clary, Salvia pratensis, is a common plant in the horticultural community but is also found as a garden escape. In the south of the UK it is considered native in the wild. It grows in the verges around our house but here is a rather magnificent specimen growing in front of the Parliament buildings in Budapest.
It differs from Wild Clary in having less deeply toothed leaves and long projecting styles.
This poor tree was nearly dead on the slopes beneath the Fishermen's Bastion in Budapest. It is desperately flowering again despite being in fruit.
Aesculus hippocastanum is from round these parts, relatively speaking: the Caucasian Mountains. Its natural habitat is the sides of gorges or cliffs. I prefer to call it a conker tree.
This is Spindle, Euonymus europaeus, growing in secondary woodland above the Danube in Budapest. (Very nice thank you. I can recommend it.)
It has very hard wood which made it great for making spindles. Turner was the first to call it a Spindle tree but borrowed from the Dutch. The flowers and fruit are much more spectacular than these photos suggest. I clearly remember the first time I came across it on the edge of a ride in some ancient woodland near where we were living in Sussex back in 2007; it was so garish I concluded that it couldn't possibly be native. I was shocked when I discovered I was wrong.
This is Sea Club-Rush growing at Blackpill on Swansea Bay. It's binomial is Bolboschoenus maritimus. It likes brackish environments and has two distinctive leaf-like bracts, one considerably longer than the other. The corners of the triangular stems (sedge family) are scabrid (great word).
Meant to post yesterday but traveled to Budapest and got distracted.
Quick one tonight as in a bit of a rush. This is one from the coast at Burry Port on the north shore of the Loughor Estuary. Sea Sandwort or Honckenya peploides. I think the binomial is better than the common name for this one. It is actually a member of the Campion family, although it would be hard to place when you come across it no in flower.
I think I've done Ribwort Plantain, the commonest plant in Europe I heard or read somewhere. And I've also done Buck's Horn Plantain.
This is Greater Plantain, also everywhere near you now in flower. It's binomial is Plantago major. The leaves have been used as a wound poultice to promote healing and reduce infection for centuries, but they are also edible.
Missed yesterday so here are two: Creeping Willow, Salix repens. It is a very variable plant with a recognised subspecies found in dune slacks which has silvery hairs on both sides. This is not it. This is one I found growing in one of the plots I'm surveying in Ashdown Forest for the National Plant Monitoring Scheme.
I noticed this moth larva enjoying our Victoria Plum on Sunday. It's a Grey Dagger, Acronicta psi. Its close relative, the Dark Dagger, A. tridens, is impossible to distinguish as an imago (unless you get up very close and personal, and examine the genitals). The larvae are, however, easily told apart.
It is common, being found throughout the UK, with a predilection for most deciduous shrubs and trees.
I found this growing out of the top of a wall and realised I'd forgotten how to distinguish Black Medick, Medicago lupulina, from Hop Trefoil and Lesser Trefoil. The answer is that Black Medick is hairier, has spirally coiled black fruits, and the leaflets are mucronate.
The word 'Medick' comes, according to Geoffrey Grigson, from herba Medica which means the Median or Persian herb. Strabo had it originating in the country of the Medes. Dioscorides' description shows that it was originally referring to M. sativa, or Lucerne, which was widely grown as a fodder plant in the Middle East. Lupulina derives from 'wolf-like', referring to its similarity to the hop or 'willow-wolf'.
I'm not really keen on spiders; slightly phobic like so many people. It's annoying. I've been trying to overcome it by taking a more scientific interest.
This is the common house-spider, Tegenaria domestica, which can grow to a considerable (and scary!) size. They are fast movers too. This one was posing nicely so I thought I'd snap it for the blog. It is a male I think: more elongated body and impressive pedipalps. The latter also contain a small chamber for storing semen prior to fertilising the female.
I confess I didn't have the nerve to pick it up so encouraged it to get off my clothes by annoying it slightly.
This is a common plant growing on rough ground; I guess it would qualify for classification as a ruderal species. According to Grigson it has an ancient association with magic and medicine, known across Europe as the Mater Herbarum or Mother of Herbs. I would be hung in houses to ward off evil.
Other local names include St John's plant, Old Uncle Henry, Sailor's tobacco and, according to Wikipedia, Naughty Man.
It's Latin binomial is Artemisia vulgaris and Wormwood, A. absinthium, is in the same genus.
This is another plant from the Welsh littoral: Sea Spurge, Euphorbia paralias. As you can no doubt tell, these are two different plants. It is found above the high tide mark but below the dunes in these cases. Euphorbias have weird flowers with round or crescent-shaped 'glands'. (Unfortunately these aren't clear in the photo.) The inflorescence is an umbel although this isn't as obvious as in the carrot family. They also have acrid latex which is obvious when the stems are cut.
This is Common Heather or Ling, Calluna vulgaris, and is in flower at the moment on heaths and moors all over the UK and Ireland. It smells amazing - just like the honey the bees make from it. People sometimes get confused about our heath plants: bell heather, ling, cross-leaved heath and the rare ones such as Dorset, Cornish, Irish, Mackay's and St Dabeoc's. Ling is easy - the leaves are unlike any of the others.
To complete the gorse trilogy, this is Dwarf Gorse, Ulex minor, growing on the Ashdown Forest heath and flowering next to the flowerless gorse, U. europaeus. It does not smell of coconut either.
Few more moths from 10th/11th August trapping. This one is a Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba. It's a female, the male's being darker. The two black dots near the tips of the forewings are useful identification features.
Compare with N. orbona from back in July.
