Nettles must go

Once again I have had to coppice the clover back to its half moon shape against the eastern edge of Wbx. The recent rains have made this plant grow remarkably vigorously.

What I thought was a nettle (see above) undoubtedly is as it stung me when I was coppicing the clover. Sadly it will have to go as Wbx cannot sustain a nettle bed.

Mosses are burgeoning: a particularly attractive mini-feature is the colony of wall screw-moss, Tortula muralis, in a crevice on the sandstone rock (see also above).

Several non-descript seedlings with greyish, oval leaves are, I have decided, Buddleja davidii, the butterfly bush. This Chinese plant did not really catch on in the horticultural world until just over a century ago, but has now spread all over the country to brownfield sites and even ancient woodlands. Butterflies do like it, but perhaps there are far fewer flowers in the countryside so that plants like this in gardens and waste places are increasingly welcome.

What I thought was a grass looks increasingly like a rush, Juncus sp., but one small blade of what I think is a true grass has appeared south of the sallow log.

The small birch in the north east corner of Wbx was struggling for a while – heat stroke I suspect – and I thought it was going to die, but it seems to have recovered slightly and may make it to winter.