june2008

The Hawthorn bushes have put on a great show this year their branches heavily laden with white flowers. The grassland on Middle and East Commons contains lots of tiny oak seedlings, often a long way from any oak tree. They show very clearly how fast the grassland would become scrub and then woodland if it was not cut regularly for hay. The strange thing is that many of the seedlings have leaves that are orange or even deep purple instead of the usual green. Similarly the young foliage of the aspens on the left of the concrete road just inside the gate has been more bronze than usual. Also the developing winged seeds on one of the Field Maple trees across the road from the aspens are bright red. They normally develop their red colour later when nearly full sized. We can only guess that the variable temperatures last month may have triggered these unusual reactions in these plants. There have been some brilliant blue patches of Germander Speedwell by the concrete road. Various grasses are well in flower on the Common, bad news for hay-fever sufferers but they make a beautiful backdrop for the Ox-eye daisies, Red Clover and other flowers. June is one of the best months on the Common; let’s hope we get some good weather to enjoy it.