I guess you might already be fed up with my botanical excursions and hope for some change of topic, no matter which one. No worries, this will happen soon as the spring season is nearing its end. Just a short summary for now.
And something new yet: almost to the day on the same day as last year I have seen the first irises (Sumpf-Schwertlilie - Iris pseudacorus) [well, obviously I can't be in Lobau each and every day; last year it was two days later, on the 20th of may]:
They've only just begun their flowering season, as they had on 20th of may in 2007. So really even if 2007 and 2008 were quite different years in character - spring 2007 was rather dry while spring 2008 was quite wet (while both winters were mild) - nature this year stands almost exactly where it was last year. In some respects 2007 was an even earlier year (wine sprouted a little bit earlier 2007, also the elderberry bloom began earlier) but overall both were quite early years for nature, except that 2007 was very dry.
In higher lying regions like Mühlviertel this however is not so: in Mühlviertel (at about 700 metres above sea level) 2007 was an early year for nature too, with pear trees already flowering at the end of april (as I found out only now, looking at last year's photos) but 2008 is quite late, due to late snow showers in april as already posted here on the blog.
As far as Lobau is concerned orchids now slowly are vanishing: either because they've withered to almost nothing (like orchis morio; and orchis militaris also seems to not last very much longer, as seem to do spider ophrys) or because they are disappearing in the already long grass (like orchis ustulata, the smallest of the orchids I know which is still around but difficult to find in the grass). And the short flowering season of hawthorn of course also has come to an end already. The next real highlight in Lobau most likely will be thunderstorms and, concerning nature, the flowering of the autumn crocus in august - well, the autumn crocus, now that I'm mentioning it: this really should be my next post here, as now their fruits are to be seen everywhere in Lobau. So just one botanical one to come soon, and then really for something completely different, promise!
