What’s hiding on the forest floor?

Thursday, 13th of July 2023 [79]

I know it’s Thursday, not Wednesday, but Wednesdays are tricky for me to post, so I asked @tattoodjay some months ago for a permission to post my #wednesdaywalk on other day of the week and as long as I stick to only posting once a week, that is acceptable. So here goes - another piece of information you didn’t think you need to know, but now you do and you can’t unknow it 😉

My walk to the forest was in fact to find some mushrooms for Fungi Friday, but if you read my previous post you’ll know it wasn’t my lucky day for mushrooms. Hopefully in a few weeks, after more rain I might get lucky again.

Luckily my phone camera was ready and not only focused on mushrooms, because I have found many other interesting creatures to show you from that walk of mine.

Flowers, of course! In fact there is #alwaysaflower in almost any post I ever make. Simply because I love flowers, probably just as much as @dswigle

Flowers of all colours and sizes I wanna say, but in truth there were mainly yellow, white and purple flowers. All of them loved by the pollinators. All of them also loved by me and most of them remind me of the wild flowers I would stumble upon in my childhood, in Poland.

Over 1000 miles away from home and while visiting forests I still get to see same flowers and often mushrooms too. Well, the same goes for the gardens in fact, although in England I have found many plants that I’ve never seen in Poland. Polish winters can still be very cold, despite the global warming. Hence why some more delicate species can be found here and not in Poland.

Most of those wild flowers I really don’t know the names of. I’m usually good with plant names, but I guess it’s mainly those that I have to research the care for in order to grow them in my garden. Wild flowers I mainly just enjoy looking at and photographing too.

The yellow one above, I think it’s rugwort. I only remember it, cause @tengolotodo wrote about it last week 😁 It’s a home for 77 species of creatures, is it Eddie? Make sure to check is awesome post for more info.

Another yellow creature I know the name of is the buttercup below. I love seeing their bright yellow heads popping up in all kind of places throughout the srping and summer.

There were also simple while/pinkinsh flowers of the blackberry bushes. Another month or so and I will be venturing out into my neighbourhood with containers and harvesting unwanted fruits, which I will then freeze for the winter and maybe even make into some tasty jams or something.

Predominantly I will be stuffing my face with them every evenibg after earing my dinner though 😁 With double cream!

Another unknown name yellow flower that reminds me of summers spent in Polish woodlands is the one below.

Oh, and I even found a clover! I love clovers and bees love them too. I’m wondering at times if maybe I should replace my lawns with the clover fields. No mowing needed, just bliss of flowers for me and the pollinators. Maybe one year I’ll get round to do this 😉

One plant I’ve always been looking for in nearby woodlands is a wild blueberry bush. Not one, but tons of them, growing tightly together.

After many walks in various parts of the forest I finally found them. Not the whole forest floor made of them, but a few small areas. Whenever I come here again, I hope to see more and more of those familiar bushes. Wild blueberries is the taste of my childhood.

Unlucky for me, this time round I only found one lonely blueberry amongst all those bushes. Not sure if they’ve been and are gone now or maybe the weather wasn’t appropriate for them this year, but hey - one blueberry is better than none and at least serves as a proof that this is the bush they grow on ;)

What else? Of course the trees! Not the big, grown up trees, but little tree seedlings sprouting around like mushrooms after the rain 😉

Baby trees. Another generation of forest. I simply love those juicy green new sprouts.

I carried on walking and photographing my surroundings for couple of hours. At some point my path was blocked by the fallen tree. It made for a pretty picture though.

Along the footpath I captured a few more interesting looking plants.

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And even grass sseds.

Cause why not? 😉

Oh, and foxgloves! Those pretty flowers are growing all around the forest during the season. One of the flowers I never used to see in Polish forests, only in the gardens.

Anyway… I think it’s time for me too say goodbye, as I’ve been writing for a long time now.

For once let me say bye (or hi) with the selfie. Just so you know I’m still #aliveandthriving despite various challenges life throws at me.

Make sure to also wonder out for a walk often! Nature is the only thing to keep us safe in this mad, mad world we live in.

Until next time 💙

Camera:	iPhone11
Photographer:	@fantagira