The Field in June

 

I love the field in June. The grass grows long and it feels more like a meadow than just a field. The mix of flowers and seed-heads makes it all the more interesting.

 

The pignuts have finished flowering and turning into beautiful sculptural seed-heads.

Self-heal

  

The elderflowers came a little earlier than usual this year and the boys and I have been regularly picking them to make cordial - our favourite summertime drink. Under the elder trees are mounds of brambles, all now in flower.

The tree I struggled to identify in April, appears to be a variant of Horse Chestnut. It's growing next to a more familiar Horse Chestnut so it's easy to compare. The leaves are more slender and pointed and it is only now coming into flower, much later than it's neighbour.

Clumps of nettles are in flower. I had spotted some small tortoiseshell caterpillars on the leaves a couple of weeks ago, which are always nice to see. On this visit I was lucky enough to see a Yellow Shell moth with beautiful shading on its wings.

The hedgerows on the edge of the field are peppered with dog roses - one of my favourites...
The season seems to be passing by so fast, I can barely keep up!

The field in January : February : March : April : May

the hawthorn tree - june

 

The hawthorn tree is looking very green, now that the blossom has been and gone.

 

The haws are in a very early stage of development.

 

I like the pattern that the old, dried stamens create.
Growing within the tree, the brambles are soon to flower.

Under the tree, the grass is getting long, even though there are cows now in the field. Buttercups dominate, with pignuts on the slopes.

And in amongst the grass is creeping cinquefoil, with it's cheery simple yellow flowers.

 

The hawthorn tree in:

March
April

May 

Joining in with Loose and Leafy's Tree Following project.

exploring around dolanog

River Vyrnwy

At the end of a half term of rain and a lot of restoration work at home, the boys and I were very excited to get out for a little adventuring. I have recently discovered a beautiful area of Montgomeryshire around Dolanog through doing some bird surveying for the BTO, and I was keen to explore further. Dolanog is a small village nestling in the valley of the river Vyrnwy.

 

 

Eager to try out their new fishing nets, the boys searched for minnows to catch...

 

There are a lot of beautiful old houses up here. This one had 1664 inscribed on a beam, wow!

  

 

I was equally taken with the the old barns... I think I have a thing for old farm buildings.

  

 

Bluebells were still in flower in shady spots, and the meadows were covered in pignuts and buttercups.

Common Speedwell

And I spotted a new speedwell, a Common Speedwell - not so common to me!

Yellow Archangel

  

Rowan

The hedgerows were full of hawthorn and rowan blossom. Things up here were a little behind than the trees at home.

Unfurling bracken fronds

The boys were unsuccessful in their quest for fish, but they did catch a lot of bugs and buttercups. Having the nets and hunting for prey (!) did help them walk over 6 miles with very little moaning!

Speckled Yellow moth

We left the river to walk back along quiet country lanes. Littlest spotted a colony of Speckled Yellow moths. The verges were gorgeous as they were full of wildflowers. Montgomeryshire at its finest up in these hills.

EDIT: The problem of writing a blog post with constant interuptions is you forget to include things that there isn't a photograph of! I meant to include some of the birds I spotted like redstarts, pied flycatchers and my highlight - a cuckoo! A first for me in Montgomeryshire.