Grey Granite and Rufus decided to walk from Philorth to Rathen, largely in order to photograph the giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) which grows at Invernorth.
There are several enormous giant hogweed plants growing at the roadside opposite Invernorth House, other specimens have been cut down. The remaining plants are currently at least 3 metres high, a native of the Caucasus and South East Asia, hogweed was introduced to Britain in 1893 as a garden plant but has become naturalised in many areas. The sap is photosensitive in sunlight and can cause persistent skin blisters. The large flowers can produce up to 50,000 seeds a year, these may remain viable for 8 -15 years in the ground. It can form dense colonies which prevent native species growing. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 it is an offence plant or to allow giant hogweed to grow.
The line was fragrant this morning, close to Rathen Station there is a large patch of honeysuckle
(Lonerica periclymenum) tangled in a broom bush and scrambling into the neighbouring field. All along the section dog roses are in flower.
The section of line close to the Water of Philorth has ditches on either side which at present are filled with sweet scented meadow sweet (Filipendula ulmaria), pictured below growing with foxgloves, Mormond Hill in the background.
There were mallards swimming in the Water of Philorth this morning, a heron flew up from the ditch and a large mixed flock of corvids pecked about on the line, flying up to the telegraph wires in a slightly unsettling Hitchcockesque manner as we passed.
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