All in One Bank

The Diary walks this stretch of road every day. It's typical of the single-track roads in the district except that it has fewer vehicle passing places, which often leads to some entertainment. It passes through crofting land; to the left, the hill runs up to the common grazings, while to the right it drops to the shore.

It's a great road for wildlife, and many of the pictures in this diary come from it. But, too often, we walk looking around and above. Rarely do we look at our feet. Yet, in amongst the bluebells and bracken along a two-metre stretch of sandy bank to the left of the picture, below the mudpatch where the pigs live, we recently found no less than six exquisite small wildflowers in full bloom. Noticing one led to the next, and so on.

The one above is tormentil, with its characteristic four petals. A member of the cinquefoil family, it's a common flower of moors and grassy places.

This delicate beauty is common field speedwell, described in our reference book as 'a weed of cultivated land' which has migrated into the country from western Asia. It's a beautifully delicate little flower, so The Diary would rather call it a cinderella of our cultivated landscape.

Birdsfoot trefoil is having a bumper year, as it did last year, carpeting parts of the ground with its rich yellow flowers. It's commonly known as 'eggs and bacon' because the buds are a bacony red.

This retiring little flower is heath milkwort, Polygala serpyllifolia, a more uncommon plant in the area. It also occurs with pale pink flowers or, occasionally, white.

This violet is flowering late. Violets are one of the earliest to appear and are one of the first welcome signs of spring, so most are dying back by now. Click on the photo to enjoy the sheer beauty of its structure and colouring.

There was only one of this plant on the bank, and a search all along the bank nearby produced no further specimens. It's bush vetch, Vicia sepium, though if you look this species up on the internet, it's surprising the variety of flowers which it seems to have, from pale blue through to this purple.

Many thanks to The Diary's botanical expert, Hilary Hizzard,

for identifying the more difficult plants.

Any errors are The Diary's.