Scottish Life

By Sharpey

No evidence of elves around here...

White foxgloves are abundant right now (although purple ones are even more so).  Folklore suggests that spots inside the flowers come from being touched by fairies or elves - there are virtually none evident on these flowers.  

Apparently there is a tradition in Scotland to place foxglove leaves into a new born baby's cradle - this is said to protect the baby from being bewitched.  However, given that the Roman's created rat poison from them, I wouldn't suggest you try this at home.

I spotted these in Jenny's Brae Community Woodland - a woodland claimed by the Borders Forest Trust.  Borders Forest Trust claims to restore native forests however here the Forestry Commission appears to have made a good job of ensuring that this woodland is now full of nothing but pine - an excellent example of their (now claimed to be defunct) practice of monoculture across Scotland's forests - a practice that results in something that is anything but native.

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