Three walks

TUESDAY

I only popped in to the Coach House cafe to book a table for lunch on Wednesday (late birthday celebration for one of my daughters) - but of course I couldn't just pop into the cafe could I - I had to have a bit of a stroll

Quite a few big pine cones have fallen

I was being watched

The lovely prairie beds are still so colourful 

I wanted a closer look at the banana tree in order to settle the flower or fruit question raised in a previous blog post. The answer is both - flower and fruit. The flower is an absolute woppa - the bananas on the stem above the flower are quite small - like little fingers

The flower has a frill of strange structures under the petals

and the ornamental bananas are extremely tiny

The Korean Pine was draped in webs. The way this web billowed was like delicate fabric on the washing line in a gentle breeze

The tall crocosmias have shed their petals and seeds are forming

I'm not sure what these are but I do like their flashes of white against the purply blue

These are so tiny - the white and purple flowerlets are on the same stems

WEDNESDAY

A walk before meeting my daughters and son-in-law for lunch

Spiders had been spinning fancy webs 

I found another bee-like insect that I haven't noticed before. Later on at home I found a very helpful webpage about many varieties of hoverflies. Quite a few of the yellow and black bee-like insects that I've been photographing turn out to be hoverflies and not bees at all. This one is a Great Pied Hoverfly (Volucella Pellucens) and has wings which look as if they're made of delicate stained glass with  amber leading edges, delicate amber veins and mahogany wing patches

Having a closer look at a Michaelmas daisy middle. I thoroughly enjoy looking closer at patterns in nature

The long flowerbed which had been overflowing with poppies and other wild flowers not long ago has been cut back now

 Another look at the bananas from a different angle

Another petal had opened since Tuesday

Berries shining in the sun

Look at the way a bees legs dangle as it's coming in to land

Tiny plants really close up

Hops

Robin in the cafe courtyard

THURSDAY

A friend had suggested meeting at Coombe Wood in the afternoon - how could I refuse? I had a walk beforehand and another walk with my friend after we'd enjoyed a cuppa and slice of cake in the cafe

Ferns in the sun

This little flower looked almost fluorescent in the sunlight

The low sunlight illuminated these tiny blue flowers on red stems

This area looked quite tropical against the blue sky

Back for another look at the bananas. A slightly different view

The Beauty Berries (Callicarpa) are beginning to turn purple - these will look like deep purple pearls soon

 Standing under one of my favourite Acers

Pine trees

The gardener showed me a young Wollemi Pine which is an Australian tree and was a gift from a Mums and Toddlers group who regularly spend time in Coombe Wood

The centre of each branch is unusual - it looks as if it could have been knitted, crocheted or plaited

Seeing stars

Buddleia close up

Through the ferns I noticed a mushroom lit by the sun

Allium seeds

The evening sunshine made these orange begonias really stand out

Love-in-a-mist pods cracking open

Red grass fronds

Meadow Rue (Thalictrum Delavayi) - photographed from the ground looking upwards because the flowers are opening now but they hang down making it hard to see underneath

 A strange flower

Looking closer it looks like a cluster of little fluffy balls made with sparkly wool

Thank you very much for joining me