Back to nature

There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
(Gertrude describing the death of Ophelia in Hamlet)

It seems like a long time since I've had my pre-work walk in the nature reserve. The water table was very high this morning and everything has grown so much since I last came. I saw a jay beside the path, bullrushes flowering, a very elegant green teasel that I must go back and blip, yellow monkey flowers and a pair of red admirals. The reeds have grown enormously tall but their plumes have not yet burst out.

But the day really belonged to the long purples, that were out everywhere, inbetween clumps of meadowsweet, as in this blip. The general view is that the 'long purples' Shakespeare was talking about were orchids, but when Millais painted Ophelia he transferred the name to purple loosestrife, which is what I've photographed. Very appropriate, as it's found by water and grows more than twice as high as the early purple orchid (orchis mascula) which Shakespeare may have meant. I've always known this loosestrife as 'long purples' anyway, so that's good enough for me.

Hope you're able to enjoy the peeps of sunshine..