A largely botanical day today between home and Colchester North Station, but started with the mallards still occupying a front lawn a very long way indeed from the nearest water. How she will get her ducklings down the hill to the River Colne, I just can’t imagine, even with the assistance of her two male companions. I can see duckling chaos ahead… (as usual, click on image for full view and browser back arrow to close image):
The greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) has been forming white drifts in the shade of woodland margins for a couple of weeks now:
The meadow buttercups (Ranunculus acris) are now tall and in full flower:
A magpie, looking as though it has come off second-best in a fight with a crow or a pair of jays, was skipping through the daisies:
Growing out from the base of someone’s wall, the amazingly hardy herb robert (Geranium robertianum) manages to flourish where almost nothing else can grow – it forms deep crimson patches in the loose dry ballast between the railway tracks at Colchester and Stratford Stations:
On the grass verge leading up the Colchester North Station, the common field speedwell (Veronica persica) now forms bright blue buttons of colour amidst the grass sward:
