Springtime and a new plant

Split porecrust

Toothwort

Slime flux

Yesterday I was at Alnmouth with Stewart (from the notebook) on a recording workshop and as we were an hour early we had a walk around the golf course and dunes. A lovely morning and spring birds were singing including a Willow warbler and Spring beauty was in flower here. It proliferates (if there is such a word) along the edge of the golf course and this was a new plant for me.

On Friday evening 2 Swallows were flying over the town centre and after watching Gardener's world a lady was having trouble with her Cordylines and the problem was Slime flux. This has puzzled me for a while as I came across a Sycamore at Ulgham that was suffering from the same problem and an organism that gets into a damaged part of the tree turns part of the tree black and wet then causes the sap to come ouzing out. Apparently healthy wild trees will recover from this.

Today a walk in the warm sunshine around the woods in Morpeth produced plenty of common plants and singing woodland birds. A willow warbler and at least 8 Blackcaps were singing in the Abbey and scots Ghyll woods this afternoon. Also lots of butterflies with Large and green veined white, Peacock, Comma, Small tortoiseshell (15)  and Orange tip (3). Toothwort is prolific (that word again) around Morpeth with lots of them around the castle and beside Oldgate bridge where many of them are out in the open on the riverbank. In Scots Ghyll the Yellow star of Bethlehem took some finding as Sweet sicily and Ransomes have covered them up. The ones I found have just about finished flowering. I think the top pics are Split porecrust a very variable species growing on Oak in the Borough woods.