FEATHER AND THISTLE

This sounds as if it could be a public house in Scotland!  

We had ordered some new camping chairs online, on a "click and collect" basis and were all set, with picnic made, to go and collect them from Lechlade Garden Centre, when I decided it might be a good idea to ring to see if they were there.  Sadly they weren’t, so a few phone calls later, after I had contacted Customer Services, we were told they wouldn’t be there until sometime next week.  Disappointing, but not the end of the world!

We decided we would still go out and made our way to Savernake Forest, near Marlborough.  We found a little clearing where we sat and ate our picnic and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  I went wandering off with my camera, while Mr. HCB read and had a look round with his binoculars.  I got some reasonable shots of bees on the thistles, see extra, with lots of pollen, but we both rather liked this shot.

There were many Spear thistles, with their purple, fluffy-looking flowers, and considered to be weeds, in the clearing where we had our picnic.  However, the seeds are attractive to birds such as goldfinches, although we didn’t see any birds, but there were many bees, beetles and butterflies, such as ringlets, small whites, brimstones and gatekeepers on the thistles and also on the little yellow daisies.  There were also plenty of nettles so I had to be very careful where I walked - I certainly didn’t want to be stung having just  about having got rid of the effects of my bites!

Apparently, thistles are also edible, but I think we will stick to lettuce grown by Mr. HCB in our salad.

“What is a weed?
A plant whose virtues
     have never been discovered.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

P.S.  I apologise for not responding to any comments last night - I was very tired, went to bed early and slept until almost 10.00 this morning - in fact, we didn’t even go up to Jack’s!  However, I appreciate all your kind comments on my Blipmeet with Heidi, and also your stars and hearts.