The Slug and Lettuce

....apparently its a chain of bars....however...not always....

.....heres a slug....

.....and heres some lettuce....

Rewind a bit...I hear you say....who is that masked slug?....er...well....ok....maybe not...but im sure you will be interested to learn its a Dusky Slug (Arion subfuscus).....a little chap...or maybe a lady slug I dont think you can tell unless you are another slug....but here it was clambering up a Sorrell stalk on the north side of the pits....there arent many slug species in the UK and heres an interesting little website with some i.d. pictures and notes.... should you be interested as they arent everyones cup of tea....but they do do a tremendous job out there eating all sorts of....stuff....!

http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?id=178456

Now....lettuce....obviously its Great Lettuce (Lactuca virosa)....its other name is opiate lettuce.  Im advised (no experience of this) that it provides a mild psychotropic effect....though most seem to go with a more sedative effect....you can make a tea with it.  Someone told me use some of the leaf and some of the stalk.  I queried about the possibility of drying it out to use later and apparently you can purchase it (http://www.woodlandherbs.co.uk/acatalog/Wild_Lettuce_herb.html)....or if you fancy you could come over to the pits, find this plant and chop it up I suppose.  Though, to me, that seems a bit over the top.  There is only one plant there so to intrude on its gradual pursuit of flowering would be somewhat cruel me thinks.....

Heres a few others....

Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre

Wood Forget-me-not, Myosotis sylvatica

Heres one from a couple of weeks ago.....Grass Vetchling.....two different coloured flowers on the same stalk....and this seems to occur regularly.  Apparently the flower turns blue-ish once it starts to go over....quite a startling effect.....

Grass Vetchling, Lathyrus nissolia

I love this next picture.  Happened across this along the north side of the pits.  Firstly, its a complete seed head intact....and secondly....it was of some size, not small like a Dandelion head, but probably five times that size....very impressive....

Goats-beard, Tragopogon pratensis

Heres one I was quite pleased with.  I couldnt identify the species, but happily got it in to the Sedge family...though it is somewhat obvious, to me anyway....but getting a plant in to a family is usually as far as I can get....I got someone else to come up with an almost certain identification though several are just about the same......

Star Sedge (or little prickly sedge), Carex echinata

Invasion....of the Black Fly....several Sorrell plants are beginning to look like this, though the majority are free from the infestation....but...circle of life and all that....

Black Fly, Simuliidae family, on Sorrell, Rumex acetosa