Wild flowers of the fens
As promised, here are a few of the flowers that were growing on the route of my cycle the other day. These are not necessarily representative of the fen flora since I tended to stay on roads or cycle ways rather than chance my luck across any marshes!
These hogweed and ox-eye daises are roadside weeds, here growing on what was the old A47 until the bypass was built.
Ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare)
Lady’s bed straw (Galium verum) so called because the fragrant stems and leaves were used to stuff mattresses
Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) – a rather pale form – it can be quite deep pink – with a small skipper
The dreaded common ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)
Greater knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa)
An unidentified thalictrum growing beside one of the drainage courses.
The yellow waterlily or brandy bottle (after the shape of the seed pod) (Nuphar lutea) showing the surface and underwater foliage
And the flowers (and duckweed)
Wild roses are a nightmare to pin down so I will just call these two dog roses (Rosa canina) even though some people might know better.
And the common poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
And a wild flower that makes itself at home in lots of gardens, the creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense)
The Biking Gardener 
Hi Geoff
It’s good to still follow your blog, although you’ve gone back over the ‘pond’ – always so interesting & informative.
Great blog on Brexit – you summed up the history and madness of it all perfectly.
Very good to have met you and listened to you talks.
Keep up the good work.
Kind regards
Anne
Hello and thank you for still following! There will still be some Irish content now and then and who knows, I may be back over before the Brexit comes to fruition. I hope the blog continues to be of interest – I hope it will get back to normal once I get sorted over here. Good to meet you and all my other friends in Ireland. Best wishes
Nice. I recognise a few of those from my own garden too! I particularly like the Knapweed. It’s seeding a bit for me now. Daisies looking lovely in full flower in the bottom garden and saw a Silver washed Fritillary Butterfly too (last year for the first time). Your plants planted down there too.
Thank goodness I don’t have time to switch on the TV and the radio only occasionally for the news. I can’t bear listening to all the Brexit stuff. So depressing and definitely a backward 10 steps. I hope there will be some positives. The result shocked me. Now all we need is Trump as President and I think I will bury my head in the garden and never emerge! Something definitely amiss with much of the populations of the USA & UK. Not that we are without many negative aspects in Ireland.
Speaking of that, I hope you get to your analysis of your Irish experiences – both good and bad. Looking forward to that.
I
I am glad things are doing well in the garden – it has been wet wet wet here apart from that day. I know what you mean about here and the possibility of Trump as President. The whole place here seems to be in freefall. I signed the petition for a second referendum, not that it will happen. The poor fools that believed the nonsense about more money for the NHS are now discovering that it was all lies. Yes, there is a lot amiss. When I get a moment I will do my Irish review before I forget it all! Best wishes