NYCTINASTY. (06.05/14)

Apart from being stark raving mad and destined for the funny farm sooner rather than later I found a new word today. Nyctinasty….It’s a wonderful word and it describes what flowers do when they open and close. Some nyctiny and some don’t. I seem to remember there is a flower that does it at four in the afternoon. This morning we set off for a walk and the Daisies were all closed up It was around sevenish. We were out for an hour and a half and they still hadn’t fully opened at nine.

It was a good walk today. Lots of birds about but still no Wild Goats or Otters. The male Goosander is still around and I saw the female as well. The Dipper is back. Needless to say that they were all too far away. If it hadn’t been threatening to rain I’d have tied the dogs up and settled down to see what came to me.

    A Grey Wagtail. This is the first I’ve seen here. Adds a splash of colour.

    This aptly named Song Thrush was singing his heart out. I love them when they sing. They must be worn out as they can keep going for an hour or more. Little Bertha is a joy to walk with. The pictures are little better but the effort required for crap is just a fraction of that that Big Bertha demanded.

I’ve sinned…..again. I’ve dug up a wild flower and put it in a ramekin pot. It’s a very posh ramekin dish by Le Creuset . They are a small pot and a small fortune. I got mine years ago at a couple of pounds a go as John Lewis had lost their lids. I’ve told the flower I'm not going to cook it. Tomorrow morning I’m going to time lapse it opening. I reckon that a shot every ten seconds is manageable but have doubts about the battery life in the strobe. If it runs out then it will be something else I've learnt.

     This is Daisy. She has lost a bit of pollen but was sort of middling in maturity. The young ones seem to open more slowly and have a pink tinge. Flowers nyctinate to protect their pollen at night when there is no incest about. I’ll soon be a Botomist. I’ll be carried away kicking and screaming if I don’t get a grip and stop trying to conjugate difficult words.

I’ve been watching Daisy very closely since I transferred her to the van and she is a madam. She turns towards the light so I’m just about to set to and pop a couple of LEDs in the makeshift black box which will be her stage. Is it the black light diodes that emit UV? I bet she is particular. I bet I pick the wrong bulbs.

We will see what tomorrow brings. Any suggestions for a sound track? Assuming I get that far. I only know one Daisy song and it’s about the village bike that some bloke wanted to marry.