Farm Scenes

In the above photo, Seamus is playing with a new friend, the black Shepherd belonging to the man who plans to rent the farm house. They are in a small meadow adjacent to my north hayfield.

Seamus and Casey are both sniffing the newly mowed lawn between the house and the south hayfield here. Hmmmm. I wonder where the other dogs are. Fat little Wren usually hangs out near the car, not wanting to walk too far. Fergus is likely running big circles around the whole yard. Wally and Winky are likely with me, for if I'd lost track of them I would be calling and seeking them instead of taking pictures. Keeping track of 6 dogs who are not on leashes is a bit tricky, regardless of how well behaved they are.

The fields and roadsides were full of this bright pink flower, much brighter and much pinker in real life than they appear here. I looked it up and discovered that it's Ragged Robin, Lycgbus flos-cucli, a member of the Pink family. I don't believe I've ever seen this plant before, though it is listed in my field guide as a common alien. Perhaps because it is a flower of more northern places than I have previously inhabited. I bought a new camera after taking this shot and hoped that its photos would show better color. So far, though, it doesn't seem to be happening.

You may recall an earlier post where I called this veritable explosion of flowers Mouse-Ear Chickweed. Well, upon closer inspection I decided that it's really Lesser Stitchwort, Stellaria graminea, again an imported alien species. It's in the same family as Chickweed (the Pink Family).

One week after the above photo was taken, the Stitchweed flowers have receded and the Bedstraw flowers have taken their place. I didn't get a photo of the Bedstraw flowers, but they give the same "Baby's Breath" effect.