Magical walk in Coombe Wood

The gardener was hard at work killing weeds - and looking a bit like a spaceman

As I came around the corner at the top of the steps I paused and enjoyed the riot of colour that has burst forth since my last visit.

The sun illuminated the purple, red, orange and yellow flowers

A bee landing on a pink poppy 

The prairie bed from a different angle

Some of the grasses are so delicate and silky that the slightest breeze lifts them and causes them to wave and catch the light

Bright orange sunflower against the blue sky

Looking closer at the centre of a sunflower

Smaller orange and yellow flowers - the bees wings glitter in the sunlight

The colour of  these flowers make me think of pineapples, peaches and cream

Waving fronds of silvery grass seeds and arching stems of delicate yellow and orange flowers 

I like the way the creamy bell shaped flowers at the bottom curl out. I think some of these flowers look as if they are on their stems upside down - I can imagine them the other way up

I noticed this from a distance - a single flower stalk coming from plant with long thick stripy leaves - covered in flamboyant creamy blooms

In the woods - blue sky through the trees

and back onto the lawn between the wide flower beds walking towards the sundial - agapanthus

I caught sight of a butterfly and a big bee

The butterfly flew onto a different flower and then slowly turned round and round, enjoying the nectar 

More bright sunflowers - and a bee having a feast

Contrasts - red and green, sunshine and shadows 

Sun rays through water spray

 Poppy petals shining like silk

Tiny red flowers in the centre of a froth of white

A sea of poppies and seed heads

Sunlight through a fern 

Bee coming in to land on love-in-a-mist

More light through leaves - just look at the way the light shines through these

These are really tiny - smaller than daisies

 

and these are even smaller

They're planted in a little trough just near the entrance to the ladies loos

Long legged yellow and black stripey insect on a shaggy purple flower

It's interesting how different weather conditions transform the look of this plant by the pond - all sorts of variables affect how it comes out in a photo. Today the pond looked pale and the buds have a bluey purple tinge, last time the pond looked dark and the buds looked creamy peach.

Why did I call it a magical walk in Coombe Wood? Although it was a slow and careful walk (prolapsed disc extra painful today) my attention was successfully diverted for a while by the sights, sounds, smells and the joyful exuberance of colours, contrasts and textures in the garden and woods

Thank you very much for joining me

A Coombe Wood walk - colour, detail and stripes

Pinky purples

Pink and purple

The fabulous clematis middles look as if the stamens have been dipped in ink. I like the water droplets on the veined petals too

This middle of this one looks like crazy tentacles waving

These delicate white flowers have flamboyant bubbly centres . . .

 . . . with a spray of curled pink bursting from them

The gardener was cutting hedges and trees - you can just see him in the distance cutting an oval shaped shrub. The weeping willow isn't weeping quite as much now

Spiders webs covered in water droplets

Little bottle brush shaped flowers in various colours

A closer look

A different kind of flower but still tiny

A splash of colour - bright orange and red

and pink against purple

Buds looking quite alien as they open

Among the wild flowers - I had taken this photo before noticing the green beetle

Looking closer at the shiny beetle

When taking photos sometimes I don't notice the insects till later. It's easy to think that anything with black and yellow stripes is a bee but I now know there are lots of different black and yellow stripy insects - although I can't tell the difference yet. One is near the top left hand side flower nearest to us and the other is hovering in the bottom right hand corner. There's also a little black bug on the top right flower

 Big bees - rummaging among the pollen

Wild carrot

One very pale poppy with delicately veined petals among all the bright red ones

Hydrangea with all the little bits bursting open

Hose reel with a bit of history

Seeing double

The flowers of the "Beauty Berry" plant - almost as amazing as the berries that will follow

Flower like a little pink dome of fluff

 Pink rose

Agapanthus buds

Fiery red

Greeny yellows

Spiky hairdo

A different black and yellow stripy insect

Lovely blues

More stripes

This insect has wide dark stripes and a yellow strip running around the edge

Strange flowers

 Pink poppy 

Very regular stamen pattern thrown out by a curl of petal

Bee coming in to land

 Look at those pollen paniers on the bees back legs

I thought this was a photo of two bees in a poppy when I took it but when I looked closer I noticed a green beetle crawling out from behind a petal near the top bee

Even a fly looks amazing close up - even though they are annoying!

Tiny flowers full of rain drops, with rhino/unicorn horn-like unopened part of the flower spike

Raindrops on delicately veined bells

Hovering stripy insect with very long legs

Bright colours

What is it that I particularly like about these? I think at this stage of their development it's the contrast between the delicate pastel veined interiors and the stronger orange exteriors of each little flower.

The pond - looking very clear today

Thank you very much for joining me.