... and I have just eaten our first two ripe raspberries. They are usually pretty near past it at the end of June, but this year is still about 4 weeks behind. Similarly, in the front garden, we have wild strawberries(throwbacks from cultivation actually), which are also late.
Then I spotted a plant I did not recognise. It had slender leaves in one plane like an Iris, with two wilting blue flowers at the top of the thin stem. The flowers were drooping with 6 similar tepals, more star-like than anything like an Iris. The plant seems to be Sisyrinchium montanum, American Blue-eyed-grass, clearly a garden escape, but where from I have no idea.
Life is full of surprises!
Your Forum
This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at 
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more