Tags
Alexanders, Barren Strawberry, Bugle, Common Dog Violet, coppice wood, cow parsley, Dryad's Saddle, early dog-violet, Early Purple Orchid, ferns, Goldilocks Buttercup, Great Diving Beetle, Greater Stitchwort, ground-ivy, Herb-Robert, Hornbeam, lesser celandine, primrose, Reydon Wood, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Three-nerved Sandwort, water-violet, wild flowers, wild strawberry, Wood Anemone, Yellow Archangel, Yellow Pimpernel
We drove to Reydon Wood on Friday, in search of bluebells.
We parked at the end of Wood Lane. The walk down the lane is pleasant and we get glimpses of the wood on the other side of the deep ditch on our right.
The Romans introduced Alexanders into Britain and it is mainly found near the coast especially in the east of the country. It was used as a medicinal herb and also as a pot herb. The flowerheads can be steamed like broccoli.
The Anglo Saxons and Celts believed that a stitch in the side was probably caused by elf-shot and this plant cured it!
This is the first time I have taken notice of this buttercup. I have probably seen it before because I find they are fairly common in woodland, but I’ve never looked at one properly, just assuming it was a Meadow or Creeping Buttercup. The stem leaves are quite different from the other buttercups I know and I read that the flowers are usually deformed or have some or all of their petals missing.
This is the most common violet we have in this country and it can be found anywhere except on very acidic soils. The leaves are heart-shaped and the spur (at the back of the flower) is much paler than the petals. This violet is unscented.
Another unscented violet; the flowers of this plant are paler and smaller than the Common Dog Violet and the spur is usually as dark or even darker than the petals. The leaves are narrower than those of the Common Dog Violet. This isn’t a good photo but it is the best out of the three I took!
This plant could be named after St Robert of Molesme who founded Citeaux Abbey in France and who is said to have staunched wounds and healed ulcers with Herb Robert. It could also be named after Robert, Duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror and a patron of medical botany. He used Herb Robert to cure the plague.
The flower here is past its best so it is not easy to see that the petals have a gap between them and that the sepals are clearly seen. The leaves (on the right of the photo) are a dull, matt green and divided into three toothed leaflets with the terminal tooth on each leaflet being smaller and shorter than the adjacent teeth.
Here is a Wild Strawberry, which I found just a few feet away from the Barren Strawberry and you can see the difference between them. The petals are close together and mainly hide the sepals. The leaves are a bright, shiny yellow-green and the terminal tooth is as long as (sometimes longer than) the adjacent teeth.
We watched this beetle for a while as it came to the surface to gather air which it stores under its elytra or wing cases. The beetle’s spiracles (breathing pores) are under the wing cases and allow the air stored there to enter the body. When the air is used up the beetle returns to the surface for more. There were many newts in the pond too.
Hornbeams look a little like Beech trees but the trunks have fluted bark and the leaves are toothed. Hornbeams are regularly coppiced and Reydon Wood is a coppice wood.
At first I thought this was Common Chickweed but then I noticed the petals are not split and that the sepals are longer than the petals. The leaves have three to five parallel veins on them. I didn’t manage to get a close-up shot of the plant.
There is a cultivated form of this plant (subspecies ‘argentatum’) with silvery patches on the leaves which has escaped into the wild and is quite invasive.
Here is a slideshow of the Bluebells we saw.
The Bluebells were not quite at their peak and as the day was overcast and chilly we didn’t smell their wonderful scent. We decided it would be a good idea for us to return in a week’s time to see how they had developed. Unfortunately, we have had very cold weather this week with frosts and wintery showers of hail and sleet. I hope the Bluebells are not too damaged. I apologise for the length of this post.
Thanks for visiting!
Elizabeth Melton Parsons said:
That lovely path through the trees makes me want to take a walk, but it’s too dark out. 😀 Beautiful photos, Clare.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Elizabeth! 🙂
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avian101 said:
Bluebells are beautiful! Great shots Clare! 🙂
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you so much, HJ.
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markspitzerdesigns said:
Lots of purple and blue in those woods – nice
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Mark.
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margaret21 said:
ever apologise. I love your boys g lessons.
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Clare Pooley said:
You are very kind, Margaret – thank-you.
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margaret21 said:
Oh! ‘”Never” not Ever ‘!
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Clare Pooley said:
🙂 I knew what you meant 🙂
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Liz said:
Thank you for taking us on this wonderful botanical journey with you – such a joy! 🙂
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Liz! 🙂
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susanpoozan said:
You have captured some beautiful and unusual Spring flowers, most enjoyable.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Susan. I am pleased you enjoyed it.
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bitaboutbritain said:
Wonderful, Clare. I think I’m learning something each time I visit. Love your enthusiasm, particularly loved the stuff about old herbal remedies, and as ever impressed by your knowledge and photography!
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Mike. I have to research quite a bit for these posts – I learn a lot too!
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Jill Weatherholt said:
Beautiful photos, Clare. Everything looks so green and lush. I loved the purple orchid and the bluebells.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you so much, Jill. I love the purple and blue too!
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KerryCan said:
I love these posts, comparing what we have here, too, and all the flowers I haven’t seen before!
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Kerry. Spring flowers are so special after a bleak winter.
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Laurie Graves said:
Elf shot! I love it! And oh those bluebells. Sure is lovely in your part of the world right now.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Laurie! I think it’s nice to know that once upon a time there were people who really believed in elves!
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Laurie Graves said:
Yes! And the child in me still believes 😉
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Clare Pooley said:
Oh, me too!
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Lisa G. said:
What names they have! Yellow archangel, dryad’s saddle, herb Robert! I haven’t had a stitch in my side for years, but I thought it was caused by an elf shot, I wouldn’t mind it at all! 🙂
I see that this isn’t just a local wooded area, but people are taking care of the place, hence the stacked wood. It’s all very pretty.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Lisa! I find all the common names so interesting and finding out why they have these names is great fun. The wood is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust which is a charitable organisation with the help of the local community. It’s a real success and gets better each time we visit it.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
The bluebells are beautiful and so are all of the other flowers, especially the orchids.
That was a great walk!
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Allen!
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
You’re welcome!
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tootlepedal said:
You certainly saw a lot more than just bluebells on your walk. Thank you for recording all this for us.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Tom.
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dobetteralways said:
What a lovely walk you went on! Thank you for allowing us to enjoy the woods vicariously.
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Clare Pooley said:
My pleasure, and thank-you very much!
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Lavinia Ross said:
Short or long, your posts are always enjoyable, Clare! Your woods in spring are very peaceful and beautiful with so many wildflowers.
Coppice stools and pollarding I had not heard of until I read Roger Deakin’s works. It seems like a great way to conserve wood and not disturb soil. Here they just plant, cut and rip out stumps.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you for your kind comment, Lavinia. Coppicing and pollarding are kind to the soil and to the trees but take quite a bit of time and man-power. It can’t be done by a machine!
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quercuscommunity said:
Personally I don’t think the post was long enough. Lovely flowers – I must get out more!
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Clare Pooley said:
Haha! You are very kind! It’s very hard finding the energy to get out on pleasure trips when you have so many visits to hospitals etc. I hope your health improves very soon and you can then enjoy the outdoors as much as you like.
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quercuscommunity said:
I must get out because I’m starting to stiffen up and feel old. Unfortunately I got an infection and didn’t notice until it took hold, just kept feeling like I’d leave things until tomorrow. Feeling better now. 🙂
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Clare Pooley said:
Good! Hooray for antibiotics!
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quercuscommunity said:
Yes, we’d be lost without them.
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Jual Aromatherapy - 087785597169 said:
I like your article, very inspiring and thank you for your post
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Clare Pooley said:
How very kind! Thank-you.
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Charlotte Hoather said:
I love carpets of bluebells and walks in the woods. If we get the chance to pop to Delamere Forest on Saturday while I’m overnighting at Mums I hope the bluebells are all out.
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Charlotte. The bluebells should still be there at the weekend. Enjoy your quick visit back home!
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Sheila said:
So many beautiful flowers – thank you for bringing us along on your walk! I love the haze of the bluebells and will hope along with you that they won’t be damaged. That’s funny that the Alexander heads can be steamed like broccoli. They look a little like hydrangeas, so now I’ll be tempted to eat those when they start blooming around here. 🙂
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you Sheila! I am having a bit of a giggle imagining you attempting to eat hydrangeas! Alexanders is a useful plant and the whole thing is quite edible though I haven’t tried it yet!
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Sheila said:
You’ll have to try it now and let us know what it tastes like! 🙂
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Tamara Jare said:
What a walk! I envy you bluebells, they do not grow here, but then we do have most of the flowers you mentioned here. And the orchid is beautiful! We do have some wild orchids, too, a bit different. I should go for a walk, too, I see 😉
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Tamara! I would like to see what flowers you could find on a walk! 😉
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Tamara Jare said:
accepted 😉
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Cynthia Reyes said:
Oh, Bluebells! Wish we had some here. Mind you, we have other blue Spring flowers like Scilla. Now, I like the idea of Stitchwort being used to cure an elf-inflicted pain the side, for sure. Could be true!
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you, Cynthia! It would be nice to think it were true! I hope you are well this evening.
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nildamacedopaulino said:
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much!
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nildamacedopaulino said:
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Sheryl @ Flowery Prose said:
What a beautiful spot – and such an abundance of plant species! My kind of place to walk and enjoy…. 🙂
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank-you very much, Sheryl. It is surprisingly full of different species. Not that long ago it had been planted with conifers and seemed quite sterile. As soon as the conifers were felled the native plants returned.
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sherijkennedyriverside said:
So pretty. You really captured that feeling of emergence and the peek at color and life emerging in bits and pieces that are fleeting and yet so welcome in early Spring.
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Clare Pooley said:
You’re very kind, Sheri – thank-you.
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equipsblog said:
Beautiful pictures and wonderfully lyrical descriptions. Thanks for sharing your walk in the spring woods with us.
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Clare Pooley said:
You are very kind. Thank-you!
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Jennifer Kelland Perry said:
Such a lovely post, Clare Pooley. I adore those bluebells, among others. I found you via Andrea Stephenson’s post and her suggestion to follow someone new. So very nice to meet you! 🙂
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Clare Pooley said:
How very kind, Jennifer! It is very nice to meet you too!
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