Teasels on the marsh wall

Remember school nature walks, on hot afternoons when Miss didn’t want to be in the classroom either? Recently I unpacked some long-stored books and amongst them was Polunin’s Wild Flowers of Britain. So I took it with me on an ordinary walk, and identified 25 species without any difficulty. It was like being transported back to the Std II form room, where the wilting flowers brought back in hot 6-year-old fists were placed in labelled jam jars on the windowsill. All together now: herb robert, red and white campion, germander speedwell…..