Walking down through the Green Lane Shaw, there were a fair number of hoverflies patrolling their territories. Most I thought were the Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, but this was a Myathropa florea that was buzzing loudly and had taken control of some leaves in a patch of sunlight.
This is Leucozona lucorum, a rather tatty specimen from the currently declining first generation.
Many of the herbaceous plants were suffering from the dryness of the soil and the heat, and were already flagging this early in the season. The Hawthorn fruit continue to swell into haws - it seems that the season is progressing very quickly indeed! There is one on the left that appears not to have been fertilised. The epidermis of the fruit is slightly hairy, at least at this stage.
Here you can see even more clearly the swelling inferior ovary, with its sparse hairs and the remains of the calyx and the other floral parts above it, apart from the petals which dropped off weeks ago.
Further along the walk the Norway Maple keys were also developing gorgeously:
The elms were starting to show the Elm Leaf Gall,
In the Green Lane, I found a moderate stand of Hedge Woundwort, Stachys sylvatica, at the Bourneside end of the shaw.
As I moved out into the arable fields along the river, the Honeybees were working the flowering Forage Beans across the fields.
The Vetch I saw most today was in the Common Vetch aggregate, Vicia sativa. This plant looks like ssp. segetalis as in the BSBI plant crib, as it seemed more or less isophyllous, the tendrils are branched, with a clear slightly bi-coloured flower (standard somewhat paler than wings). There is more taxonomic information here http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/Wats12p1.pdf. This includes the suggestion that the calyx teeth should be shorter than the calyx tube, as here. It would be nice to check the pods and the seeds later, perhaps I should mark some typical plants so that I can go back to them in a few weeks.
This a close-up of the flower.
This ant looks yellowish, perhaps because the light is behind it. It had come down from the flower above.
This shows the dark patch generally seen on the stipules, and the hairs covering the plant.
This is the leaflets close up - its fascinating how the genes can apparently code for such a variety of leaf shapes! I wonder how long it would take a computer programmer to code for growth to produce the same results? Are the slightly spiky tips of the leaflets defensive or for some other purpose? The spikes are a bit longer in the currently cultivated form Vicia sativa ssp sativa.
Most of the Buttercups I saw today were Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens. However there were patches of Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris around, including at the edge of the crop in the field to the North of the bridge over the Bourne leading towards Barnes Place.
I think the beetles are flea beetles:
Many of this plant's flowers are already setting achenes, very similar to those of the Creeping Buttercup. Interesting pattern of light in these!
and this one shows the same pattern as well - air spaces around the seeds compared to double thickness wall edges perhaps? Or is it just that the seeds inside the fruit are themselves white? Anyway it's very pretty.
Here is Hedge Mustard, Sisymbium officinale, this one's buds just opening.
It was nice to see some birds flitting around the hedgerows. The nicest I thought was this male Yellowhammer on the Eastern side of the reservoir b y Malt Cottage.
Even more heavily cropped, this Linnet:
This is Leucozona lucorum, a rather tatty specimen from the currently declining first generation.
Many of the herbaceous plants were suffering from the dryness of the soil and the heat, and were already flagging this early in the season. The Hawthorn fruit continue to swell into haws - it seems that the season is progressing very quickly indeed! There is one on the left that appears not to have been fertilised. The epidermis of the fruit is slightly hairy, at least at this stage.
Here you can see even more clearly the swelling inferior ovary, with its sparse hairs and the remains of the calyx and the other floral parts above it, apart from the petals which dropped off weeks ago.
Further along the walk the Norway Maple keys were also developing gorgeously:
The elms were starting to show the Elm Leaf Gall,
In the Green Lane, I found a moderate stand of Hedge Woundwort, Stachys sylvatica, at the Bourneside end of the shaw.
As I moved out into the arable fields along the river, the Honeybees were working the flowering Forage Beans across the fields.
The Vetch I saw most today was in the Common Vetch aggregate, Vicia sativa. This plant looks like ssp. segetalis as in the BSBI plant crib, as it seemed more or less isophyllous, the tendrils are branched, with a clear slightly bi-coloured flower (standard somewhat paler than wings). There is more taxonomic information here http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/Wats12p1.pdf. This includes the suggestion that the calyx teeth should be shorter than the calyx tube, as here. It would be nice to check the pods and the seeds later, perhaps I should mark some typical plants so that I can go back to them in a few weeks.
This a close-up of the flower.
This ant looks yellowish, perhaps because the light is behind it. It had come down from the flower above.
This shows the dark patch generally seen on the stipules, and the hairs covering the plant.
This is the leaflets close up - its fascinating how the genes can apparently code for such a variety of leaf shapes! I wonder how long it would take a computer programmer to code for growth to produce the same results? Are the slightly spiky tips of the leaflets defensive or for some other purpose? The spikes are a bit longer in the currently cultivated form Vicia sativa ssp sativa.
I think the beetles are flea beetles:
Many of this plant's flowers are already setting achenes, very similar to those of the Creeping Buttercup. Interesting pattern of light in these!
and this one shows the same pattern as well - air spaces around the seeds compared to double thickness wall edges perhaps? Or is it just that the seeds inside the fruit are themselves white? Anyway it's very pretty.
Here is Hedge Mustard, Sisymbium officinale, this one's buds just opening.
Even more heavily cropped, this Linnet:
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