Village flowers - mostly wild

I wandered round the village yesterday morning after doing the animals and was amazed by the amount of beautiful flowers in two little lanes.

The ubiquitous Mysotis, forget-me-nots, are everywhere.  It doesn't seem to matter how many plants I pull up there are more again the following year.

These are more iris from my neighbour's verge.

 Common cow parsley in the lane, but it's really lovely when you look closely at the little florets.

And unfolding bracken fronds - I love the curls of the "buds".

This pink flowered plant is Crane's-bill alongside the buttercups.

This is one of the many horses belonging to a neighbour.  Who is in a field opposite my hay field . 

Here you can see the hay field and behind it the sheds which house my animals, barn and polytunnel.

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The hawthorn is in bloom and it is so pretty especially when you look closely.

Another of my neighbour's horses which he keeps for endurance competitions.

This clump of iris are in another neighbour's garden.  They are smaller than the ones on my other neighbour's verge and very sweet.  

I'm not sure what this plant is, but I really like the way the stamens are held proud of the bloom.

Below is another neighbour's pond which is full from the tremendous amount of rain we had in April.

Periwinkle, Vinca major, is all over the place too and I love the way it spreads and covers the ground.

Another wild flower which I don't recognise, but in drifts it gives a red-pink tinge to the tops of the verges.

This is another of my neighbour's irises.

And lastly an iris bud, promising a beautiful flower.

Three things I like:

1.   The soaring temperatures and sunshine we've been enjoying these last few days.

2.   My village.

3.   My current Book Club book - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

Animals and a Beautiful Iris

The first photo is of Daisy and Alfie on the windowsill.  They love this position, which takes them away from the extreme heat of the woodburner but they have the warmth of the fleece that they lie on in the sun, and if they turn round they can watch the small feathered fliers on the bird table.

The next is of Purrdy mid yawn.

My neighbours have the most wonderful iris which flower on the verge around their garden wall.  The colour of this photo isn't absolutely true; it actually has more red in the real flower.  This is the first one out and when they are all flowering it is really something.

The Cream Legbars, the ones who lay blue eggs, are becoming much less shy now and I can begin to approach them without them skidaddling across the run.

Here are Betsy and Basil cuddled up together, sunbathing on the old pig shed corrugated roof.  It really retains the heat this metal roof and they spend a good part of every day lying here.

I have several new fish and this peculiar example is one of them.  The toad tadpoles are following very  closely. It's a very strange fish and I have no idea what is. 

It came from the garden of people who had moved in to a house with a pond they didn't want, so they knew nothing of the fish.

This is one of my favourite places to sit and read, particularly from about 17.00 hrs when the sun is beating down onto my back as I try to get through my Book Club book in time for the next meeting. 

This year there is a wisteria just starting to flower and  there is also a vine growing across the pergola so I might be able to pick grapes without much effort while I'm relaxing there.  We built it after I admired a friend's pergola, and I spend many early evening sitting there.

Three things I like:

1.   Panfried trout fillets with new potatoes and greenhouse salad.

2.   Having logs ready in the trolley on the terrace - easy to fetch into the house.

3.   Finally planting some twisted hazel twigs I brought back from Cornwall.