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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Monthly Archives: Jun 2016

Bluebells

24 Fri Jun 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in amphibians, Days out, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild flowers

≈ 47 Comments

Tags

blackthorn, bluebells, Bugle, common backswimmer, Common Frog, coppice, early purple orchids, great crested newt, Herb-Robert, Lesser Celandines, primroses, Reydon Wood, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, sweet violets, walking, water-violet, wild strawberry, wildflowers

I love bluebells, as you no doubt have realised by now, and I don’t think I am alone in my love of these flowers.  There is a scene in the film ‘Howard’s End’ that has one of the main characters walking through a bluebell wood – I find it very moving.

We try to visit a bluebell wood each Spring and this year we re-visited Reydon Wood on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in early May.

P1000109Reydon Wood

Elinor walking down the path towards the wood.

Last year we mistimed our visits, with one visit a little too early and another a little too late.  This visit was ‘just right’.

P1000107Reydon

The trees were just beginning to put on their beautiful spring clothes.

P1000114Reydon wood-001

I peeped through the bars of a gate from the path and saw my first bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta).

P1000115Violets

Sweet Violets (Viola odorata) were growing at the side of the path, as were Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) and Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) but my photos of them were over-exposed.

P1000116Reydon wood

There is a very deep ditch between the path and the wood (you can see the far bank of the ditch at the bottom of the photo)

The ditch was originally dug many centuries ago in an attempt to keep deer out of this coppiced wood.  The bottom of the ditch may have had heaps of brush-wood in it as well as water to make crossing it more difficult.

P1000117Strawberry

This is a Wild Strawberry flower (Fragaria vesca) – not a good photo I’m afraid.

P1000119Herb robert

Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum)

P1000121Reydon wood

A mossy tree-stump

P1000122Reydon wood

More Sweet Violets

P1000123Reydon wood

The path through the woods

P1000124Celandines

Lesser Celandines (Ranunculus ficaria)

P1000125Primroses

Primroses (Primula vulgaris)

Both Celandines and Primroses had already flowered and gone to seed in the lanes near to my home, but the woods are darker, cooler places and the plants flower later and last longer.

P1000126Bugle

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) flower spikes

P1000127Reydon wood

An open ride in the wood with stacks of the harvested timber.

P1000128Reydon wood

The pond in the wood

P1000130Common backswimmer

A Common Backswimmer (Nononecta glauca)

P1000131Female Great Crested Newt perhaps

This might be a female Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus)

P1000132Frog

A Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

P1000134Water-violet

Water-violet (Hottonia palustris)

P1000135Reydon wood

There are a mass of these Water-violets round the pond

P1000139Early purple orchid

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula)  Unfortunately not in focus, though you can clearly see its spotted leaves.

P1000140Reydon wood

A large coppice stool

P1000141Reydon wood

Another Early Purple Orchid

P1000142Reydon wood

Large amounts of brushwood have been stacked around an area that has been newly coppiced in an effort to keep the deer (and people, I expect) away from the new shoots growing from the stools.

P1000143Reydon wood

This is a typical view of a coppiced wood

Here is a gallery of photos of the bluebells in Reydon Wood.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

P1000163Reydon wood

I love to look up at the sky through the new leaves

P1000170Blackthorn

Blackthorn blossom (Prunus spinosa)

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

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This and That – Part 2

16 Thu Jun 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, Insects, music, plants, Rural Diary, trees

≈ 44 Comments

Tags

Bee, blossom, cow parsley, Crabapples, dandelion, field maple, flowers, gardens, ground-ivy, Hawthorn, horse chestnut, Hoverfly, insects, jonquils, Lady's Smock, Maytime, miniature Tulip, narcissus, pasque flower, Pear, pieris, saxifrage, shrubs, St Mark's fly, Suffolk, trees, wild cherry

This post includes the better photos I took at home during the first half of May.

P1000073Miniature Tulip

I have a few miniature scented Tulips. I have no idea what they are called or even when I got them though I think they are about 18 years old. I had a selection of red, orange and yellow ones but all that’s left are the red ones.

P1000071Jonquils-001

These jonquils are tiny and the flowers bob about on their narrow stems like yellow butterflies. Each flower is only about 2 inches across.

P1000074Pasque flower

The Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris ‘Alba’ )in my garden came out well after Easter this year. Not only was Easter early but the weather was cold and the flowers sensibly stayed as buds until the time was right.

P1000075Saxifrage

I love this pretty pink Saxifrage!

P1000077Wild cherry

Wild Cherry blossom (Prunus avium) with a visiting bee

P1000076Wild cherry

Wild Cherry blossom. I like the green-bronze colour of the new leaves.

P1000080Narcissus

Pale yellow double Narcissus

P1000081Pear

Pear ‘Concorde’ blossom.  This pear is supposed to be a dessert pear but by the time it is soft enough to eat it is already rotting in the centre.  Perhaps our climate isn’t suitable for it?  We harvest the pears before they have started to soften and we cook them or we prepare them for the freezer.

P1000082Pear

Pear blossom with a visiting Hoverfly.  The lichen is doing quite well too with its orange fruiting bodies.

P1000096St Mark's flies-001

These are St. Mark’s-flies (Bibio marci) doing what flies do in the spring. The female is the upper fly and she has smoky-grey wings and a small head. The lower fly is the male and he has silvery wings and a larger head. Both sexes have spines on their front legs at the tip of the tibia. You can just see this on the female’s front leg. These flies fly weakly and slowly and dangle their legs as though the effort of flying is almost too much for them. They are called St. Mark’s-flies because they usually appear on or around St. Mark’s day which is April 25th.  This photo was taken on 2nd May – it was a cold spring!

P1000104Lady's smock

Lady’s-smock or Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) – a member of the cabbage family

P1000106Pieris

New leaves on my variegated Pieris ‘Forest Flame’

P1000182Crabapple s. blossom

Crabapple species blossom. Standing under this weeping tree I am almost over-powered by the scent of roses and the buzzing of bees.

P1000183Bluebells

These are the English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) I am trying to establish next to the weeping crabapple. I have put canes alongside them to remind us not to mow them until the seeds have set and the leaves have died. I am also hoping that the canes will stop the deer from trampling the plants.

P1000185Dandelion

A beautiful Common Dandelion ‘clock’ (Taraxacum officinale agg.)

P1000187Crabapple 'Evereste' blossom

Crabapple ‘Evereste’ blossom

P1000189Crabapple 'Harry Baker' blossom

Crabapple ‘Harry Baker’ blossom

P1000191Ground ivy

Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

P1000195Horse chestnut

The Horse-chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) with its flower ‘candles’

P1000197Field maple

Field Maple flowers (Acer campastre)

P1000199Hawthorn

Common Hawthorn flower buds (Crataegus monogyna)

P1000201Cow parsley

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) (or as it is called here in Suffolk, Sheep’s Parsley) with a fly.  I am very fond of Cow Parsley and the sight of masses of it in flower along the lanes makes me happy.

Here is another song that features a wonderful trombone solo and a fantastic brass riff too!  This is a very old recording and it is also an uncommon arrangement for this song.

Thanks for visiting!

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How to vote, but not which way

16 Thu Jun 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

I was most impressed by this post from Andy Dodwell; I hope you can find the time to read it.

Shared Thinking

FB_20160616_12_28_13_Saved_PictureLast Sunday we were thinking about the celebrations of the Queen’s 90th birthday, and also looking at 2 passages from the Bible- one in Luke chapter 7 verse 36- 8:3 and the other in Galatians 2:15-21. As well as this I wanted to respond to some questions I’d been asked about the referendum, but without telling people which box to tick… so this is what I ended up writing. If you prefer to listen, go here.

In the days since last Sunday I’ve been reading and thinking more, and have concluded that I’m going to write a post about which way I’m choosing to vote and how I’ve come to that conclusion… hopefully that will be up tomorrow.

So, last weekend:

Very often when we look at someone else’s position in life, we see their rights and privileges, but when we look to our own lives, we see…

View original post 1,566 more words

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Cycling in Suffolk and other Curiosities

13 Mon Jun 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary

≈ 58 Comments

Tags

cookery blog, East Anglia, flypast, French chanson, Keren Ann, memories, Queen's Official Birthday, rock concert, Stage 1, The Little Library Café, Trooping the Colour, women's cycling, Women's Tour of Britain

There have been a couple of incidents in this part of Suffolk recently which have brought us notoriety.  The first was a hit-and-run death in Bungay’s Bridge Street (see here) and the second is a possible double murder in nearby Weybread (see here) so it is very satisfying to know that there is some good local news to be had.  The Women’s Tour of Britain starts on Wednesday 15th of June and the first stage is to be here in East Anglia.

WT2016_Stage1_MapProfile

If you click on the above map profile you will see a number of place names that feature in my posts – my house is situated somewhere under the bottom right hand corner of the Homersfield label!  You will see from the map that most of the area lies only a few metres above sea-level and that there are very few main roads and very few railway lines.  We are wondering how we will get Elinor into college in Norwich on Wednesday morning!

ooOOoo

This weekend Britain has been celebrating the Queen’s official 90th birthday with lots of parties and concerts.  As is usual at this time the Queen attends the Trooping of the Colour and this is always accompanied by a fly-past.  There is always a rehearsal of this on the Tuesday before and the planes fly over my house.  I had forgotten about it until I heard a roaring above my head and then rushed to find my camera!  The results are not that good but here is a link to a former post with better pictures.

IMG_2752Flypast

I just caught these before they disappeared out of sight

IMG_2753Flypast

I wasn’t well-placed to get good pictures of these planes…

IMG_2754Flypast

…or these!

My brother posted on Facebook that the actual flypast for Trooping of the Colour flew over his house yesterday morning.  He lives south-east of us in Suffolk.

ooOOoo

Richard has been visiting his brother in Manchester this week and arrived back home yesterday.  He had had lunch with an old friend on Thursday and had seen lots of people wearing ‘AC/DC’ tee-shirts, all off to a concert at the Etihad Stadium – the home of Manchester City Football Club.  I mentioned that I had seen AC/DC live at a day’s festival in 1979 at Wembley Stadium but that they weren’t a favourite group of mine.  I then tried to remember who else was on the bill – but was only sure of The Stranglers.  The clearest memory of the day was trying to avoid being hit by gallon jugs of cider or beer being thrown into the air by some of the boys.  Richard then googled ‘Stranglers concert 1979’ and he came up with this!

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/The-Who-wembley-1979.html

I had entirely forgotten I had seen The Who! And Nils Lofgren!  Reading this link I was surprised to see I had watched all these acts for £8 and that a gallon of rough cider had cost £4!  If anyone is at all interested there are a number of poor quality videos on Youtube of the concert on 18th August 1979.  You won’t be able to see 20-year-old me in the crowd of 80,000 you will be disappointed to know!  On the video below you can see snippets of all four acts.

ooOOoo

For some months I have been following a lovely blog written by Kate Young called The Little Library Café.  Those of you who read The Guardian newspaper will probably know about her.  She is a young Australian woman who now lives in England and who combines her love of literature with her love of cooking and re-creates the food she has read about in her favourite books.  She is bringing out her first cookery book in October 2017.  Here is a link to The Little Library Café.  Here is a link to one of her excellent posts.  Here is a link to her Guardian site.  I really hope you enjoy her posts as much as I do, which is a lot – and I don’t enjoy cooking at all!

ooOOoo

And now for my musical choice!

I like this gentle song called ‘Winter Garden’.  Listen out for the sweet trombone playing towards the end of the track.

Thanks for visiting!

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This and That – Part 1

03 Fri Jun 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, music, plants, Rural Diary, trees, weather, wild birds

≈ 70 Comments

Tags

amelanchier, blackbird, blackthorn, bluebell, countryside, cowslip, daffodils, English Elm, English Oak, garden, Goat Willow, green woodpecker, greengage, horse chestnut, Lords and Ladies, Marxh-marigold, pheasant, photography, rainbow, Red Deer, shrubs, Snowy Mespil, Suffolk, trees, white dead-nettle, wild cherry, wild flowers

I have taken a number of photographs over the last few weeks but haven’t had the time to write any posts.   Here are a few of the better pictures from April and earlier.

DSCN0205Red deer

Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)

Back in January I was driving home from shopping when I saw this small group of five Red Deer making their way across a field towards the road.  I had to slow down and then stop because I could see that they were not only made nervous by my car but their usual path was blocked by a fire someone had lit to get rid of brushwood.  They eventually managed to cross the lane a little further along and then carried on their way.  I took a photo of them through the car window and this is the result – heavily cropped.  I had thought that I had missed them and it was only when I eventually looked carefully at the shot on my computer a few weeks ago I realised that they were there!

DSCN0330Pheasants

The Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) family wandering through the garden at the beginning of April.

This is such an untidy photo with the recycling bin out by the roadside and my former car in the way too.  This is another photo taken through glass (the kitchen window this time – you can see a reflection in the bottom left corner of the picture).  We haven’t seen the pheasants for a while now so I presume the females are busy on their nests.

DSCN0342Garden after a storm
DSCN0341Garden after a storm
DSCN0340Garden after a storm

We had a storm with heavy rain and then the sun came out.  It all looked so bright and fresh, so I stood at the front door and took three photos, to the left, straight ahead and to the right.

DSCN0344Daffodils in the garden

A few days later I stood at the end of the drive and took this photo of the ditch that runs along the edge of the garden. We have daffodils growing all along its length. The lane runs parallel with the front of our property. You can also see my new car in this picture.

DSCN0346Pussy willow

Pussy Willow / Goat Willow (Salix caprea)

DSCN0355Goat willow

Goat Willow in flower

P1000039Cowslip

Cowslips (Primula veris)

IMG_1434Stormy sky

A stormy sky. A photo of our house (and the house next door) taken standing next to our big pond and looking across the corner of the field.

IMG_1435Summerhouse

The summerhouse

IMG_2741Green Woodpecker

A Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) looking for ants in the lawn

I was quite pleased with this photo as it showed all the different colours of its feathers, even the black and white spotted feathers under the wings.  This is a female adult as the moustachial feathers are all black.  The male has a crimson centre to the stripe.

IMG_2744Blackbird

A male Blackbird (Turdus merula) was also on the lawn looking for food.

P1000038White deadnettle

White Dead-nettle (Lamium album)

P1000040Wild cherry

Wild Cherry blossom (Prunus avium)

P1000041Bluebell

The first Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) flower in our garden this spring

There is nothing quite like the scent of Bluebells.  They are wild hyacinths but don’t have the cloying scent of the garden variety.  There is a sweet freshness that lifts the spirits and is irrevocably linked, to my mind, with birdsong, sunshine after rain and hope.

P1000043Greengage

Greengage blossom (Prunus domestica ssp. italica). I hope we have some fruit this year.

P1000044Cowslip

Some of the Cowslips in our garden are orange and red.

P1000047Oak

Pendunculate / English Oak (Quercus robur). New leaves and flowers (catkins) appear at the same time.

P1000048Marsh marigold

Marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris). I found it impossible to photograph this bright yellow flower well.

P1000059Marsh marigold

More Marsh-marigold

P1000051Horse chestnut

New Horse-chestnut leaves and flower buds (Aesculus hippocastanum)

P1000053Elm

Beautiful new English Elm leaves (Ulmus procera). We have a number of small Elm trees in our garden. Sadly they will only live for a few years before they succumb to Dutch Elm disease.

P1000061Lords and ladies

Lords and Ladies / Jack-in-the-pulpit / Cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum).  This plant has many names.   Its arrowhead-shaped leaves are often dark spotted.

P1000063Amelanchier

Snowy Mespil (Amelanchier canadensis) blossom

P1000065Blackthorn

Blackthorn blossom (Prunus spinosa). This poor photo is the only image of this year’s blossom I managed to get.

P1000067Rainbow

A rainbow behind the trees

All these photos were taken in April and in my garden, except the first one.

I find I haven’t made a music selection for a while so this post’s choice is ‘Let’s Work Together’ by Canned Heat.  Excellent lyrics, great tune and the best tempo ever!

Thanks for visiting!

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I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

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