Toothwort

Walking through Morpeth Park I had a look to see if the Toothwort plants  had come into flower , these are Parisitic plants in this case under a Beech tree, according to what I have read these are Protocarnivorous  at least the group  is in which they can trap small insects underground but cannot digest them  so how it all works I don't know . That's the fascinating thing about plants there is so much to learn ,Cabinet of Curiosities  has a post on the subject and being a botanist  can cover it far better than I , perhaps it flowers earlier in Durham , I so far have only found it under the canopy of trees  but I don't go looking for plants much in March early April 

Fontburn Reservoir

We had a visit to Fontburn reservoir the other week its a pleasant enough run ,the entrance is on a bend and I think many people are under the impression you cannot go there or it is just for fishermen but not the case on the waters edge is a sizeable carpark  and during the season the toilet block is open . A walk around to the South West over a path and boardwalk  comes to a dead end the west end of the reservoir is a nature reserve but you can go out onto the open access land from here a path also runs around the North West edge but again comes to a dead end there was a lot of fishermen on this side so we opted for the south , Willow Warblers , Reed Buntings , Long-tailed Tits, Pied Wagtails and a Great Spotted woodpecker , the only birds on the water  two Canada Geese  and later some Sand Martins and a swallow crossed over , I have never seen much on the water here at any time why I don't know. A further stop nearby produced Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail , Siskins, Goldcrest and more Willow Warblers with 2-3 Buzzards  around , There must be more in by now so I will have to have another run up but midweek this time !!

 Willow Warbler feeding up in-between bouts of singing , a nice sheltered spot this with a further two birds nearby

 Looking back onto Fontburn from the open access land but this was rather bleak on the day we where there

 Looking further west Harwood Forest in the distance

And the water from the carpark these three from my phone camera

Stopped at Morpeth to look for the Toothwort  most of the easy to see ones are now getting overgrown but many stalks/stems circled the trees

 A curios plant these I must read up on them

 You can see the many stems as ghostly fingers coming through the leave litter , I am not sure if it is not just the one plant flowering like a fairy ring , but as you can see there are many stems ,I had to use the flash here as it's so dark.