Meadows were Golden with Buttercups

According to Edith Holden's The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, June 1906 started with heavy thunderstorms. In 2016, I was fortunate to avoid delays to my journey to Birmingham as overnight storms in Sussex, where I live, had brought down trees and blocked roads.

Bright buttercups on a dull evening.

Edith's entry for June 2 said ...

"Many of the meadows are golden with Buttercups, and some of the fields are showing quite red, where the sorrel is coming into flower."

This week, I stayed at the Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn, just across the road from Solihull Council's Elmdon Nature Park. I discovered this park during last year's #30DaysWild and finding out that Edith Holden had walked in Elmdon Park inspired me to start this blog. I am rather nervous about using the iron bridge to cross the road but was pleasantly distracted by finding pretty tree blossoms at eye-level.

June 1st - A form of Whitebeam?

I passed the eccentric-looking old lodge and followed a path through some woodland, which gave way to a large grassed area.

June 1st - Woodland giving way to buttercups.

There were Buttercups everywhere - the flowers bobbing in the gusty wind. Above my head, swifts were gathering a late meal and the clouds were getting heavier and darker.

Only nature could get away with this colour combination.

A path divides the field into two, I followed it for a little way before finding the shocking pink flowers of Red Campion.

Cow Parsley, almost glowing in the gloom.

The lovely froth of Cow Parsley formed a lacy screen between me and the Buttercups. The sky was getting darker and I decided to turn back as there was little point in trying to take more photos.

Watercolour sketch.

Before leaving the buttercups, I perched on a handy seat and used watercolours to sketch the scene.  Surrounded by trees and wildflowers, and with rabbits grazing nearby, all the workday busyness and stress fell away. I felt that only the thunder of aeroplanes separated me from the artist and teacher who diligently made her nature notes over a hundred years ago.

In a later entry, Edith speaks of going out with a large party of friends. Although the passing dog walkers may have thought I was alone, my party of friends is much larger than Edith's. I am one of more than 25,000 people who have registered for the Wild Life Trusts' #30DaysWild. The plan is to do something wildlife related every day. We are keeping each other company by blogging, tweeting and sharing images and videos.  As soon as I had finished my sketch, I shared it using that 21st Century essential - the Smart Phone.