Wildflowers for Week 5

Hi Wild Friends!

This week we thought we'd share a few of the wildflowers I see when I am out on my daily exercise at the moment. There are lots of stunning flowers popping up on verges, grassland, by the river and even in our gardens that we all pass each day.

If you get the time to really look at them it’s incredible how beautiful and detailed they all are. Check out our video introduction to this below with suggestions of what to look out for to identify some wildflowers. There are also lots of great pocket sized I.D books available out there. I like to use the iNaturalist phone App.

Cuckoo Flower

Cuckoo Flower

I spotted these lovely Cuckoo Flowers, and there seems to be an abundance of them around this year. It has lots of names, I know it better as Ladies Smock but it is also known as the Mayflower, Milkmaid or the Fairy Flower. It grows in damp verges and meadows.

Look out for its lovely delicate pale lilac/pink flowers in clusters with yellow anthers inside quite tall on thin stems with little thin stemmed leaflets. The Orange tip butterfly loves this flower!

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Marsh Marigold

This cheerful member of the buttercup family lives in damp woodland. I saw this flower and others whilst walking a path by the river. It’s a beautiful sturdy plant. It has 5 golden yellow cup shaped sepals (not petals) and dark green shiny heart shaped leafs on a stong hollow stem. As it’s so bright they are pretty easy to spot even from afar.

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Wood Anemone

Wood Anemone

In full flower at this time of the year (March-May) is the Wood Anemone. It is found in mature woodland, and is an indicator that you are likely standing in an ancient woodland site.

It grows in great swathes like these ones. The gentle white leafed flower head turns in the direction of the sun throughout the day. It has 3 distinctive lobed leaves.

A joy to see.

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Slender Speedwell

Slender Speedwell

This tiny little wildflower is often overlooked growing in grasslands and even sometimes on your lawn! It has lovely bluish flowers with white tips and kidney shaped leaves.

It’s also sometimes known as Creeping Speedwell as it creeps through the grass. Keep an eye out for it.

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Lesser Celandine

I love this Wildflower. It can be found in hedgerow and open woodland. It’s the first of the buttercup family to appear in spring. Growing low to the ground its bright cheery yellow petals stand out from its dark green shiny heart-shaped leaves, the flowers will only open up in the sun so look out for them. This is a good one to compare to the old faithful Creeping Buttercup or the Marsh Marigold – all from the same Family but they have differences!

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I hope you've enjoyed a wee look at my local wildflowers. I'm sure you'll spot lots of different ones too!

Take care & stay safe!

Love from WILD

#lovethenatureonyourdoorstep

Ash Tree for week four

Hello Everyone

This week's tree is the Ash. Ash is unpretentious and graceful in appearance.

You can find Ash throughout Linn Park and surrounding area. Ash has beautiful smooth silvery bark in it's youth. Over time the bark becomes rougher and forms diamond shapes, similar to that of the Willow. Ash is an extremely strong wood, this may be a reason it is known for it's protective and healing properties.

At the moment the buds are still closed. They're distinctive, black 'claw like' buds, contrasting with the silvery green of the tree's bark. Some say the buds look like 'witches fingernails'!

Ash buds

Norse Myths

The Ash tree is significant in many cultures and mythology. In Norse Mythology the Ash Tree is know as the World Tree or Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil connected the ocean to the earth to the sky along with all the creatures that lived in each element.

If you like stories about Mythology, Gods and nature, this is great book for you. It also reminds us that all living things are closely connected.

Have a safe week exploring the nature around you.

Love from WILD

Wild Cherry Tree

Hi Wild Friends,

Today’s tree you might be lucky to spot around your neighborhood when you are out on your daily exercise at this time of year is the Wild Cherry Tree!

This beautiful tree is very distinctive to spot especially at the moment as its blossom has just started bursting open and it has an absolute abundance of white flowers. Have a look at our video or check out the Wild Cherry Tree Identification Traits below.

WIld Cherry Tree Identification Traits

Flowers: Wild Cherry white flowers are in a cup shape and have 5 petals, the flowers grow in long stemmed clusters and they provide a welcome early source of pollen and nectar for bees.

Leafs which are emerging along with the blossom at the moment are long – up to 15cm, they are toothed, slender and pointed at the tip. the stem turns red as it nears the branch. These leafs provide a bounty of food for the caterpillars of various moths that will be in the tree.

Bark: The bark of the Wild cherry is very noticeable as the brown or grey branches have striped markings. The mature tree trunk like the one in these photo’s and videos have cream coloured horizontal strips on it that are called lenticels.

Fruit: Later in the year the tree fruits small red berries which are loved by Blackbirds and Thrush, Wood mouse and Dormouse alike.

Wild Cherry Folklore: In highlands folklore, Wild Cherry had mysterious qualities, and to encounter one was considered auspicious and fateful.

Compare: You could compare this blossom to the Blackthorn Trees white blossom that’s also out just now. The Blackthorn flowers are much smaller, with smaller stems closer to the branch. Also the Blacktorn Trees blossom appears before the leaves.

A splendidly beautiful and useful tree! Definitely worth keeping an eye out for!

Take care folks - and we’ll see you all next week.

Love from WILD