På vägen hem från jobbet idag, såg jag en fågel som hade en lång hals flyga ovan en flod, det var inte en svan, kanske en and (duck?)eller en vildgås?, och jag kom att tänka på det där att jag är så vansinnigt intresserad av att titta på vildfåglar och vildblommar, och att ta reda på vad dem heter osv...
Det kanske stämmer från min mamma som också var lärare som mig, och som är nyfiken på livet, har mycket energi, och lärde oss mycket i skolan om just fåglar och blommar omkring oss.
Jag gillar naturvetenskap i alla sina former, men bäst av allt gillar jag bara att gå en promenad och titta på de vildblommor som växer på vägkanten för att se om jag känner igen dem och vad de heter.
Så här kommer några lånade bilder av 2 roliga böcker som jag fick en gång i present och 2 blommor som håller på att bli mer sällsynta.
Fina böcker och mycket bra för en som mig som gillar vädret!
Lovely books, great for someone like me who enjoys knowing about clouds and weather...
Gökblomstret, Ragged Robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi, eller Silene flos-cuculi
Lychnis flos-cuculi, commonly called Ragged Robin, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is species is native to Europe, where it is found along roads and in wet meadows and pastures. In Britain it has declined in numbers because of modern farming techniques and draining of wet-lands and is no longer common source Wikipedia
Gullviva, Cowslip, Primula veris
Primula veris (Cowslip) is a flowering plant in the genus Primula. The species is native throughout most of temperate Europe and Asia, and although absent from more northerly areas including much of northwest Scotland, it reappears in northernmost Sutherland and Orkney.
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Hello to all who pop in here...
I'm not sure how many other mammies are like me, slowing down the car to point out an interesting bird to the children, birds like swans, herons flying with neck tucked in, or a hawk hovering above the motorway, with its prey in its sight below it... I am this kind of a mammy, regularly exclaiming about birds or wildflowers which are out of the usual, pointing out planets in the evening sky to my kids, or interesting cloud formations...
No wonder my husband has given me these books as presents - The Cloudspotter's Handbook, and The Pig with Six Legs, see above...
I get very curious about Nature, maybe this comes from my mum, who was like me a teacher, and who is still a very curious, energetic and positive person, she taught us lots about Nature in school.
Today on my way home from work, I saw what i think was a wild duck or goose, it had a long neck, and it had short ish wings, not to worry, the main point is I started thinking about the way that I seem to notice these things around me, and love to watch and observe Nature, when I can.
I generally have a pain in my neck after a long walk, cos I'll have been looking to the side at the grass verges to see what plants are growing there!
I am including these borrowed pics of 2 flowers here because I used to see these flowers in 2 separate local places and they have been damaged or destroyed, so I'm in mourning for them...
Let me explain, The Ragged Robin used to flower in a damp area near a local football pitch but the pitch has been developed this past year, and it looks like the area where they flower has been covered in sand and gravel. As they don't flower till the summer, I'll have to wait till then to see if they've survived or not. There were lots of them when they did flower, very impressive sight.
The cowslip is a flower I remember so well from my childhood. We used to pick bunches of them from the edges of the fields on my uncle's farm and make small round balls of flowers, how we did it I cannot recall, must ask my mum...
There were 2 strong plants of cowslips growing on a mossy ditch at the side of the road near where I now live, but, woe of woes, about 3 years ago, a farmer driving a huge tractor hit the ditch JUST where the cowslips were and they were destroyed. Yes it's a small thing I know, but I look out for them each spring since then, and they have definitely not survived the tractor episode, no sign of them. Not happy with said farmer...
I guess I can always buy Irish wild flower seeds and plant some in my own garden.
Ok in the meantime, here's another song from the early 80's, love it....
