Ragged Robin on a Ragged Verge

Edith Holden's diary for early June 1906 described several trips in which she gathered wild flowers. For June the 8th she says:

Cycled through Widney, I gathered Lesser Spearwort in the marsh there, also Ragged Robin.

Her watercolours show a multitude of wildflowers including ox-eye daisies, clover and guilder rose.

Day 1 - Roadside flowers

For the first day of the Wildlife Trusts' #30DaysWild challenge I wanted to see if I could find some of Edith's flowers. So on a rather dull Wednesday morning, before I went into work, I set out to find wild flowers on the verge alongside the road leading from Birmingham International Station to Trinity Park.  Because light levels were low, it was mostly the white flowers that caught my attention.

White deadnettle.

Guelder Rose.

I was intrigued to find that some flowers, such as daisies, were closed up, waiting for the light. Other, less delicate blooms such as the Guelder Rose were already open.

Self-heal.

Ragged Robin

My world and Edith's suddenly and surprisingly connected when I found the delicate, pink Ragged Robin in this ragged roadside verge.

The last of the hawthorn blossom.

Later in the day, when my colleagues and I set off to get lunch at the Airport, we noticed a commotion in one of the confers on the business park. A flurry of black-and-white feathers betrayed the presence of magpies - but what was the bulky looking brown bird that left the tree? I circled round and spotted a Mistle Thrush.

Later in the day I visited the Elmdon Nature Park, where I found the field Golden with Buttercups.

Day 2 - Visit to a pond

For Day 2 of #30DaysWild, I sketched the pond near our office before starting work.

Watercolour sketch of the Trinity Park pond.

While I was there I saw the two pairs of tufted ducks that I saw a fortnight ago.

Azure Damselfly male

At lunchtime I took another look and found:

• the two pairs of Tufted Ducks
• Coots
• three well-grown Mallard ducklings, hiding in the reeds
• and a lot of squeaking from the reedbed, maybe the young Moorhens that I saw a fortnight ago.

Having lingered by the pond, I started to walk round it, briskly, and walked straight into a Damselfly. I saw two males and one female on a sunlit bush. I identified them with the help of the British Damselfly Society Identification page.