I will then be on the lookout for a non-normal professor striding through the daffodils, mumbling "Isis ... Isis ..."
But how will I know it is a professor?

If you see her striding through snake's head fritillary I'm sure she will welcome a chat

'... snake's head fritillary ...'

Now this you need to explain. Us Outsiders need a little guidance.

A number of the grass spaces along the Cherwell have not been polluted by fertiliser (at any time...) and, as a result there are unique flower meadows that bloom in some Oxford colleges . One of these flowers is the .....
snake's head fritillary ...

I just thought the they would make the sound "Isis,Isis" think Medusa but as a plant

"... Medusa but as a plant ..." :)

I had to look this one up. For more on 'snake's head fritillary' see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plant...ages/329.shtml

Don't know about the sound effects though!

The SHF really is the official Oxfordshire County Flower (if we had a County Bird, it would HAVE to be the dodo, so we don't). It's in a number of locations around Oxfordshire - and can be hauntingly beautiful.

It flourishes in only a few parts of Oxford city (its best known concentration is a riverside stretch of Magdalen College gardens even the college's undergraduates are supposed not to go into), because its strategy for extending its spread doesn't work in the city's predominantly cultivated habitats.

It has a symbiosis with the digestive tract of cattle. They eat it while it flowers, and the digested seeds then take root elsewhere in that field or another nearby. The flowers then bloom in midspring the following year, and the norm in those fields is not to cut the grass, or introduce cattle, till the SHF has flowered (April-mid June). It's happiest in fields prone to winter flooding.

Its brief life encourages local fritillary fetivals , such as Ducklington's Fritillary Sunday (http://www.ducklingtonparishcouncil....lary-sunday-3/ ). As bilbo says, it grows only on unfertilised ground, and outside intensely controlled private gardens (the flannerpooch killed ours) that means land that's been kept in grazing for a good few centuries.

Britain's greatest concentration is at Cricklade North Meadow, just south of the Thames about 20 miles west of Oxford (http://www.crickladeinbloom.co.uk/ab...th_meadow.html ).

Really worth seeing if you're in the area

Interesting. I have a nice clump in my garden. I didn't plant them but our garden was once farmland.
Unfortunately, they are one of the favourite foods of lily beetles.

Btw, there is a thread about British (sic) English. "professor" does not mean the same in American as it does in English

You also find it across the Cherwell from the Magdalen meadow area on council land and further down stream in St Hildas College again down by the river.

March is not the time to see them. But you can go see the deer in Magdalen's deer park which is frankly more fun as the fauns should be about.

Fauns! Now that would be something to see!

Sorry to make fun of your typo, bilbo, but it was just too apropos to resist.

Flanneruk, Oxford, Mississippi is at latitude 34 degrees north, Oxford, England is at 51 degrees. I suspect the one in Mississippi sees spring a lot earlier than the original.

Are yes the burgl-"e"-r bit should have given you the clue "fawns"

Though in temperature terms the existance of the Gulf Stream has a significant affect on the UK climate

bilbo - I took you quite literally. Where else but in CS Lewis's hometown could I expect to meet Mr Tumnus ... or other fauns. That there may be fawns too is merely a bonus!

"I suspect the one in Mississippi sees spring a lot earlier than the original."

Not according to the US Department of Agriculture. But what do they know?

If you read my post, though, you'd have seen I was referring to Oxford, Missouri. Also further south than us. But in winter, by our standards, an outpost of the Antarctic.

I didn't realize Missouri had an Oxford. Its entire population is now in its cemetery, from what I can tell.

PS flanner: can you point me to information about the Charlbury - Woodstock walking path? If not I can probably get off the train with a compass and figure it out.

"can you point me to information about the Charlbury "

I posted a message here saying I was going to dig it "soon".

The message seems to have disappeared. The walk route has now turned up, though, and you should get it, once checked, later tonight.

thanks, f.

I suspect the one in Mississippi sees spring a lot earlier than the original.>

so all the daffodils and crocuses and other early flowers are out in full bloom in Oxford MS as I saw them in London a few years ago in early February?

One week to go before OXFORD. I am so looking forward to this trip!

Flanner, if you still check on this thread after my long silence - I am still really interested in the walk we discussed above. My newly created travel email is: [email protected]. Any advice to keep me on the right track will be highly appreciated.

ttt

kovsie: I haven't seen any posts from flanner in a couple of weeks at least. Maybe they are traveling??

Hi janis! Yes - flanner seems to be off radar at the moment. I even checked his other posts, last one seems to be in early January. Hope everything is OK.
Oxford is lovely, we arrived yesterday. Warm and sunny and so beautiful.