Thistly things

There is a great patch of teasels in the open field.

A close-up (left) shows the intricate spiral structure of their flowering heads. (Click on pictures for enlarged copies.)

The other end of the field contains a large stand of burdock (right). The flowers also have their own complex structure.

Both of these plants are members of the thistle family with their flowering heads consisting of a huge number of tiny florets, each containing all the parts found in larger flowers.

The spear thistle (left) is one of the more common members of the family. They usually grow as single specimens, as was this one, at the end of the footpath by the rams' field.

In contrast, the creeping thistle (right) grows in large thickets. They form a continuous clump all along the side of the same footpath.






But why this one is called a thistle I don't know. It's not prickly, has a completely different flower structure and makes quite a pretty picture. It's a blue sow thistle - an invading species from the Caucasus which has escaped from gardens. There's a lovely patch of them at the lower end of Market Field.

It doesn't even have the thistle-like rosettes of leaves at the base that our common British yellow sow thistles have.

I wonder who it was that decided on the name?

Dog at the seaside

A trip to the beach at Lancing today. Petra enjoys investigating the vegetation. 

The most common plant is the sea-kale.

But the horned poppy is here in numbers too.

It is very popular with the hover-flies as you can see on the right.

This form of ragwort is also easy to find.I think it is hoary ragwort.The enlarged picture shows the grey down all over.

And a stunted form of bittersweet is flowering well.

Both of these are attractive to the hoverflies too. It's difficult to take a picture without a hoverfly in it! The last two flies shown are the migrant hoverfly - eupeodes corollae. The one on the horned poppy is episyrphus balteatus - the marmalade hoverfly. All three are females and both species are flies that migrate to England from the continent - which is probably why they are here on the beach! Just arrived?

Ragwort

 

Common Ragwort is one of five "injurious weeds" specified in the Weeds Act 1959. It is said to be one of the most frequent causes of  livestock poisoning in Britain. As such, it should be controlled or eradicated where it might come into contact with farm animals. Unfortunately, this large patch of ragwort is on the footpath next to the rams' field on my walks. I'll see if it gets controlled!

Some free biological control is taking place though. The picture above shows a couple of cardinal beetles which seem to like the ragwort. I don't know if they weaken it, but the cinnabar moth caterpillars in the pictures below certainly do.

The caterpillars feed furiously and the affected ragwort stems get completely consumed. There are scores of caterpillars on this clump of weed but they may not all make it to maturity.

If the ragwort starts to run out, the larger caterpillars are known to feed on the smaller ones.

More orchids and a long walk!

I joined a couple of old friends today along with Petra for a walk on the South Downs Way from Washington to Botolphs. (see left)

There were lots of orchids at the Washington end. Mostly groups of common spotted orchid (right) but there were a few pyramidal too.








At Botolphs I set off with Petra up the Downs Link to Steyning.

These pretty sheep came across to see us on the first part of our homeward stroll.

Home by 1 o'clock - Petra slept the rest of the day!

Orchids

Petra took me an unusual way on her walk tonight. But that turned out to be lucky for me because I found my first wild orchids in Maudlin Lane.

They are pyramidal orchids growing on the grass verge of the lane.


It was quite late in the evening so picture quality is not so good but I couldn't resist it.

Sorrel

Looking across the open field this week I can see isolated spikes of pink waving amongst the grasses. On looking closely they turned out to be the flower and seed stems of sorrel plants.

The sorrel stems (left) are easily confused with the common dock (right).



In fact, the two are closely related, Sorrel is sometimes called narrow leaved dock while the common dock is more correctly called broad leaved dock.


The leaves of the sorrel are edible though. (I tried it!) They can be used as an acidic bite in salads or be cooked in a similar way to spinach.

Another friend for Petra

This is Sky. She enjoys her walks around the same area as Petra.

Petra has met Sky on several occasions and they always give each other a lively greeting.

Petra is now socialising with other dogs quite well after a difficult time last year.