Pleasantly surprised!
Balderton lake, the mallards aren't yet in eclipse but seem rather crotchety in their duck like fashion, I got quacked at. Moorhen chicks have grown up and are pottering about in the drain, even one with a damaged foot.
The cowslips have been replaced by ox eye daisies on the embankment, and there are now foxgloves and poppies in flower too.
It is further down that the surprise came. On the opposite side of the cycle path to the railway line is the wasteland where the old X2 Connect building was demolished to (probably) make way for more uninspiring modern box housing. There isn't even any soil, the ground is covered with oversized pointy stones, like railway line foundations.
And it is alive with flowers.
At ground level ox eye daisies and a red-pink flower (some kind of avens?) are growing. A tired, cold bee was sheltering from the rain in one of these flowers, oblivious to my presence. As you look up, the pink forms of what I take to be dog roses dominate, their pale pink flowers standing out against a drizzly sky, and the long low buildings of light industry. I wish the sun had been out, to see what butterflies and bees would have been around.
It is interesting, although not so surprising when you think about it, that attractive things should have their beauty magnified when placed in a grim setting.
And think also of the life that can be destroyed when even the ugliest brownfield site is developed upon.
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| Foxglove skyline |
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| Ox eye daisies on waste ground |
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| Dog roses overlooking the railway line |
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| Dog rose close up |
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| Teasel, a favourite food of goldfinches |
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| Who is hiding in here? |
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| Stay warm, bumble - no visible pollen sac, lemon yellow flashes by tail, might be another vestal |
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