Late August by Lake and Meadow

The Bride's Lake , Mid Jutland
In a legend a bride and groom were killed by driving their horse carriage out into a lake, which after this was called 'Brudesø' (Bride's Lake) , a story known from other places and countries. Why this lake in the lake district in the middle of Jutland has achieved the name 'Brudesø' is not known - whether young girls were sacrificed here as brides of the water spirit - or if a young couple commited suicide in a Romeo and Juliet tragedy - only imagination can tell.


Common Blue Butterfly and a Jade Creen bug, two small jewels


A Red-backed Shrike and a fine little Puffball. This red-backed shrike is here almost every time we come to this place. A permanent home for the shrike here at Brudesø.
Puffballs were traditionally used in Tibet for making ink. Most puffballs are not poisonous, but it takes some expertise to use them for food. Some often look similar to the deadly Amanitas, such as the Death cap mushroom.


Here is a lovely Queen of Spain Fritillary. It has such a beautiful underside with Mother of Pearl spots, but the wings are most often spread out. The Small Heath wears the finest little gown in light orange silken and with a layer of fine muslin, an evening dress for Scarlet O' Hara.


A Lythria purpuraria (cruentaria) and a Scarce Copper ( female); this little pretty Copper has grown in numbers in Jutland during the latest years.


A Common Blue in the fine flowering heather and a Bladder Campion. In Spain, the young shoots and the leaves of the Bladder Campion are used as food. The Danish name is blæresmælde, (like: to crack a bladder).When we were children, we pressed the bladders to make them crack. The flowers are special - they only give scent in the evening and the night.


In the corner of another lake were two Mute Swans proudly showing their pretty young ones.
It is the largest bird in Denmark. It was almost extinct, but total listing has caused that it is now nesting in every large Danish lake. In 1925 were only three pairs left, in 1950 about 300-400, in 1955 1000 and in 1978 4.000 pairs. The Mute Swan was in a viewer-voting of Danmarks Radio in 1984 elected Denmark's national bird.


Lythrum salicaria (Purple loosestrife) The Danish name is kattehale = Cat's Tail, and it might look like a cat's tail when it is swept by the wind among the other plants.
The plant with the yellow flowers is Bidens. It is plant in the family Asteraceae. The common names beggarticks, bur-marigolds, stickseeds, tickseeds and tickseed sunflowers refer to the achene burrs on the seeds, most of which are barbed. The generic name refers to the same fact; it means "two-tooth".


Large-flowered Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis speciosa), the Greek name Galeopsis means a likeness to a cat, polecat or weasel, speciosa = beautiful flower.


Bride's Lake/Brudesø


This i Greater Duckweed, it is not as common as Lesser Duckweed. To the right looks like a spider's web but it is actually a web filled with caterpillars from a butterfly. I don't know which.
Click to enlarge pictures.


Lysimachia vulgaris, Danish: Almindelig Fredløs. The word fredløs means outlawed . Why it was given this name is a mystery to me! To the right a bird-observation tower. I have never been able to find a proper translation in English. I have now tried Google translation. They just tell me: tower. Can anyone help me?


A Woundwort and a Goldenrod. Woundwort is a Stachys, and Stachys officinalis was the most important medicinal herb to the Anglo-Saxons of early medieval Great Britain. The name woundwort derives from the past use of certain species in herbal medicine for the treatment of wounds.
Parts of some goldenrods can be edible when cooked. Goldenrods can be used for decoration and making tea. Goldenrods are, in some places, held as a sign of good luck or good fortune, but they are considered weeds in others.Goldenrod is a companion plant, playing host to some beneficial insects, and repelling some pests.


Two lovely butterflies, the Red Admiral and the Peacock. Their Latin names are spectacular: Peacock is Inachis io and the Admiral is Vanessa atalanta, suitable for such pretty creatures.


A Scarce Copper and a Glanville Fritillary in the flowering heather


A pair of mating Common Blue butterflies - and a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. This Fritillary is in decline in DK, where farming and foresting is most intense.


Russula mushrooms and a Moth. The main pattern of toxicity seen among Russula species to date has been gastrointestinal symptoms in those with a bitter taste when eaten raw or undercooked; many of these are red-capped species.


A Field Scabious and a Common Toadflax. Species of scabious were used to treat Scabies and many other afflictions of the skin including sores caused by the Bubonic Plague. The word scabies comes from the Latin word for "scratch" (scabere). Another name for this plant is Gipsy Rose.
Common Toadflax' Latin name is Linaria vulgaris, the members of this genus are known in English as toadflax, a name shared with several related genera. The scientific name means "resembling Linum"(flax), which the foliage of some species superficially resembles. The Danish name Torskemund means a Cod's mouth.


Now there are green fruits in the elderberry. They are fine for making capers. I once had a recipe and I once made a portion of green capers, but it takes too long to pluck the berries in the wood and to cleanse them and to cook them and so on.....I simply don't have the patience. But they were actually good - those green capers I had "produced". I have later seen that the green berries are considered poisonous and not advisable to use. So I shall not look for my recipe.


Roses with a wonderful scent and hips not yet ripe - but they are at least not poisonous , they are very healthy with lots of C-vitamins. A marmalade of hips and apples tastes so good!


Time to say goodbye to the lake and the heather. Can you see the bee in the top? It will fly home and make honey we can use for our bad throats next winter. If winter comes....


We'll go home when the cows go home. This is a small clique, having a meeting before they go home. We'll have a coffee-break.


photo Brudesø, Midtjylland, August 2010: grethe bachmann