Going local, the first week

It was a bright and sunny start to our first week of learning to live with movement restrictions.  Margaret sent photos of some lovely blooms from her garden including Viola riviniana Common Dog-violet with a fine bluey colour to the flowers and you can just make out the pointed sepals, blunt sepal appendages and the notched spur:

As well as previous articles in the Shropshire Botanical Society newsletters Spring 2001 and Spring 2015, there are several helpful guides to violets floating around the internet at the moment including; the BSBI Plant Crib for Violas; a photo sheet by Discover the Wild and one of many ID sheets by @DinkyMoira on twitter:

Margaret also has Ranunculus ficaria Lesser Celandine in her garden.  If you are feeling more adventurous remember there are four subspecies of Lesser Celandine and this useful account on the Wildflower Society webpage gives a nice summary of the features and also the confusing names changes.

Small tortoiseshells were sunning themselves in Margaret's garden at the beginning of the week but but the weekend there was a chill wind which might have driven the first emerging insects back into shelter.

Wishing you all a calm and healthy week and we'll be back with more botany on the doorstep soon.