Rich with the Promise of New Life

Managed to take a wander along the River Tweed, at Gattonside on Thursday, and wow is all I can say!!! Finally a place that spring hasn’t forgotten! It might be some way behind, but finally the warmth of a few nice days has reminded the world that spring is actually coming and the place seems rich with the promise of new life.

The river bank is covered with the bright, shiny, spring-green leaves of the Few-flowered Leek, which when bruised by our passing, gave the air a wonderful garlicky smell. Amongst the leaves, the majority of flower buds still remain tightly closed, waiting for a touch more warmth, but just occasionally an odd white papery flower is found. In other places there were patches of the heart shaped leaves of the Lesser Celandine, again most of the flowers were just buds, but one or two had dared to open their bright yellow flowers to follow the sun. Shouting for all the world to see that spring comes to those that wait!

 

Purple Toothwort – 09 April 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

With some careful searching around the base of a number of Willow trees, I found the prize of the afternoon, one tiny but amazing bloom of the Purple Toothwort. Even though not a native of the British flora (it was originally introduced from south-west Europe), I do love this small secretive plant. Its a small parasite that grows on the roots of Willows and Poplars, and can only be readily found when it flowers in the spring. For the rest of the time, as this plant does not photosynthesis and therefore does not need leaves, it’s lost beneath the ground. For all this explanation, I still feel that it reminds me of a miniature Trifid, with the hooded bloom and hairy anthers. Closer examination of the patch reveals a number of buds surrounding the single open flower, waiting for the weather to warm before opening, currently though they look a touch like the gaping mouths of some alien monster, ready to grab at a passing morsel, if it dares to approach too close!

 

Purple Toothwort – 09 April 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer

They say that one Swallow doesn’t make a summer, in that case I assume a small flock does. Well in that case I hope that this isn’t summer, for there I was this evening, standing on the old Tweed Bridge over the River Tweed, in the rain, with a temperature of around 4^oC and there was a flock of Swallows swooping and feeding over the River Tweed. In some ways its a brilliant sight as these were the first of the year, but also I hope that this is not how the summer is going to be.

Looking west along the River Tweed, from the Old Tweed Bridge – 26 April 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones 2012)