Just several years ago this meadow was regularly mowed during the growing season. They leave it in peace now and it is so much more beautiful.

🌳🌳🌿💚🌿🌳🌳

Cow Parsley dancing in the wind with the Daisies & Dandelions🌼

Just like the other two Cow Parsley is edible and good for you.

🐝 & other pollinators love it.

In parts of Scotland (I've been told) Cow Parsley was called Dead Mans Flourish and it was believed that someone

Just on the other side of the path & fence that runs by this little piece of green (more desert sand coloured actually) desert the river bank is alive 🌼🌿🐝.

Filled with life and filled with stories & an ancient shared culture that our children should be learning in school.

Ferns 🌿are associated with an awful lot of positivity, however, they also have some negative folklore attached to them.

The possible reality of this little piece doesn't really bear thinking about; but, in Ireland ☘️, when the fairies had successfully swapped a human baby for a

In the Ancient Celtic world Ferns 🌿 were viewed as mysterious as they just seemed to appear. The spores are practically invisible and the absence of any flower or other visible means of reproduction was intriguing.

In parts of Central Europe people the Fern was associated with

All folklore and stories aside leaving Dandelions 🌼 & our other native wildflowers in peace gives the wildlife that brings us so much joy, such as this 🦋, the chance to live and light up our lives.

🌳🌳🌿🌼🌿🌳🌳

In addition to being very good for both ourselves & for wildlife 🐝🦋 🌼, Dandelions have many, many alternative uses.

If, for example, you suffer from warts then, if the folklore is to be believed, Dandelions 🌼 may be the answer.

For 9 consecutive days rub the milk of the

Blowing the seeds from the head of this little Dandelion 🌼will tell you the time ⌚ in the Fairy World.

Either the number of seeds remaining will let you know whether or not the fairies are in bed or it is the number of blows required to clear the seeds.

Birds, such as

You will often find Holly trees growing around or (like this one) right by the base of an older 🌳.

During a Winter ❄️ not so long ago a little 🐦‍⬛ filled up on Holly 🍒 and later stopped to rest in the branches of this big Oak 🌳.

The result of this little rest was a brand new

This little Holly 🌲 is quite happy sitting in the rain beneath the Cherry trees & listening to the birds sing.

They are a perfect understory tree for any woodland. They are Ireland's only native evergreen broadleaf tree & their extremely rich green leaves allow them to

Docken, Docken in & out...take the sting of the Nettle out

When it comes to Dock & Nettle it is hard to think of one without the other.

I can't think of any folk remedy that is more widely practiced than rubbing a Nettle sting with a Dock leaf 🌿

We seem to be convinced that

'Oh yay a Nettle!' is not something that many of us are prone to saying or thinking.

But maybe we should. As there is more to this little Nettle that is sitting watching the water run by than meets the eye.

Not only are Nettles 🌿 a very nutritious (& free) plant but (more

Cuckoo 💮 dancing in the breeze in a small section of a Belfast public park that has spared the lawnmower.

When we give nature a break it has a chance to show us how beautiful things can be 🩷💚.

The Cuckoo Flower 💮 is also known as Lady's Smock, apparently due to the shape of

Metres apart but worlds apart.

The difference between a mown area of public grass & one that is left to its own devices is just phenomenal.

One is beautiful & full of life 🌼🐝🦋 & one is dead.

Which do you prefer?

🌳🌳💮💚💮🌳🌳

These baby Alder can do so much for us in the future as they grow. Their roots form a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria Frankia Alni & fix nitrogen into degraded soil (just like in this place that was once a city dump).

Alder appears as Fearn in the Celtic Ogham alphabet

This little 🌳 is soaking up the last of the day's sun & enjoying listening to the birds....apparently it also got to watch the Aurora Borealis last night too!

In many years this little Alder 🌳 sapling will be approaching the end of its life just around the same time as the

All Irish trees are fairy trees. But the Hawthorn is THE fairy 🌳.

In the Ogham alphabet Hawthorn is represented by Huath.

A lot of the letters in the Ogham are named literally after the 🌳s that they represent, but others are not so obvious.

Uath (from which Huath/Huathe is

May is without doubt the month of the Hawthorn and our meadows & woodlands are, right now, bedecked in the beautiful May blossoms 💮 of the fairy 🌳.

That being said the Hawthorn 🌳 is always magnificent.

Enchanting & magical at all times of the year....even in the dead of

Just as a point of caution, whilst gorgeous Buttercups 💛 have all sorts of protective properties they, like most magical things, have their downside.

Spending too long wandering through a Buttercup filled meadow can lead to madness..

So walk and relax....just don't relax

There is a bit of a running theme in Irish folklore ☘️ when it comes to native flowers & magnificent golden Buttercups 🌼 are no different.

On the day before Beltane(Bealtaine)/Mayday, Buttercups along with other flowers would be collected & used to decorate the outside of