Edgelands

I think I mentioned a few days back that I was enjoying reading a book brought to our attention by arroset,  'Common Ground'.  Well today I finished it, sadly..... as it always is to finish a book one has enjoyed so thoroughly.  I e-mailed the author, Rob Cowen, straight away to thank him for making me look even closer (than I do through Blip!) at those small but important things in our local, natural world.  I am so inspired that I have taken out a lovely owl-covered notebook given to me a couple of years ago by a friend and never used, and I am going to find out and record what there is in our local edgelands.  Tony will come in handy here because he had a rural background so he has an innate knowledge of flowers and wildlife which he passes on to me, but I've also scoured our bookshelves and dusted off the field guides and I'm on a mission!

Rob's story is not just about the wildlife in his edgelands in Harrogate, but he also weaves in historical detail and his characters voice our concerns about our ever increasing distance from our natural roots.  Have I sold it to you yet?!

So, I have been up to the sledging field above our street and begun my education.  I've started with the wildflowers today because they are easier to identify and record (with my camera of course!)  If you would like to see the ones I blipped, they are here!  Do correct me if my identification is off!  In my blip I think I can see buttercups, red clover, plantain and sorrel - have I missed anything?

The final lovely thing is that Rob came back almost immediately to thank me for my mail.