Amelia's photos

Dusty Springfield - The Look of Love 1967 It is fairly easy to distinguish the male swan or COB from the female swan the PEN. The large black fleshy lump at the base of the bill is much larger and more pronounced on the male, this can be called the "berry". The male's tail is also wider and more fanned out, whereas the Pen's comes to a single point. This difference is not so obvious in this photo.

Gorse: Kissing's out of season when gorse is out of bloom. Gorse is very rarely out of bloom, so kissing is nearly always in season. Thrum-eyed primroses: See if you can spot the pin-eyed type as well. www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/devon_bap/prim2.htm The humble daisy: Wee, modest, crimson-tippèd flow'r. For the Scots among us - www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43817/to-a-mountain-daisy

Today's Sunday Challenge: A WEED APPRECIATION DAY!! Equisetum is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae. In the early spring, white to tan coloured fertile stems that produce spores, shown here, arise from the soil and grow to about 8-12 inches tall. They are unbranched, leafless and topped by a spore-bearing cone. These die down quickly and are followed by new shoots annually from underground rootstalks. Their hollow, jointed, ridged stems contain silicate and other minerals. The leaves are reduced to sheaths that clasp and encircle the shoots. Another name for Horsetail is scouring-rush which refers to the rush-like appearance of the plants and to the fact that the stems are coated with abrasive silicates, making them useful for scouring (cleaning) metal items such as cooking pots. It is sold on Amazon as it’s believed to have multiple medicinal properties and is mostly used to improve skin, hair, and bone health. However, despite centuries of use in traditional medicine, there is no evidence that Equisetum has any medicinal properties. Equisetum is a pernicious weed, and is difficult to eradicate, due to its deep rooted nature and thick silica structure. . Herbicides give the best levels of control. Gardeners need to be careful with a weed like horsetail as not only does it spread via spores but it only takes a finger sized piece of root horsetail to regrow. It should be remembered that killing horse tail is not a quick fix and regular re-applications of herbicides and repeated ongoing cultural control may be needed. My advice if you have these weeds in your garden? Move house! ;-)

Lichfield Cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichfield_Cathedral

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKc_aMF0gwI The Sunday Challenge this week is to make your picture a combination of blue and yellow. Corylus avellana - male catkins of hazel. Myosotis arvensis - forget-me-not flowers Salix caprea - male catkins of pussy willow

Xanthoria on concrete fence post

Notice that the lambs' tails haven't yet been docked.

HFF to you all from Ruyton XI Towns

www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=150043477328800 Slowly growing the forest with a 171 trees donated . Thank you for all you support for STORM "Vision Mechanics created the STORM grove to mark the amazing journey of a 10m Sea Goddess who walked across Scotland. Thousands of families came to see her, many more watched her journey online. Every tree planted holds a promise to tackle climate change and re-wild Scotland. Join this project to plant trees and watch them grow into a beautiful forest. Let's grow a future for our children ."

www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=150043477328800 Slowly growing the forest with a 171 trees donated . Thank you for all you support for STORM "Vision Mechanics created the STORM grove to mark the amazing journey of a 10m Sea Goddess who walked across Scotland. Thousands of families came to see her, many more watched her journey online. Every tree planted holds a promise to tackle climate change and re-wild Scotland. Join this project to plant trees and watch them grow into a beautiful forest. Let's grow a future for our children ."

The pupils of St.John the Baptist, the primary school in Ruyton XI Towns, have painted stones in support of Ukraine. These are just three of the artworks. The stones have been placed on The Cross, shown in the clickable PiP.