I make no secret of the fact that plants don't do it for me. God, if you believe there is one (?), created them so to stop mankind getting their shoes muddy! Top bloke and very considerate. Guys, like Steve & co, who go "botanising", will strongly disagree with my simplistic opinion and offer a well reasoned, and valid, alternative view. I am able to recognise the importance of plants in the overall ecosystem - they provide the oxygen I require to breathe whilst removing/converting the carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. They provide food for caterpillars - therefore I am forever in their debt for the moths that grace my garden MV. Plants make my world a "green and pleasant place" and I'm unable to argue otherwise - they also ensure vegans are not forced to eat bacon, but can't alter the fact that bacon tastes better than lettuce and lentils! Plants provide the very life blood of our existence - hops, grapes and grain! Can't make beer or wine (or bread!) without them, therefore they play a vital, and under-pinning, role in the modern world? So yeah, plants are critical building blocks in all our daily lives - still doesn't make them particularly exciting to me.
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| Possibly an example of Tall Broomrape ? - I discovered a group of twenty-four spikes in an overgrown corner of a car parking area, in Ramsgate, last summer. |
I am going to deliberately keep a lookout for anything semi-interesting, probably along a water course rather than besides the tracks of Newland's, but you never know? If I find it, then there is a very good chance that it is a common and abundant species - widespread across the whole UK. That won't particularly matter - it will be the first time I've ever looked at it, camera to hand in order to capture the splendour and the moment. You've been warned!
There you go Dyl, didn't hurt, did it? And it was an interesting post! I look forward to your slow conversion into all things botanical over the coming summer ;-)
ReplyDelete(By the way, the broomrape is most probably Common.)
My good man - I am gladdened by your supportive response. The id of any plant species is totally alien to my way of thinking, so I bow to your superior knowledge without hesitation or embarrassment. I've a couple of ideas, for future offerings, that might make you smile?
DeleteAll the best - Dyl
Dylan, once you start looking for all things botanical you will be surprised at how interesting it is and how much you have been walking past every day. When I first became a Vol. Warden of the Swale NNR 30 years ago, I immediately set about up-dating the wild flower list there and upped it by around 30 odd species and it was really gripping, they're nowhere near as boring as you might think.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you had a face-lift recently, that new header might have to be changed to "musings of a once younger hippie"
I am in no doubt that plants are able to hold a fascination to anyone with the slightest of interest in our natural world. I have, over the years, been shown some stunning examples of wild flowers which were either extremely rare or very local. Some of the orchid species we have on and around Thanet are magnificent, but and this is the big one for me, I do not have the time, or mental capacity, to seek further experience with this particular group. Just as with many of the insect/invertebrate groups I am happy simply to look without the need to delve deeper.
DeleteAs for my new header photo - it is there for Richie Francis. It is a very rare example of a "big" roach from Wilstone Res - something not many anglers have achieved, certainly not during the thirteen years I fished there. I'll leave it for a couple of weeks before getting a more recent image installed. Dyl
Dyl, that is indeed a rarity.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a roach from Wilstone, though I have seen and pictured Rudd of 2lb's plus from there.
The rate this is going, I'll be buying a season ticket again.
Rich, to be perfectly honest, I feel there is a bit of "silver fish - hybrid" with this individual. although at the time I was pretty sure it was a roach. I too saw a few rudd taken from Wilstone, but also another roach-like specimen of 2.15 taken by a visiting angler - Sept 91.
DeleteI don't think that going back is such a good idea? Can't see the current "carp biased" incumbents being anywhere near as diverse or characterful as the bunch of guys we were able to mix with "in the good old days" Simon lives in Aston Clinton, about ten minutes away from Wilstone and whenever I get a chance to have a wander around the whole place seems sterile - completely lacking atmosphere or allure. Maybe we were spoilt during our tenure - I am content to be able to look back with complete satisfaction knowing that I couldn't have gotten any more from the Tring experience. All the best - Dyl
Dyl, I'll admit I felt there was a touch of the Rudd/Roach about the fish myself but didn't want to spoil things with pedantry. I've had one or like this myself including a 2lb 14oz specimen which I wasn't too happy about. Still, it was only us anglers who are concerned about such details. Most people I talk to about angling only ask as far as 'Can you eat them'.
ReplyDeleteProbably right about Tring. It had a certain mystique; a certain unknown quantity about it when I first went there. Bearing in mind the methods of the day, it was no wonder we felt we were at the cutting edge.
Be good - Rich