Good Friday Grass

Around mid-April, and therefore often coinciding with Easter, lawns may carry patches of neat little plant sometimes known as Good Friday Grass.

Patches of Good Friday Grass can be frequent in lawns.

Badby Road West, Daventry. 21 April, 2020

Despite its name, it is not a grass at all, but is a member of the Rush Family, Juncaceae. Its name, Luzula campestris, is something of a puzzle: campestris - of the fields - is straightforward enough, but luzula is a name of some antiquity and of obscure origins. Perhaps its name is the most interesting feature of this rather unexciting plant and yet, oddly enough, I am always pleased to see it.

Chris and I spotted a patch when taking our daily walk. There was not a lot else to be seen. Some Holly Blues, Celastrina argiolus, were flitting about but in a gusty breeze a decent photograph was out of the question.

Holly blue butterflies paused for only the briefest moment

today. Daventry, 21 April, 2020

More straightforward were Green Shieldbugs, Palomena prasina. The pair photographed were mating on the leaf of a field maple and were still there half an hour later when we returned. Copulation is a very sedate event in the world of bugs.

Green Shieldbugs in copula on field maple leaves.

Daventry, 21 April, 2020

Much the same can be said regarding a pair of Brassica Bugs, Eurydema oleracea, but they had chosen Garlic Mustard for their nuptials.

A pair of fuzzy-focused Brassica Bugs on Garlic Mustard. 

Daventry, 21 April, 2020

Galls are beginning to appear. Dysaphis crataegi was showing but this 'species' is really a complex group of aphid species which would require a specialist to sort out. These rolled leaf edges can be more purplish in colour.



Dysaphis crataegi agg These rolls on hawthorn will be very familiar

over the next few weeks. Daventry, 21 April, 2020

Finally home, to do some much-needed watering in this amazing spell of weather.