Down At The Signal Box

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It's all go down at the signal box

The hanging baskets and pots are doing really well this year and look great in their new position, giving a nice 3,2,1 effect. They are easy to water to , as we just water the top one and the rest gets what ever drips out. Not only is this quicker but it doesn't waste any water. It is one of the things that passersby notice, it's just a pity that the rest of the box is so tatty, as it hasn't been painted for donkeys years.

The wildlife areas at the side of the tracks are bursting with flowers, it does look like the ox eyed daisy has taken over, but in amongst the daises their are loads of wild flowers just about to come into flower. These include agrimony, scabious, knapweed, fleabane, sneezwort, corncockle, St john's-wort and marjoram to name but a few. The poppies have come up in an area that I cleared this year to plant two pear trees. The poppies could do with cutting down around the fruit trees, but what the heck I like them....

One of the the plants that has just turned up is White Bryony
It is a fascinating plant which uses tendrils to climb plants and has interesting green flowers. It also had it's uses in the past for treatment for rheumatism and as a drastic purgative. White bryony is also poisonous and dangerous to take in any quantity, so too are its berries , with as little as 15 causing serious damage to a child. Good job it is in a place well away from the public.
I really like the unusual green flowers and while I was photographing it so do insects. The bee gives you the idea of the size of the flowers.
This hover fly seemed to particularly enjoy the nectar as it spent ages lapping it up.
I thought I would show you this same hover fly on the same flower, as when it closed its wings the sunlight really shone off them with lovely colours. You can see this better if you click on the picture, it will also show you the little hairs on the bryony flower.

All in all it has been a good colourful year down at the signal box with lots more to come and hopefully plenty of more pictures that I can show you.