The weather wasn't too bad today so I thought we'd try the walkway along the North-Western motorway again and this time there was one parking spot left! The walkway runs alongside the fenced off motorway on one side and the mangroves and sea on the other. The motorway was built on land reclaimed from the sea so you can usually see all sorts of birds there. Unfortunately the tide was in today so there were hardly any birds to speak of except for a few Egrets and the odd Shag, we did see one Tui and a KingFisher flew over our heads but he just kept on going! And yes it rained yet again but luckily at the end of the walk! So I decided to continue the theme of the weeds seeing there were lots along the walkway, some I'd never noticed before, it's amazing what you find when you're looking!
This pretty one is a Red Clover - Trifolium pratense. I found this rather interesting website that has all sorts of recipes for using weeds.
This one I think might be a Ragwort - Senecio jacobaea, although it doesn't seem to have grown tall & upright like the ones I found on the Internet.
Some sort of grass, name unknown to me, thought it was quite pretty though.
This is a wild Gladiolus but don't ask me which one of the thousands there are! You can see part of the walkway in this photo with the Mangroves on the left.
The next two are both from the same plant, Yarrow - Achillea.
This one is a Boneseed - Chrysanthemoides monilifera, it has a small yellow daisy like flower. Apparently the berries are edible to humans, don't think I'd like to try them though.
This one wasn't a weed, probably a native something, it was quite a large bush.
These are the seedpods of the Mangrove - Avicennia marina.
A Dandelion clock - Taraxacum officinale, I don't think I really need to tell you that!
And finally another unknown one, this time a large tree that is also a native that I've seen around for years but never noticed the pretty little flowers it has.
I'd just like to say I'm loving getting your comments so thank you to those who have and those who haven't, well maybe next time you get a few moments.
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1 comment:
DAWN!! These photographs are terrific. I really love the varying colors and who would have thought that mere weeds would have such appealing foliage, colo(u)r and lush appearance. I have a bit of a mini challenge for you... I notice that the sea appears in the background of the gladiola (peach) flower. It is barely visible so I may be wrong about what I'm seeing but if it is the sea it would be a very interesting exercise to take a variety of photos attempting various degrees of focus on the background with the flower in the foreground. Of course, maybe you don't want to be bothered but I immediately thought what a dramatic photo it would be if one could view a backdrop of the sea with such a lovely flower. Anyway, I simply love seeing your photos. My hope of ever getting to New Zealand (I've made two previous attempts that failed) are slim so seeing what you see is quite a treat. Take care.
SusanG
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