Daily Walk in Difficult Times 30

Lots of villagers walk or jog round and round the outer perimeter of the local cricket pitch for their daily permitted exercise. There are a many more people doing this over the last six weeks of “staying at home, protect the NHS, and save lives”. The turf is kept close-cropped for the most part with an optimism that the local team will soon be playing again in the near future. Only remnants of wild plants can be spotted in the mown grass. Stored to one side of the ground are large metal frames on wheels that can be covered by tarpaulin to be rolled out to cover and protect the most important part of the pitch if need be. Here the grass is a little longer and this is where the minute pale blue flowers of Speedwell can thrive. They are also on found on a steep grassy bank on the other side of the hallowed patch. They may be two separate species, Germander Speedwell in the long grass of the bank and Common Field-Speedwell (as shown) in the short grass. It is a bit difficult to bend low enough these days to see all the distinguishing features, and I rely on my zoom for close-ups, so identification is a bit of a problem sometimes. Like so many of our wild flowers, Speedwells are mostly unnoticed beneath our feet and flourish when undisturbed.