Hi, guys and gals

Before I post my ID requests, a little geography.

The Scilly Isles (Yes.. They are pronounced The Silly Isles) are located about 30 miles westish of Land's End, England, heading out into the middle of the Atlantic. They are a small archipeigo of some 140 islands, of which 5 are inhabited, St. Mary's, Tresco, St. Martin's, St Agnes and Bryher. The rest are mainly just jagged rocks sticking out of the sea. Total populating is about 2000.

Because of the physical condition of the islands, i.e. rocks, they hold the unenviable record of having more shipwrecks than just about anywhere else.

The climate can only be described as Bi-Polar. On the one hand, because it is surrounded by the Gulf Stream, it has a very frost free and equatable climate. However, come the winter, they have to withstand the full fury of Atlantic storms. With a max altitude of 167 ft, they get hammered!!!

Wandering the islands you find native trees growing wherever there is shelter from the winds. Else where, basically moorland. Any tree that manges to find a sheltered nook to grow, flourishes but once tall enough to peep above the shelter, they are forced to grow horizotally.

Typical moorland plants are

Erica cinerea (Bell Heather)

intersperced with Calluma vulgaris (Heather or Ling)

alng with Ulex europaeus (Common Gorse) and Pteridium spp (Bracken).

I almost trod on a gorgeous little gem,

Polygala serpyllifolia (Heath Milkwort)

The habitation is quintisenrial, West Country, UK. Thick (3 ft) walls, slate roofs. The gardens, however, are definately NOT English.

Mesembryanthemoides, Aeonium, Sedum

Spotted a gorgeous, Erica vagans (Cornish Heath). I didn't realise, at first that this was all the plant. the other side had been completely removed.

If anyone decides they need a tree for a wind break, there is only one tree to go for

Metrosideros excelsa (Pohutukawa), from New Zealand.

More to follow

Fof