I've noticed that various species and cultivars of the Persicaria genus have become popular in planting schemes. Some are quite tall and shrubby, others low growing and mat forming. This looks like Persicaria affiinis. Now that plants are being identified on the molecular level various members of the genus are being moved to the related genera Bistorta and Koeniga. The above becomes Bistorta affinis for example though it generally takes a while for new names to catch on in the trade.

 Persicaria if I may still call them that have the virtue of being very hardy and flowering in late summer/early autumn when other plants have faded. Their popularity seems to have coincided with the trend for 'naturalistic' garden design. Actually this one is a long way from its natural habitat in the Himalayas so 'natural' is a relative concept.

 It's used well here but when a species or cultivar is a good 'doer' they sometimes get overused on account of their reliability. Plants like Mahonia aquifolium and Bergenia cordifolia routinely feature as low maintenance ground cover in municipal settings across the land. It's hard to be thrilled until you see images of them in their native range. The former is a forest species of the Pacific North West of America, the latter a plant of high mountain meadows and woodland in Siberia, Mongolia and China. By the same measure Bistorta affinis must look rather different on a mountainside in the Himalayas.  

 "The pride of the peacock is the glory of God" said William Blake (he said a lot of things). I should think he was referring to the bird but the Peacock butterfly is pretty glorious.

 Brambles (Rubus fruticosus) are coming to the end of their flowering period but wherever I see a thicket the last flowers are teeming with insects. Typically there will be at least several species of bumblebee plus honeybees, bee flies, flies and various butterflies. The stems are already laden with ripening fruit. Looks like there will be a bumper crop of blackberries after plenty of sun, rain and pollination. 

 Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum). Widespread plant of marshy margins, ditches, damp grassland and riverbanks. Seen here at Burymead Springs in Hertfordshire. 

 The area is described in local literature as "part of an ancient riverside meadow, sandwiched between the River Hiz, the Hitchin railway flyover and a scrapyard". Nonetheless nature continues to thrive in this fragment of an older landscape.

 A Meadow Brown basking in the sun, one of many 'common' butterflies I saw today walking round several meadows near Ickleford in Hertfordshire. There were plenty of Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, Peacocks etc.

 Actually I was hoping to see a Small Copper though no luck. My friend Jif had been searching for this elusive butterfly for several weeks in various likely locales. He contacted me a few days ago to say he saw one in the Ickleford meadows.

  Jif is a man who likes a quest. He once went to Panama hoping to spot a Resplendent Quetzal in the jungle (and he did). But I didn't come across a Small Copper so for me the quest goes on...

 Ladybirds like this Seven Spot Ladybird are sometimes referred to as 'incidental pollinators'. Mainly they visit plants in search of prey e.g. aphids but in doing so pollen may stick to the body and be rubbed off elsewhere. Having said that Ladybirds also eat pollen and nectar to supplement their diet so can be considered a 'reciprocal' pollinator too. 

 Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus). As a symbol the 'Bluet de France' is the equivalent of our Remembrance Poppy. In the carnage of World War One these two flowers grew in profusion on the battlefields. The red Poppy and the blue Cornflower are both annuals that thrive on disturbed ground.

 Red Admiral nectaring on Bramble. Worth clicking to enlarge the second image to get a good view of the whippy tongue which is very long indeed.

 Saw plenty of 'common' butterflies on the hedgerow section of yesterday's walk. Still common here because the natural habitat still exists. For example this Brimstone as seen above. Possibly a female as the wings of the male are a deeper tinge of green?

 Red Admiral

 Comma

Gatekeeper

 A half-hidden Small Skipper.

 Peacock

 Marbled White. Both the upper wing and underside are visible in this image. Some butterflies are very different from one side of the wing to the other. The Marbled White has a similar black/white tonal contrast on both sides though a different pattern. 

 I am sometimes critical of vast fields and arable monoculture but rolling fields of wheat are a stirring sight at this time of year. And I did buy a loaf on the way home so if we want bread...

 A footpath which retains its tall hedgerows runs across this landscape towards the Chiltern Hills. Cutting through wheat on one side and sweetcorn on the other it is surprisingly good for butterfly spotting (and bees).

 Brambles are in flower along its length and wild plants like Field Scabious, Knapweed and Marjoram. The dense growth provides the kind of habitat habitat through spring, summer, autumn and overwinter that is lacking in the surrounding area.

 Walking this stretch takes about fifteen minutes and during that time I saw quite a few of our common butterflies which are not so common now. I'll post some of the pictures in the next day or two. 

 Echinops ritro I think, one of the Globe Thistle family. There used to be one of these in the back garden when I was a child. I remember being fascinated by the big bumblers crawling all over the spiky heads.

 I think this is a male White-tailed Bumblebee, the common name that applies to three species so similar it would need a DNA test to separate them. Their Latin name reflects this: Bombus lucorum agg. I can't think of another example of flora or fauna where the Latin is an aggregation of several species though no doubt there are other cases.

 Anyway this particular Bombus is feeding on Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare), one of the most prolific wildflowers of calcareous grasslands in mid to late summer.

 I stood at this spot on January 30th. 2020, the mouth of the River Lea where it meets the Thames. I set myself the goal of walking back to the source in several stages. The Lea (or Lee) rises in the Chiltern Hills, a route of about 42 miles. That seemed like a nice little project for the year ahead; like everyone else on the planet 2020 didn't go according to plan. Anyway, I've decided to reactivate the idea starting today.

 A chalk stream at the outset the river is tidal between the Thames and Bow.

 Towards Docklands are the remnants of a post-industrial landscape replaced for the most part by a whole new city of apartment blocks. There must be hundreds of thousands of people living on this side of town who weren't here ten or twenty years ago. And still more blocks are under construction.

 From Hertford to Bow the Lea was split into a number of man-made channels for transport and industry. A working river even in Mediaeval times and the early days of the Industrial Revolution.  

Traces of a bygone age still exist- like this former tidal mill.

 And there is nature, even in the most urban sections of the river. 

 As the factories and warehouses closed in the 70s they were occupied by artists and bohemians who made use of the cheap and plentiful space for various creative endeavours. Only a few pockets of that way of life remain. The development of Docklands in the 80s and 90s and the "regeneration" triggered by the 2012 Olympics has erased that landscape. Money talks.

  

 On today's leg I walked as far as the Carpenter's Road bridge. I had a studio further down the road in the mid-90s after leaving art school. It was in an enormous old building that housed hundreds of studios next to a vast scrapyard. The only amenity between here and Stratford was a stall that sold fried egg sandwiches and cups of tea. Now the vista from the bridge looks towards the Olympic stadium and Stratford's giant shopping mall.

 Sea Holly attracting bees- lots of them, both bumblebees and honey bees. I think this is Eyngium giganteum, possibly the cultivar called 'Silver Ghost'. A biennial/short lived perennial which self-seeds in sunny, well drained soil. The herbaceous borders at Benslow are broadening my horizons plant-wise.  

 Side-on view of a Red Admiral. Walking the River Cam yesterday I saw many butterflies along the grassy bank. Meadow Browns were prolific and on one short stretch I saw numerous Red Admirals -more than I've ever seen before in one place.

 Walking around Wicken Fen today reminded me that a lot of plantlife happens on the water and underwater. I took in Wicken on a long walk along the River Cam between Waterbeach and Ely. Extensive drainage turned much of the Fens into flat farmland centuries ago but Wicken is a remnant of Fenland as a wild and marshy place.

 Small Skipper on Field Scabious.

 Butterflies are not easy to photograph in close-up unless you have a telephoto lens (which I don't). Here is as close as I could get to this Gatekeeper in a spot that had all of its habitat characteristics. 

 It alighted on a Yew hedge- this species is also known as the Hedge Brown. It was indeed near a gate, or in this case an opening where the path leads through the hedge. The Butterfly Conservation website notes that the Gatekeeper is "often encountered where clumps of flowers grow in gateways and along hedgerows and field margins". Sure enough there were clumps of flowers right by the gate and along the hedge.

 Bumblebees liking Veronica (V. spicata I think?) and Sea Holly (an Eryngium, probably E. giganteum?). As seen in one of the large herbaceous borders at Benslow Music School. The classic mixed herbaceous border is manna for bees in high summer.