Kind Hearts And Cygnets

One of the new plants that we have bought since we moved here is this beautiful Dicentra Spectablis, or Bleeding Heart. There must be some amazing natural selection going on here for a flower to form a heart that has tear drop sacs hanging underneath it.
It is an Asian perennial plant, that likes shaded areas where it is dry and hot. In damp areas they can tolerate full sun. They are clump forming and do not like being disturbed because of glassy roots that break easily. They are native in China and East Asia.I wish I could have been the plant hunter who found these in flower! What a Valentines present that would be.
I hope ours survives in our sheltered garden. It has been so hot since we moved in that the last few cloudy days have been a relief from the heat. I love the heart shape flowered dangling in the breeze.
I worked yesterday so i missed all the BBC coverage of the Chelsea RHS flower show. I will do one more post I think about highlights from there after I watch the BBC I player catch up programs.
We went for a walk around Pugneys today. We saw Dragonflies, Coots, Cormorants, Ducks, and Swans, Ducklings, and Cygnets. It was very windy, but we walked along all the paths that we had never trod before. The mud had dried out in the hot weather making them passable.
We saw an amazing sight too. A shrub bush covered in what looked like spiders webs. Thick webbing formed walkways and tunnels between branches and leaves. Inside the web like tunnels were masses of Caterpillars. The egg sacs had been wrapped in leaves and the Caterpillars had eaten their way out. The Shrub in Pugneys car park was festooned in web like an Xmas decoration, and had hundreds of small yellow/black Caterpillars. What will they turn into? Are they baby Butterflies?
We saw a dead Pike floating in the water. I saw this arched fish shape moving in the lakes edge. I took off my socks and shoes and waded into the cold water. I saw his long body and sharp teeth, it was a Pike. I think a fishermen had killed him after catching him. I felt quite sad for him..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike
The other thing that distressed us was the amount of rubbish that people have thrown into the lake. Plastic drink bottles and carrier bags, ice cream tubs, and crisp packets. Why are people so messy? We worried about the Cygnets and Ducklings choking on plastic bags.
The plastic will not degrade for about a thousand years. That's why supermarkets here have made a conscious effort to make people bring reusable bags. It has been quite effective and the amount of plastic carrier bags used has dropped.
A lot of the rubbish was accumulated around the fisherman's spots. Drinks cans and sweet wrappers..how hard was it for them to take their rubbish away in a bag?
I have become more aware of how what we do impacts on our environment. The plants, insects, fish, and animals are our responsibility to look after them.
I have become more green as I have grown older. Maybe I am becoming more appreciative now of the world and all the amazing things in it.
I love the sharp toothed Pikes that lurk under the still waters, and the heart shaped Dicentra flowers. The world needs people with kind hearts who will fight for the wildlife and environment to keep it for future generations.