Wet, Wet, Wet!

It has been a wet old week, with little respite. Still, for the most part it has been light and intermittent showers, interspersed with the odd heavy rainfall. I have been marking examination scripts for the past 2 weeks, so the weather has not been an issue, but now that I have time to venture into the garden, the impact of the damp weather is clear.
This snail was browsing the lilly leaves in the pond. It is quite unusual to see garden snails in this watery habitat, but the leaves have grown so much that they abut the edge of the pond and form a platform across for the snails to use.

The side lawn, which is getting quite boggy (the soil type is pottery clay) is showing a very wide range of unusual vegetation. There is an abundance of Marasmius oreades, the fairy-ring toadstool, with the mature cups fanned out and split, due do the excessive moisture in the soil.

The yellow Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is doing very well and a very stunted growth of Prunella vulgaris, selfheal, gives the lawn a distinct purple matt. This plant is a weed in the flower beds, but I have not seen such a pervasive growth in the lawn before. Of course, the ubiquitous daisies show a smattering of white flowers everywhere that the lawn has not been cut.

Tom has the ideal solution to the wet and humid days. Stay in bed!