Some more pics I shuffled into the background, and almost forgot.
These were found when I ventured along the lost section of the Clyde Walkway, obviously NOT in summer.
It’s a slightly odd place to walk, being on the edge of some really soggy wetland. The wet ground seems to have an odd effect on some of the plants as they die off at the end of the year, and turn BLACK. Elsewhere, I see the same plant just wither, die off, and disappear, but here, things look distinctly different, and the faded grass end up being covered with black patches.
This doesn’t show up in a pic of the area, so I grabbed a couple of closer views of the black ferns. I’ve got a few examples of the same fern in my garden, and there’s a load in the garden at Fossil Grove, and these all just turn brown/yellow, and waste away, but don’t turn black like these.
In reality, hey’re actually blacker than they appear here, but the camera seems to favour the reflected light from the sky than the eye.
The apple tree is an example of a type I come across in various location, from the side of the road to the middle of nowhere, but they all seem to have one thing in common, apart from stupid little boys (who will virtually break in to back gardens to steal the inedible apples), it seems not even the local wildlife is interested in eating this variety. Whenever I spot them, the fruits are usually lying under the tree, untouched. Unless the aforementioned gang of criminals stole them, then there will be a small pile lying in the street, outside the house they were taken from, with a few bites out of a couple, before being spat out and the rest dumped on the ground.
These fruits seem to stay yellow, even as they drop from the tree, and are best described as ’round bricks’
It seems animals can learn to avoid these, but small boys can’t.
Secret Scotland 