Walking along the Caldon Canal between Froghall and Consall yesterday we spotted early spring flowers and a fungi.
Female flowers of Butterbur. A native species which supplies a good source of pollen and nectar for early flying insects. Later in the year the, sometimes very extensive, patches of large leaves this plant produces can smother out other plants as does the reviled non-native Himalayan Balsam.
Elf Cup Fungi . There are two very similar species of this particular fungi Sarcoscypha austriaca and S. coccinea and I don't know which one this is. Its easy to spot if you look for dead branches on the woodland floor as its bright red colour stands out in contrast to the green of moss and other leaves.
Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage grows in damp, shady places. It is an evergreen plant so its leaves are present all year round. You have to look hard for the yellow, star-like flowers as they are only a few mm across; they are just starting to appear this week.
This photo of Wild Garlic was taken in a previous year - it isn't actually in flower just yet. However the new leaves of this species are just beginning to poke through the dried up remains of last year's autumn leaves. They are safe enough to eat as long as you pick some from a place where a dog in unlikely to have peed on them. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors must have welcomed the appearance of this plant coming back after the winter months as it was presumably one of the first fresh things they got to eat.
