Tag: hawkweed

#365daysofbiking Hawkish

April 1st – Every day now there’s a new flower to see on every journey – even the short ones.

Adding to the bright yellows of spring, a flower at first glance often mistaken for dandelions. Hawkweed.

This beautiful spring soldier is generally yellow but does come in a variety of colours and types. All dwell on edge lands, verges and in hedgerows.

This profusion of flowers is just what I need right now.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3co6SAO
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Hovering hawks

July 2nd – On a grass verge on an industrial estate near Darlaston, hoverflies  were busy pollinating the hawkweed flower – and both the flower and fly are overlooked stalwarts.

Hawkweed in all it’s forms is a common, bright splash of colour in town and country alike, and is a dweeler of the edgeland, wasteland and verge doing nothing more than providing beautiful flowers. Sadly often regarded as a weed or mistaken for dandelions, it gets sadly passed by but really is worth a look.

The hoverflies are one of the important pollinators, and although disguised to look like bees or wasps for protection from predators, they’re totally harmless.

Two unsung heroes, supporting each other…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Xv88zn
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking On grey days, I dream in colour

June 23rd – A tired, grumpy recovery day. I set out mid afternoon to find something to cheer me up – no easy task in the grey and drizzle that prevailed: Such a shock after the bright, warm summer of the day before.

At Norton Bog, I found what I was looking for: The brightness of summer flowers around the small pool by the bypass.

Several varieties of orchid, devils paintbrush and birdsfoot trefoil mingled and competed to be the most vivid.

A lovely display that did indeed perk me up no end.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2FDYBuN
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Wayside stars

May 13th – Every day now there are new wildflowers to be found on verges, towpaths, wasteland and in hedgerows. Devil’s paintbrushes – Hawkweed – caught my eye this morning, as did birdsfoot trefoil and the beautiful, perfect seeding dandelions.

And all these on an unremarkable Darlaston industrial estate.

This journal is moving home. Please find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2W1F0xY
via IFTTT

June 15th – I really have got the taste for Birmingham and the Black Country’s canals. Another trip into the city after work on a grey, occasionally drizzly afternoon rewarded me with flowers, great bridges and interesting views.

You just know that if life were a video game, there would be a secret something behind that brickwork.

Really enjoyed the Tame Valley Canal today.

April 22nd – An odd sight in spring is always the first wind-seeding wildflowers, in this case I’m not sure what it is, possibly hawkweed. It seems almost incongruous to see seed heads at this time of year, but most flowers who seed this way do so throughout the season. 

Such beautiful, silky fluff on this one.

May 24th – One of the more strikingly beautiful wayside flowers that grow pretty much as weeds along the cycleways and towpaths is Hawkweed. Ranging in colour from yellow to crimson, these are gorgeous flowers that some would view as invasive.

I love to see these every summer, and the Goscote valley is lined with them. They are a joy to the heart.