We had a lovely morning at Eller Beck and Fen Bog, close to the North Yorkshire Moors railway and on the route of the Lyke Wake Walk. The plant above is the gorgeous Bog Bean, growing in peaty water which reflects back the blue sky.
This tiny plant, about the length of my thumb, is Moonwort, a little fern. It's not very common and even where it does occur it's a devil to find if the grass has grown a bit. Here the area was grazed by rather daggy looking sheep so the bigger plants were kept down a bit.
The pink plant is Lousewort. It's another that appreciates the acidic nature of the soil at Fen Bog.
And this little star is Chickweed Wintergreen. I don't think I've ever seen this before. There were quite a few plants growing in the shelter of a steep bank sloping down to the Beck.
This view across Fen Bog catches the steam train going back from Goathland to Pickering. The bog area was gifted to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust by two elderly military brothers in memory of their sons who died in the second world war. A lovely memorial.
And finally, just to show you don't always get it right - this shot of the lower part of my cross bred pea obelisk shows the shorter peas have white flowers. Some of the pods I hoped I'd cross pollinated were already self pollinated by the time I removed the male parts and dusted my Lancashire Lad pollen around. There are so far about 2 dozen two-tone magenta flowers at the top - the crosses, and about a dozen white flowers at the bottom - the Oregon Sugar Pods. So I shall simply save the peas from the purple flowers (marking them with cotton before the flowers go over!) and eat the sugar pods. I love the fact that you can save and continue to select your successes and still eat your mistakes!
The pink plant is Lousewort. It's another that appreciates the acidic nature of the soil at Fen Bog.
And this little star is Chickweed Wintergreen. I don't think I've ever seen this before. There were quite a few plants growing in the shelter of a steep bank sloping down to the Beck.
This view across Fen Bog catches the steam train going back from Goathland to Pickering. The bog area was gifted to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust by two elderly military brothers in memory of their sons who died in the second world war. A lovely memorial.
And finally, just to show you don't always get it right - this shot of the lower part of my cross bred pea obelisk shows the shorter peas have white flowers. Some of the pods I hoped I'd cross pollinated were already self pollinated by the time I removed the male parts and dusted my Lancashire Lad pollen around. There are so far about 2 dozen two-tone magenta flowers at the top - the crosses, and about a dozen white flowers at the bottom - the Oregon Sugar Pods. So I shall simply save the peas from the purple flowers (marking them with cotton before the flowers go over!) and eat the sugar pods. I love the fact that you can save and continue to select your successes and still eat your mistakes!
3 comments:
What a nice view to see the steam train across Fen Bog, so lucky!
With all the will in the world these flowers just cross pollinate at the drop of a hat! I am going to try to keep my Australian and New Zealand pumpkins pure bred so that I can grow them next year.
Looks like a fruitful outing. It is always fun finding little things on the way.
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