• About my Blog
  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and This Site
  • My Life in a Suffolk Lane

A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Category Archives: wild animals

Spring Odds and Ends – March

26 Sun May 2019

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild animals, wild flowers

≈ 83 Comments

Tags

blackthorn, blossom, Brown Hare, Bugle, cherry-plum tree, daffodils, daisy, Dog's Mercury, early dog-violet, flowers, garden, grape hyacinth, lesser celandine, leveret, March, Narcissus Rip van Winkle, Periwinkle, plants, pond, primroses, silver-laced primula, Spindle, St Mary's church Homersfield, Suffolk, Suffolk Lane, trees

Not having posted anything for over two months I have a number of photographs of things I’ve seen on my travels or in the garden.  This post will be a selection of these photos.

View from my kitchen window

This photo was taken with my phone early one March morning.  You can see the maple leaf sticker on the glass which works well at preventing birds from crashing into the window and injuring themselves.  Just outside the window is my witch-hazel which is planted in a large pot and also a Japanese flowering-cherry tree tied to canes, in a different pot.  We keep both trees up close to the front of the house to protect them from wind damage.  On the other side of our drive you can see the first of the daffodils in flower along the edge of the ditch.  What really excited me was the sight of a leveret, a young hare ( lepus europaeus), crouched in the grass.  Richard had had a sight of this young animal in the garden a couple of days before this and I was so pleased to see it for myself.

Leveret

I took this picture with my smaller camera from the utility room window and you can see how damp with dew everything was, including the leveret.  It stayed with us for a few days, hardly ever moving from its ‘form’, the nest in the grass it had made for itself.

The leveret’s form

Cherry-plum tree (Prunus cerasifera )covered in blossom

When this tree first grew I assumed it was an early-flowering blackthorn tree as they can look very similar.  However, a few years ago I happened to see some of its fruit before the birds ate it all and realised my mistake.

cherry-plum blossom
cherry-plum blossom
cherry-plum blossom
cherry-plum blossom
cherry-plum blossom
cherry-plum blossom

Silver-laced Primula

A year and a half ago I was trying to get rid of Common Nettle and Black Bryony in a flowerbed full of primulas and hellebores.  The only way to deal with them was to remove the plants I wanted before tackling the ones I didn’t.  I planted some of the primulas at the edge of a bed Richard grows dahlias in.  This March I was pleased to see that my treasured silver-laced primula had survived the move and two winters.  I still haven’t finished working on that weedy bed!  The Primula has a pretty silver edge to its petals.

Early Dog-violet ( Viola reichenbachiana )

We have these early violets growing in the grass round our pond.

Large pond
Large pond
Large pond
Large pond

Our large pond in March.  The water-level is very low due to insufficient rainfall for a year.

The front hedge and ditch

A week or two on from when the photo of the leveret was taken and the daffodils are all coming out.

I love these little Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’!

Grape Hyacinth (Muscari ), Bugle (Ajuga reptans ), Variegated Lesser Periwinkle(Vinca minor ) and Spindle (Euonymous ) ‘Emerald n Gold’.

This is a very narrow bed alongside the rear of the garage next to the back door.  All the flowers are blue and two of the plants have variegated yellow and green leaves.  However, just to prove that nothing goes exactly to plan, the bed also contains a red-berried Firethorn ( Pyracantha) which has creamy white flowers; this plant was here when we moved here and the birds and bees love it.

St. Mary’s church at Homersfield

We attended church here in March and I thought it looked lovely in the sunshine.

Primroses (Primula vulgaris )

That same day I walked round the garden and then out onto the verge next to the lane  beyond our hedge and found these primroses in flower.  Garden primulas are able to flower at any time of the year as long as it isn’t too hot or too cold.  Wild primroses, however, have their season and late March is the best time to see them round here.

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa )

There is a tangle of Blackthorn on the verge and it was just coming into flower.  You can see our garden over the other side of the hedge.

Here is the Blackthorn on the verge.

It is a very untidy tree with suckers but it has blossom like snow and the fruit (sloes) in the autumn are used for flavouring gin, among other things.

Dog’s Mercury (Mercurialis perennis )

We have this rather insignificant plant growing under all our hedges and in amongst the trees near the large pond.  It is often a sign of old woodland and won’t tolerate being disturbed; it fades away.  The male and female flowers are on separate plants.

The daffodils at the end of March

Daisy (Bellis perennis )

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna )

Here is this sunshiny little flower peeping out from inbetween Common Nettles and Ground Elder in the ditch.

These were the highlights of March this year.  I hope to begin an April post as soon as I have published this one.  Whether I’ll be able to finish it and publish it in the next day or so only time will tell!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

In My Garden Again

28 Wed Sep 2016

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

≈ 75 Comments

Tags

bird's nest, Brown Hare, Brown Hawker dragonfly, comma butterfly, Common Fleabane, Common Hawthorn berries, cooking apples, Crabapples, Creeping Thistle, Fish-hook Cactus, garden, hogweed, Hornet, Hoverfly, leveret, mole hill, moonrise, pears, speckled wood butterfly, Suffolk, sunset, Sweet Pepper, Water Mint, Zinnia

This is another collection of things I’ve seen in my garden or near my home during the past month.  The weather until a few days ago has been wonderful!  Warm, sometimes very hot, mainly dry and sunny; it has been a lovely late summer.

p1010238fish-hook-cactus

Flower on Richard’s Fish-hook Cactus (Ferocactus wislizeni)

This cactus nearly flowered for the first time two years ago but the warm, sunny weather didn’t last long enough and the buds shrivelled.  Last year was too dull and cool so no buds formed at all.  This year however, one of the three buds opened and stayed open for three days.

p1010239sweet-peppers

Sweet pepper ‘Sweet Banana’

Richard is growing sweet peppers this year and this is a photo of them when they were just starting to turn red.  Unfortunately, the camera focused on the leaf not the pepper.

p1010240zinnia

Zinnia flower

p1010241zinnia-001

Zinnia flower-bud

Richard bought a tray of Zinnia flowers from the garden centre.  They took their time to get established but eventually they got going and have been so bright and cheerful for the past month.

p1010245fleabane

Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenteria) has been everywhere I’ve looked this summer but this poor shot is the only photo of it I’ve taken.

For centuries, the leaves of Fleabane were hung in bunches from ceilings or dried and burnt as a fumigant to repel fleas.  Richard Mabey in his ‘Flora Britannica’ says the plant is a relative of the species which supplies the insecticide ‘pyrethrum’.

p1010250hogweed

Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) seed-heads

p1010246speckled-wood

Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)

This is a woodland butterfly and its markings make it difficult to spot in dappled shade.

p1010253comma

A Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album) on Water Mint (Mentha aquatica)

p1010248hoverfly-on-creeping-thistle

Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) with a Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) on the lowest flowerhead

p1010296crabapples

The crabapples on our species crabapple tree look like cherries. Woodpigeons are very fond of them.

p1010298biffin

We don’t have many apples this year. This one looks very good – a cooking apple.

p1010301concord

We have what looks like a good crop of pears but sadly many of the fruits are rotting on the tree.

p1010304haws

Common Hawthorn berries, known as Haws. (Crataegus monogyna)

The Hawthorns are full of fruit; some people say this means we are to have a hard winter.  I think it means we had good pollination in the spring.

p1010305brown-hawker

A female Brown Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna grandis)

I took this photo in a hurry as Brown Hawkers are such restless dragonflies and only perch for a few seconds.  I love their amber wings!

p1010324hornet

Another poor photo, this time of a Hornet (Vespa crabro)

We have had a Hornets’ nest under the tiles of the garage roof this summer.  They are busy insects and carry on flying until well after sunset, unlike wasps who retire early.  We have also got a wasps’ nest under the house roof tiles near our bedroom window.  I could hear them chewing and munching away through the night when they were first constructing the nest in the early summer.

p1010330mole

This is a mole hill that appeared in the rather dry border next to the conservatory. The hill got bigger the following day and many spring bulbs were uprooted.

We haven’t had much rain during the past month and the moles are searching for worms.  The worms congregate where there is moisture i.e. in flower-beds (if they are watered) or next to paths or buildings where water runs off into the soil.

p1010326sunset

Sunset

p1010327sunset

Sunset

p1010328sunset

Sunset

p1010329sunset

Sunset with mist

And shortly afterwards on the same evening…..

p1010332moon

Moonrise

p1010333moon

Moonrise

We were pleased to welcome a new visitor to our garden; a Leveret, a young Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We first noticed it when it was very close to our kitchen window so you see part of the window frame in my photos!  It then moved a little further away and was easier to photograph.

The best time of day to see hares is early morning or at dusk, as during the day they rest in grass, scrubland or in a ploughed furrow.  They crouch low against the ground with their ears laid flat and are well camouflaged.  If they are disturbed they are capable of running very fast – 35 mph/56kph – and run with their black-topped tail held downwards.  They have large staring eyes, large black-tipped ears and powerful hind legs; they are shy and alert creatures.  They typically live in open country, preferring not to live in direct contact with grazing animals and they are unlikely to be found in hayfields.  They eat a wide selection of grasses and plants of open country as well as crops of cereal, clover, alfalfa, beets and potatoes.  In winter a hare will dig for green plants under the snow and will eat buds and bark from bushes and trees, including fruit trees.  They have suffered in areas of intensive farming and where herbicides are regularly used.  Pesticides contaminate their food and may kill leverets.

In March and April hares can be seen leaping and chasing about which gives rise to the saying ‘mad, March Hares’.   They often stand up on their hind legs and box each other; this may be two males vying for social dominance or, as is now thought more likely, a female (Jill) rebuffing a male (Jack).   Leverets are born in the open with a full coat of fur and with their eyes open.  They are born in litters of about three and the mother moves them immediately to another safe place which makes it more difficult for predators to find them.  Each leveret is placed in a ‘form’ – a depression made in long grass – on its own where it lies low waiting for visits from its mother.  This behaviour is very like that of deer.

While watering my green beans the other day I noticed some tiny white eggshells lying on the ground and wondered where they could have come from.  Richard looked into the branches of the Laburnum tree above us and saw a tiny nest that I hadn’t been able to see – (I am quite a lot shorter than he is).  It was a windy day and the pieces of shell must have been dislodged by the breeze.  A week later I found the nest on the ground and here is my photograph of it.

p1010346-nest

I do not know what bird built this nest.

As you can see from the photo it is only 11 cm long and about 6 cm wide.  It is made of tiny twigs, grasses, leaves and moss all woven together and is lined with sheep’s wool and white feathers.

And finally, here is my music selection for this post.

Thanks for visiting!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

May’s End – Part 2

26 Tue May 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild animals

≈ 37 Comments

Tags

Brown Hare, Bugle, Common Comfrey, cow parsley, Creeping Buttercup, Dandelion clock, field maple, garlic mustard, Greater Stitchwort, ground-ivy, Hawthorn, Hedgerow Crane's-bill, Herb-Robert, Meadow Buttercup, orange-tip butterfly, red campion, rowan, Suffolk, trees, Tufted Forget-me-not, wild flowers, Wood Avens

This post will be featuring the wild life photographs I have taken away from home, either on short walks to the postbox for example, or when I have stopped the car having seen something special.

The Cow Parsley has been spectacular this year and especially so on the lane I drive down on my way to Norwich each day via Bungay.  I was glad I took the following photos a couple of weeks ago as the road is now closed for road works and I hate to think what has happened to all these lovely flowers.

IMG_4679Cow Parsley and Red Campion (640x480)

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) and Red Campion (Silene dioica)

The Red Campion has never been better in all the time we have lived here too.

IMG_4677Cow Parsley and Red Campion (640x480)

Cow Parsley and Red Campion

IMG_4691Red Campion (640x480)

Red Campion

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants.

IMG_4681Greater Stitchwort (640x480)

Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)

This plant is a member of the Pink family and is a shade lover.  It shines luminously in the twilight.  Its stems are very weak and need the support of other plants to gain any height.  The stems snap easily too, and according to the ancient ‘doctrine of signatures’ this means that the plant was thought to be able to help heal broken bones.  The Greek words for whole ‘holos’ and bone ‘osteon’ are incorporated in the botanical name.  The common name of Stitchwort refers not to mending but to another kind of stitch – the horrible pain in the side and similar ailments.  A preparation of stitchwort and acorns taken in wine was a standard remedy.  Stitchwort was regarded, at one time, along with White Campion and Field Poppy, as a ‘thunder flower’ – the picking of which provoked thunder and lightening.

IMG_4682Herb-robert (640x480)

Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum)

Herb-Robert has orange pollen.

IMG_4685Herb-robert and Ground-ivy (640x480)

Herb-Robert with Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

IMG_4688Bugle (480x640)

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) seems to be growing everywhere this year too. I don’t remember seeing any at all last year.

Bugle was thought of as a cure-all by medieval herbalists.  It healed all kinds of wounds, thrusts and stabs, as well as ulcers and broken bones.  It was also highly recommended for delirium tremens brought on by too much alcohol.  It has been called one of the mildest and best narcotics in the world.  The Latin name Ajuga and the common name Bugle appear to be corruptions of one or more of the plants earlier names of ‘abuga’, ‘abija’ and ‘bugula’.

IMG_4693Garlic Mustard (640x448)

Jack-by-the-Hedge or Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

This is the only British member of the cabbage family to smell very strongly of garlic.  The smell of the small white flowers isn’t particularly pleasant but it attracts midges and hoverflies.  The plant is self-pollinating.  In June the pale green caterpillars of the Orange-tip butterfly can be seen feeding on the long green seed pods from which they are almost indistinguishable.

IMG_4695Orange Tip on Cow Parsley (640x480)

This is a photo of an Orange-tip butterfly feeding on the nectar from Cow Parsley. The camouflage is very good!

IMG_4696Creeping Buttercup (640x480)

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

This plant spreads very quickly with long-rooted runners.

IMG_4697Field with buttercups (640x480)

This is one of the fields next to the lane I drive down every day. It has a lot of buttercups in it (probably Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) )

IMG_4698View from lane (640x480)

Another view from the lane.

IMG_4699Lane (640x480)

This shows the mass of Cow Parsley on the verge of the lane with two grand-looking Horse-chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum) on the corner.

IMG_4703Dandelion clock (2) (640x488)

Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale agg. ) fruit or ‘clock’. 

IMG_4704Herb Bennet (640x480)

Wood Avens or Herb Bennet (Geum urbanum)

IMG_4705Forget-me-not (640x480)

I think this may be Tufted Forget-me-not (Myosotis laxa)

IMG_4707Lane (480x640)

This is the lane as it goes up a gentle rise towards St Margaret’s church.

IMG_4729Common Comfrey (640x480)

Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)

IMG_4730Hawthorn (640x480)

Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

IMG_4732Hedgerow Crane's-bill (640x480)

Hedgerow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pyrenaicum)

IMG_4731Wild flowers (640x480)

Hedgerow Crane’s-bill with Cow Parsley and Ground-ivy

IMG_4733Field Maple (640x480)

Field Maple (Acer campastre) flowers.

IMG_4736Rowan (640x480)

Rowan or Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia). This is a photo I forgot to include in Part 1 as this is a tree in our garden.

Lastly, I include a couple of photos (not good) of a young Hare, or Leveret (as young Hares are called) that I saw in our garden yesterday.  It was very curious, investigating everything.  It kept on the move all the time, which made photographing it very difficult, suddenly racing off in one direction only to come racing back again next minute.  It appeared to run for the joy of running!

IMG_4777Leveret (640x480) IMG_4778Leveret (640x480)

Thank-you for visiting!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

May’s End – Part 1

26 Tue May 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild animals

≈ 40 Comments

Tags

Ash, Bush Vetch, Common Vetch, cow parsley, cut-leaved crane's-bill, English Elm, garden, Germander Speedwell, horse chestnut, ivy, Muntjac fawn, Red Clover, Ribwort Plantain, Scots Pine, Small-leaved Lime, Suffolk, Thyme-leaved Speedwell, trees, white dead-nettle, wild flowers

Where has this year gone!  It is nearly June already and I have been so busy and concerned for my family that I have been largely unaware of the passing of time.   If it wasn’t for the photographs I have been able to take periodically I would think I had done nothing and gone nowhere.

This post will record the wild plants and trees I have in the garden.  I haven’t been able to photograph any birds successfully for a few weeks and, because of the cool temperatures, there has been a distinct lack of insects other than a few hardy bees.

IMG_2231Common Vetch (640x429)

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)

IMG_2262Bush Vetch (640x427)

Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium)

IMG_2232Cow Parsley (640x456)

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)

IMG_2233English Elm (640x427)

English Elm (Ulmus procera)

We have a number of English Elm saplings in our garden.  The Elm has a suckering habit so we have groups of them in the scrub area near our big pond.  When we first moved here in 2006 there were a few 20′ trees but those have since succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease.  I can just remember the countryside when we had beautiful, stately Elm trees everywhere with their wide, domed crowns.  Many of the trees had gaps where branches had been lost so they looked as though the trunks had leafy clouds on them.  Not a good description I know but maybe those of you who remember Elms will know what I mean.  My mother was always warned not to shelter under an Elm tree as they tended to lose branches easily.

IMG_2257Scots Pine (640x427)

Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

The Scots Pine is another tree that loses branches easily.  This is a little sapling we planted some years ago and hoped that it would be quite tall by now.  Unfortunately it is still only about 3 foot tall and for some time we couldn’t understand why it wasn’t growing.  We now believe that deer have been eating the new tips of the branches and have been pruning it.  We are trying to protect it with a tall ring of mesh.

IMG_2234Ivy (640x427)

Ivy (Hedera helix)

I love the look of ivy.  The different shades of green of the new and older leaves, the pale veins and the exciting leaf-shape.  The upper leaves are oval and many people don’t believe they belong to the same plant.  It is such a useful plant to have in the garden.  It provides food and shelter to so many creatures and is useful greenery when I reluctantly have to provide flowers for church.

IMG_2235Ribwort Plantain (640x427)

Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

The seedheads are food for Goldfinches and other seed eaters.

IMG_2236Ribwort Plantain & a sawfly (640x433)

This flowerhead has a visiting insect – a type of sawfly I think.

IMG_2260White Dead-nettle (427x640)

White Dead-nettle (Lamium album)

IMG_2244Wild flowers (2) (640x427)

Wild flowers. In this small patch there is Common Vetch, Creeping Buttercup, Heart’s-ease, Red Clover, Ground Ivy, Greater Plantain leaves and grasses.

IMG_2245Horse Chestnut (640x427)

The Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is flowering well. The flowers are scented.

IMG_2248Thyme-leaved Speedwell (640x427)

Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) The flowers are tiny!

IMG_2250Germander Speedwell (427x640)

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

IMG_2249Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (640x427)

Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill (Geranium dissectum)

This is a little plant that is often over-looked but the leaves alone are quite beautiful.

IMG_2252Ash (640x427)

Ash (Fraxinus excelsior). The Ash tree is one of the last trees to come into leaf.

IMG_2258Red Clover (640x427)

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

IMG_2255Small-leaved Lime (640x427)

Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata)

We have four small Small-leaved Lime trees which were a birthday present to me a couple of years ago.  I think the red buds are lovely.

The final photo is a Muntjac fawn we saw a few evenings ago.  It was alone and only stayed for a few minutes.

IMG_4724Muntjac fawn (640x480)

As you can see it was only as tall as my daffodils that needed dead-heading.

Thank-you for visiting!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

A Few More Things.

24 Fri Apr 2015

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

≈ 45 Comments

Tags

aubretia, bluetit, daffodils, daisy, dandelion, Elder, greylags, Hawthorn, heartsease, Muntjac deer, near-species rose, nests, pussy willow, rhubarb, silver birch, snail-trail, spear thistle, spring, Suffolk, willow

In between racing about in my car to Norwich and Mum’s house, the doctor’s surgery and the hospital, shopping trips to Harleston, Halesworth, Bungay and Diss, I have been able to take my camera with me as I walk round the garden, filling all the bird feeders.  I haven’t had time for any gardening for about ten days and I miss it!  The weather here has continued bright and dry with frosty, misty mornings and warmish days (as long as you are out of the chilly NE wind).  Today has been much warmer with a change of wind direction but according to the forecast, this will not last.  Rain and cold are set to return by the end of the weekend.

IMG_2026Hawthorn (640x427)

Hawthorn leaves. We have two types of Hawthorn in our garden hedges, Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata). This is probably Midland Hawthorn or maybe a hybrid between the two.

IMG_2027Daisy (640x427)

A Daisy (Bellis perennis). I love its simplicity.

IMG_2029Elder (640x427)

The Elder leaves (Sambucus nigra) are now almost fully out and have lost the pink tinge they had. They are matte mid-green leaves.  Last year we had the best elder blossom I’d seen for many years.

IMG_2035Pussy Willow (640x482)

Goat Willow or Sallow catkins (Salix caprea). Male and female catkins are on separate trees and appear before the leaves. Sallows are a food plant for many different types of moth. The catkins are known as ‘Pussy Willow’ when they first appear as they look and feel like silky cats paws.

IMG_2038Heartsease (640x427)

I found a Heartsease or Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor) plant on the path round the big pond. Next to it there is also the first rosette of Spear Thistle leaves (Cirsium vulgare).

IMG_2044Birch (640x427)

Silver Birch leaves (Betula pendula)

IMG_2046 (640x427)

I love standing underneath our tree and looking up. Silver Birches eventually grow to be about 26 metres tall. I don’t think ours has quite got there yet.

IMG_2048Bluetit (640x427)

This Bluetit (Parus caeruleus) sitting in the Birch tree looks a little strange. It has a black sunflower seed in its beak.

IMG_2049Bluetit (640x427)

It spent some time taking the seedcase off…

IMG_2050Bluetit (640x427)

…and eating the seed within.

IMG_2055Geese (640x427)

The Greylags (Anser anser) have been amusing me a lot lately. The geese are much calmer than the ganders. The goose here is up close eating some food I put out for it. The gander is further away and hissing at me.

IMG_4468Greylag (640x480)

This one I found the other morning standing on top of the hedge.

IMG_2043Goose (640x427)

The original goose on her nest on the island…

IMG_4469Greylags nesting (640x480)

…was joined last weekend by another goose (nearest to us).

IMG_4472Goose nest (640x480)

A third goose has made her nest on the edge of the pond. I surprised her and she surprised me when I walked round the pond yesterday. I am not sure how successful this nest will be as it is quite vulnerable to fox predation.

IMG_4474Dandelion (640x480)

A Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

IMG_4477Daffodils (480x640)

Daffodils along the ditch at the front of the house

IMG_2051Daffodil (640x427)

Daffodils at the top of the ditch between us and the old School House.

IMG_2052Rhubarb (640x427)

Our Rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum ‘Timperley Early’) looking majestic.

IMG_2067Shrub rose (640x427)

A very early flowering near-species rose has buds on it. (Rosa xanthina  ‘Canary Bird’)

IMG_2065Aubretia (640x427)

Aubretia

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

IMG_4403Snail trail (480x640)

Richard pointed out this snail trail up the side of the house!

IMG_4404Deer (640x513)

I saw this Muntjac deer doe very early the other morning. It was eating the crabapple tree! The leaf shapes on the window are meant to stop birds crashing into the glass but aren’t very successful. I usually have to pull the window-blind down to stop them!

IMG_4405Deer (640x480)

Very blurred photo! You can see how stocky/thickset these deer are and also the white in their ears.

IMG_4406Deer (640x480)

The does don’t have antlers but have a dark triangular patch on their foreheads.

IMG_4408Deer (640x480)

I think I see her tongue sticking out as she chews a mouthful of leafy twig.

IMG_4409Deer (640x480)

I had great trouble trying to focus on the deer. The camera wanted to focus on the window glass of the double-glazing or the daffodils behind the deer.

IMG_4416The new mower (640x480)

Richard on his new tractor-mower. The old one wasn’t working too well so we part-exchanged it for a newer, better model. It has a mulching facility which will be good to use in the summer.

I must share some good news I heard today.  My daughter Alice has been told she has her PhD.  She is now Doctor Alice!  I  am so proud of her.

Thank-you for visiting!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Minsmere – Summer 2014

05 Thu Mar 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in domestic animals, plants, Rural Diary, trees, Uncategorized, walking, wild animals, wild birds

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Avocet, beach, Blackthorn sloes, chickweed, Common Reed, common restharrow, Common Sandpiper, Highland Cattle, Konik pony, Lesser Burdock, Lesser Centaury, Marsh Sow-thistle, Marsh-mallow, Michaelmas Daisy, Minsmere, Red Deer, Rosebay Willowherb, RSPB, Sea Kale, silverweed, Spoonbill, Stonecrop, Tansy, Wild Teasel

017The sea (640x480)

The beach at Minsmere. I never tire of photographing waves rolling in to the shore.

This is another catch-up post featuring some photos I took last year.  Richard, Elinor and I visited the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve at Minsmere on the Suffolk coast last August on Richard’s birthday.  We are fairly frequent visitors as it is only a few miles drive from our home.  It is a large reserve and has many different types of habitat – woodland, heathland, shoreline, lagoons and creeks.  Not only does it have many, many species of bird there but it is home to all sorts of other wildlife – insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plants.  Quite often we hardly see any birds at all depending on the time of year and where we decide to walk.  We don’t often go into the hides but on this occasion we did go into one briefly.

003Rosebay Willowherb (480x640)

Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium), a common enough plant, but at the time this was the first one I’d seen that year.

005Red deer (640x480)

Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). This photograph is not cropped and was taken from the causeway path through the wetland going in the direction of the sea. The deer, though wild, was oblivious to the group of admiring humans taking pictures of it while it ate some tasty vegetation. The deer know they are safe here and feel free to go wherever they want.

006Red deer (640x480)

I love the dark edges to their ears and the dark line down their necks.

009Red deer (640x480)

She has such a lovely face! The females are much smaller than the males and are 160 – 210 cm / 63 – 83″ long (not including the tail) and weigh about 120 -170 kg / 260 – 370 lbs.

021Driftwood (640x480)

Driftwood on the beach

019Richard and Elinor (640x480)

Don’t be fooled! They were enjoying themselves really!

022Sea Kale (640x480)

Sea Kale (Crambe maritima)

023Plants on sand dune (640x479)

A variety of plants grow on the sand dunes or shingle dunes as they should be called here!

037Lesser centaury (640x480)

Lesser Centaury (Centaurium pulchellum). Unfortunately I didn’t manage to find any with the flowers open.

033Common Sandpiper (640x480)

I’m afraid you’ll have to take my word for it that this is a Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) My camera wouldn’t zoom any closer.

035Duck and Avocet (640x480)

An unidentified duck and an Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

053Spoonbill (640x480)

A Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

 

 

 

038Reed (480x640)

Common Reed (Phragmites australis)

039Common Restharrow (640x480)

Common Restharrow (Ononis repens) The sticky leaves are covered in grains of sand.

040Stonecrop (640x480)

Stonecrop (Sedum). I am not sure which Stonecrop this one is.

041Teasels (640x480)

Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) seedheads

044Teasel flower (480x640)

I managed to find a Teasel still in flower – just!

042Lesser Burdock (640x480)

Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus)

043Burdock flowers (640x480)

Lesser Burdock flowers – the pink-purple florets grow out from between the spiny bracts.

045Tansy (640x480)

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

046Tansy (640x487)

Little yellow buttons!

 

047Konik pony (640x480)

Konik ponies – primitive ponies from Poland – are used by the RSPB as they are very hardy, thrive on rough grazing and tolerate wet conditions.

048Konik pony (640x480)

I couldn’t get a shot of the pony’s face –

049Konik pony (640x480)

– no matter how I tried!

 

 

050Elinor and Richard (640x480)

I am always getting left behind!

051Elinor and Richard (640x480)

And this is what happens when I catch up!

054Marsh Sow-thistle (480x640)

Marsh Sow-thistle (Sonchus palustris)

055Michaelmas daisy (480x640)

I believe this is Michaelmas Daisy rather than Sea Aster, unfortunately

058Chickweed (640x480)

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

059Marsh Mallow (480x640)

Marsh-mallow (Althaea officinalis)

060Sloes (640x480)

Ripening sloes on the Blackthorn trees (Prunus spinosa)

062Silverweed (640x480)

Silverweed (Potentilla anserina) so called because the leaves are covered in silvery, silky hairs that catch the light and shine like silver.

061Highland Cattle (640x480)

The RSPB also use black Highland cattle to graze the marshes

 

We will no doubt be visiting the reserve again very soon.  I read that they have discovered some Common Bird’s-nest fungi there recently and I would like to see it.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Garden Visitors

03 Tue Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Insects, Rural Diary, wild animals

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Brown Hawker dragonfly, butterfly, cuckoo bee, dragonflies, Field vole, Flesh Fly, flies, garden, ichneumon wasp, Large Yellow Underwing moth, micro moths, moths, Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, small white butterfly, Southern Hawker dragonfly, Tachina fera fly, wildlife

I will continue to post last year’s photos while this winter weather continues.  I am away from home for a good part of the day; certainly the part of the day with the best light for taking pictures.  We haven’t been out anywhere recently either, so nothing much to show or tell you.

IMG_3881Vole (640x480)

Rear end of a vole. I think this may be a Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) rather than a Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus).

IMG_3882Vole (640x480)

Front end of a vole.

This vole was hiding behind the wheel of the hose-pipe cart.  In fact, the shots were taken just a couple of weeks ago but I was unable to add them to the other posts I’ve published this year.  Field Voles are aggressive and noisy rodents and like to live in damp and tussocky grass.  Exactly!  Our garden is full of that at the moment.

008Bees on chive flowers (640x480)

Bees on Chive flowers

I let most of my herbs flower as I prefer to see the insects and flowers to having perfect tasting herbs.

009Cuckoo bee Psithyrus vestalis on chive flower (640x480)

I believe this is a Cuckoo Bee (Psithyrus vestalis) on Chives.

005Micro Moth (640x480)

A micro moth I found in grass. I haven’t yet discovered what it is called.

001Micro moth (640x497)

Another micro moth seen on a wall. I apologise for the shot being out of focus.

042Brown Hawker (640x488)

A Brown Hawker dragonfly. This is the only photo I managed to get of it and it blends in so well with the dead leaf it was perching on. This is our only Hawker with amber wings and has prominent yellow stripes on its thorax. These can just be seen above the wings. I believe this is a female.

047Tachina fera on marjoram (640x427)

Tachina fera on Marjoram.  The larvae of these flies are parasites of saw flies and other caterpillars.

048Small tortoiseshell on marjoram (640x427)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on Marjoram

049Small tortoiseshell on marjoram (640x427)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.

050Small tortoiseshell on marjoram (640x427)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.

 

051Poss ichneumon wasp Amblyteles armatorius (640x485)

This is an Ichneumon wasp (possibly Amblyteles armatorius but I have my doubts about this ID). It is on Bronze Fennel.

053Flesh fly and ichneumon wasp (640x430)

Ichneumon Wasp and Flesh-fly (Sarcophaga carnaria) on Bronze Fennel.

011Moth (640x480)

Unknown moth.  Angle Shades moths (Phlogophora meticulosa) fold their wings like this but I am not sure that they are this dark in colour.

004Small white (640x427)

A rather chewed Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae).

012Large Yellow Underwing (640x480)

Large Yellow Underwing moth (Noctua pronuba)

011Female southern hawker (640x427)

Southern Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna cyanea) – female.

Best wishes to you all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

More Visitors to my Garden

01 Sun Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in amphibians, Insects, Rural Diary, wild animals

≈ 38 Comments

Tags

bumble bee, Damselfly, Dragonfly, frog, pond skater, Rabbit, squirrel, Suffolk, summer

This is a post title I have used before and a very useful one it is too!

I have been going through the photographs I took last year in my garden and have found a few that I didn’t post for one reason or another.  Some of them are ok and some of them are definitely not but I will include a few of the latter as a record to myself of what I saw.  I won’t bore you with all the shots at once but will split them up into digestible portions.

016Young rabbit (640x480)

A young Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) photographed one evening in June

I veer about in my attitude towards rabbits.  When I see rabbit kittens and young rabbits like this one I am full of love towards them.  How sweet they are!  I once looked out of an upstairs window early one morning and saw a couple of adult rabbits with a tiny rabbit kitten.  The adults were watching the baby and eating grass now and then while the kitten was exploring and skittering about, having fun.  It then ran up to the adults and rolled on its back just in front of them.  One of the adults nuzzled its head against the baby.  It all looked so peaceful.

I don’t feel quite the same about rabbits when I find large holes dug in the flower bed or bark chewed off my favourite trees and shrubs.  I am grateful for the control exerted on our rabbit population by stoats.

While hanging washing out on the line one summer a young rabbit ran past me.  I could tell from the way it ran that it was distressed and wasn’t sure where to go.  It headed for one of our vegetable plots.  I then saw the cause of the rabbit’s fear;  a stoat appeared round the corner of the house and well, skipped past me and made straight for the vegetable patch.  I couldn’t bear to watch any more so I went back indoors.  We haven’t seen any stoats in the garden for a couple of years – but we haven’t had too many rabbits either!

098Sleeping rabbit (640x427)

A sun-bathing, dozing rabbit seen one morning in late June

026Tawny Mining Bee on Welsh Onion (640x427)

This is (I think) a Red-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lapidarius) on a Welsh Onion flower.

003Common frog (640x480)

A Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

This frog would not turn round so I could only photograph its back.  Common Frogs can be found in shades of yellow, orange, red, green, brown and even blue and usually have dark spots and markings on them.  They also have a dark patch behind the eye.

001Grey squirrel (640x480)

A Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)  This one is very thin!

Grey Squirrels were introduced into this country in the mid-19th century but didn’t become established here until the beginning of the 20th century after many releases.

 

 

 

005Ruddy darter (640x427) (2)

Ruddy Darter dragonfly; male ( Sympetrum sanguineum )

036Banded demoiselle (640x457)

Banded Demoiselle damselfly; male

 

 

037Banded demoiselle (640x467)

This is a little out of focus but you can still see the dark iridescent band on this male’s wing

044Banded demoiselle (640x415)

These beautiful damselflies are quite large and flutter their wings more as a butterfly does

 

039Pond skater (640x477)

Pond Skater ( Gerris lacustris )

They use their short front legs to capture prey that has fallen onto the surface of the water.

That’s it for now.

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Young Visitors

18 Wed Jun 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, Rural Diary, wild animals, wild birds

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

hedgehog, lily-pads, mallard duck, mallard ducklings, rooks, sunset, tawny owlets, watering plants, Young birds

Image

We had a fabulous sunset last night.  After yet another cloudy start to the morning things gradually improved so that by early afternoon it was bright and much warmer than of late, though still with a stiff northerly breeze.  I spent the whole day at home – a real luxury – household chores in the morning and a little gardening in the afternoon.  Because we haven’t had much rain recently I decided to water everything very thoroughly yesterday evening so went outside again after our evening meal.  I started off with lots of watering cans filled from our water-butts which I used in the greenhouse, on plants in tubs in ericaceous soil and on as many of the other plants and flower beds as I could manage.  I then used the hosepipe for the rest of the thirsty plants.  We have a water meter so are careful not to use the garden hose any more than we have to.  We save as much water as we can in water-butts but carrying lots of filled two-gallon cans round the garden is tiring work.

As I watered the plants I listened to the birds calling to each other as they do in the evening.  Gradually the day-time birds fell silent and the night-time sounds began.  One of the sounds we have been listening to for the last couple of weeks is the calling of a couple of Tawny owlets in the trees opposite our house.  It started with just one owl calling on its own but a few days later another one joined in.  They call every few seconds for the whole night from about 8.30pm until dawn the next morning.  They become very noisy every now and then, clamouring and squeaking and I assume that is when they are being fed.   They must be getting quite big by now as their voices are louder and they are moving through the trees.  Sometimes they are near the end of the lane where they started off and sometimes they are in the ash tree opposite our house.  I am used to the noise they make now but at first it was difficult to get to sleep.

The sunset picture I took yesterday evening was at 9.30pm and it was still light enough for me to see round the garden without a torch at 11pm.  It starts to get light just before 3am and by 3.30am to 4am most of the birds are singing again.  I have to collect all the bird feeders that are near the house if they still have food in them and bring them into the porch or greenhouse.  This is because of the rooks who descend on the feeders at the crack of dawn and have loud arguments among themselves just under our bedroom window.  Unfortunately, we are still being woken by a rook despite there not being any food outside the house (there are other feeders further down the garden that we leave out).  This rook is a young one who doesn’t seem to want to learn to feed itself.  It follows its parent about calling loudly and not watching the adult bird as it shows its fledgling where to find food.

Image

Young rook

Image

Young rook

Image

The fledgling has just noticed its parent has arrived.  The parent hopes it hasn’t been noticed!

Image

The fledgling is calling and fluttering its wings and the parent resignedly goes to join it.

Image

Off they go together to look for food under the tree.  Poor parent rook – all the other rooks’ fledglings have gone off a week or more ago and only this one is left, unable to feed itself.

Another young family we have in the garden are three mallard ducklings with their mother.

006Mallard duck with ducklings

We have been watching this little family grow from tiny little balls of fluff to these young ducks.

026Mallard duck with three ducklings

An over-exposed photo of them on the 9th of June

014Mallard duck with 3 ducklings

And here they are on the 12th of June.

017 Three ducklings resting on lily-pads

Here they are resting on lily-pads.  The smallest one on the right is fast asleep.

018Two ducklings resting on lily-pads

019Sleeping duckling

 

They visited the ground feeder the following day.  Only the smallest one can get through the mesh now.

036Duck and ducklings

We briefly had another family of mallards that same day.  This time there were eight ducklings.

016Mallard duck with 8 ducklings

We had another visitor last night but it was an adult this time.009Hedgehog

A hedgehog.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

A Hotch Potch.

16 Fri May 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild animals, wild birds

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Allium, Alpine Pasque Flower, Ant hill, aquilegia, Balm of Gilead, Bee, blackberry, Bramley Apple blossom, Cacti, Cedar of Lebanon, chaffinch, Christmas Cactus, Clematis, Common Sedge, Common Vetch, Cotoneaster, Damson, GERANIUM, Goat Willow seeds, Great Tit, hare, Hawthorn, Holly, House Spider, Japanese Maple, Jay, Knautica, moon, Muntjac, pheasant, Shrub rose Canary Bird, Spindle, stock dove, sunset, thrift, Thyme-leaved Speedwell, Tufted Duck, vegetable garden, Viburnum, White-Shouldered House Moth, winter-flowering honeysuckle, Zebra Spider

 

Last evening while I was admiring the pink sunset…..

Image

 

….E was admiring the rising of the moon.  She called to me to come and see it as it was so large and orange.  I joined her at her bedroom window and we watched it slowly slide up the sky behind the trees.  I went into my room hoping to see it more clearly from there and saw below me on the drive, the hare again!  Typically, I had the wrong camera with me, it was too dark and the hare wouldn’t stay and be photographed.

Image

This is the only photo I managed to get.

I went outside into the twilight with little bats flying about the garden and crossed the road and looked at the moon through the hedge.  It wasn’t orange any more but it was still beautiful.

Image

The visit from the hare and the rising moon reminded me that hares are supposed to be magical and people today still take care not to hurt a hare.  One of Mum’s neighbours was new to the area a few years ago and asked another neighbour how he could get rid of the rabbits and hares which were damaging the trees and plants in his garden.  He was told that the rabbits could be shot but ‘we don’t shoot hares in Suffolk’.  In Anglo Saxon mythology, Ostara the goddess of the moon, fertility and Spring was often depicted with hare’s ears or a hare’s head.  Eostre (where we get the word Easter from) was the Celtic version of Ostara and was the goddess associated with the moon, death, redemption and resurrection during the turning of Winter into Spring.  Eostre was a shape-shifter too and took the shape of a hare at each full moon.  Well, well, well!  (I looked all that up using Google!).

Yesterday was a busy one with my usual shopping with Mum and then going to Halesworth to hand in my prescription at the surgery and post a couple of letters.  I got home just after 2.00pm and had some lunch.  The afternoon was spent dusting, vacuuming and doing more mending.  R got home just as I was finishing.  He had had a fraught day at work so after we had had our cup of tea he went into the garden and planted out his peas and beans.  A soothing task which took him over an hour and was all done except the watering-in by the time I had cooked the evening meal.

This morning I went out to admire his handiwork.

Image

Putting the anti-rabbit/deer/hare/pigeon etc barriers up had taken most of the time yesterday.  We hope they work!  You can see the potatoes coming up in the bed behind the peas and beans.  While I was down at the vegetable patch I had a look at the pond and saw a strange looking duck.  I tried taking its photo with my small camera but wasn’t able to get a clear picture.  I fetched our newer, better camera and tried again.

 

Image

Image

Image

 

Image

I think this is a female tufted duck who visited to sample the fish in our pond.  I had to crop the photos as I still couldn’t get near enough to the duck.  The pond, as you see, is covered in the fluffy seeds of Goat Willow.  The seeds aren’t only on the pond but are everywhere, floating in the air, covering the grass, coming into the house.

Image

This is a spider’s web I noticed yesterday on the outside of one of our windows.  It is covered with fluffy willow seeds.  Despite my brushing the web away very often the spider insists on making its web just there all the time.

The rest of this post will be a strange selection of photos that I took today and some others that I haven’t been able to put in any of my recent posts.

Image

This is a late entry in the apple blossom awards.  We thought the Bramley Apple wasn’t going to flower this year, but we were wrong!

Image

The Cedar of Lebanon has new leaves growing that look like old-fashioned shaving brushes.

Image

All the hollies have new leaves too.

Image

The Japanese Maple has the most beautiful cherry-red seeds.

Image

Image

Image

It has beautiful leaves too that glow in the sunshine.

Image

Image

I got home yesterday and saw a Jay in the garden.  I had great difficulty taking these photos from inside the car.

Image

This is one of my Christmas Cacti and it is flowering again for the third time in six months.  It first flowered in November, then in February and now in May.  I think it is very confused!

Image

Image

R’s cacti are all coming in to flower too.

Image

Mammalaria

Image

Mammalaria flower

 

Image

 

Peanut cactus flower.

Image

I don’t know what this one is called.

Image

The little white Alliums in the garden are very popular with the bees.  They are under the laburnum trees which are also full of bees and the noise they make is astounding.  I think they sound like cars in a grand prix race – the pitch is almost exactly the same – it’s like listening to a race about a mile away.

Image

The new shoots on the Viburnum Bodnantense are crimson.

Image

Tiny damsons.

Image

Willow seeds.

Image

Bee on the cotoneaster horizontalis.

Image

Geranium Phaeum in R’s flowerbed.

Image

Flowers on the Spindle tree.

Image

The Hawthorn hedge at the bottom of the garden near the old summerhouse.

Image

A White-shouldered House Moth

Image

Image

R took these photos of a muntjac deer.

Image

A chaffinch

Image

One of my herbs – cedronella canariensis (Balm of Gilead).

Image

Alpine Pasque Flower

Image

A Great Tit

Image

A Stock Dove.

Image

A female Pheasant.

Image

A Zebra Spider.  These spiders are only about 4mm long.  They are jumping spiders and can leap a distance of about 4cm.

Image

A baby House Spider.

Image

Image

Image

The tiny flowers of Thyme-Leaved Speedwell.

Image

Aquilegia flower

Image

Thrift flower

Image

The wonderfully scented Clematis Montana ‘Rubens’

Image

Shrub rose ‘Canary Bird’

Image

Blackberry flowers

Image

Knautica Macedonica

Image

Aquilegia flower

Image

Reflections in the pond

Image

Common sedge

Image

Common Vetch

Image

An ant hill

 

 

Image

Male Holly flower buds.  We don’t have any female holly bushes so no berries!

Image

Heart-shaped berries of the Winter-flowering Honeysuckle

Image

These lovely berries don’t last long as the blackbirds find them irresistible.

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts
Follow A Suffolk Lane on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 687 other subscribers.

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!

My Posts

Mar 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Feb    

Pages

  • About my Blog
  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and This Site
  • My Life in a Suffolk Lane

Archives

Blogs I Follow

Posts I Like

amphibians art Arts and Crafts churches cooking Days out domestic animals family fish Folk Traditions Gardening Historic Buildings holidays Insects Landscaping literature music Norwich plants Rural Diary seashore theatre trees Uncategorized walking weather wild animals wild birds wild flowers woodland

Tags

architecture autumn beach berries birds blackbird blackthorn butterfly church clouds common knapweed cow parsley crocus daffodils Diary dogwood family field maple flowers fungus garden gardening geese greylags ground-ivy Halesworth Hawthorn heather holiday Holly Holy Week horse chestnut Hoverfly insects ivy Lake District Lent lesser celandine lichen Lords and Ladies Mallard mallards Minsmere moorhen moss music Norwich Peak District pheasant plants pond ponds primrose primroses Rain rooks Rumburgh Rumburgh Church sheep Sheffield snow snowdrops spring Suffolk Suffolk Wildlife Trust sunset the Beck trees viburnum bodnantense walking weather wild cherry wild flowers winter-flowering honeysuckle witch-hazel

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Goodreads

Blog at WordPress.com.

naturechirp

Celebrating God's creatures, birds and plants...

Sophie Neville

Writer

Going Batty in Wales

Developing a more sustainable lifestyle in SW Wales

Our Lake District Escapades

Exploring the Lake District and beyond

Short Walks & Long Paths

Wandering the trails and places around the coast of Wales

Dukes and Princes

History, heritage and genealogy about Europe's highest ranking aristocrats

The Biking Gardener

An English persons experience of living and gardening in Ireland

Nan's Farm

A Journal Of Everyday Life

Walk the Old Ways

Rambling Journeys in Britain with John Bainbridge. Fighting for the Right to Roam. Campaigning to Protect Our Countryside.

Writer Side UP!

Waking the Writer Side...and keeping it "Up!"

Meggie's Adventures

Travel, thank you notes and other stories from Meg King-Sloan

amusicalifeonplanetearth

Music and the Thoughts It Can Inspire

lovefoundation.co.uk

Traveling Tortuga

Simply Living Well

Pakenham Water Mill

Historic watermill in the beautiful Suffolk countryside

Take It Easy

Retired, not expired: words from the after(work)life. And music. Lots of music!

Secret Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife

thanksfortheadventureorg.wordpress.com/

The Beat Goes On

#TBGO

PLESZAK

Frank Pleszak's Blogs

John Bainbridge Writer

Indie Writer and Publisher

roughwighting

Life in a flash - a weekly writing blog

Walking the Old Ways

Rambling in the British Countryside

CapKane

thoughts on social realities

SkyeEnt

Jottings from Skye

jodie richelle

embracing my inner homemaker

Skizzenbuch/Blog

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Have Bag, Will Travel

The Call of the Pen

Flash Fiction, Book Reviews, Devotionals and other things.

John's Postcards

Art in Nature

You dream, I photographe it !

Smile! You’re in Barnier World......

theinfill

the things that come to hand

Dr. Mary Ann Niemczura

Author of "A Past Worth Telling"

Provincial Woman

LIFE IN MUD SPATTERED BOOTS

A Quiet Celebration of Life on a British Farm

The Pink Wheelbarrow

Luanne Castle: Poetry and Other Words (and cats!)

Poetry, Other Words, and Cats

The Family Kalamazoo

A genealogical site devoted to the history of the DeKorn and Zuidweg families of Kalamazoo and the Mulder family of Caledonia

everythingchild

The Book Owl

Canberra's Green Spaces

people, places and green spaces in Canberra

Paul Harley Photographer

WALKS WITH PUMPKIN

bowlandclimber

Walks and climbs

M T McGuire Authorholic

Humorous fantasy fiction author... the books are quite funny too... seeking an agent, a publisher and my fortune.

Tails from a Norfolk cottage

Moments from a Norfolk Country Cottage. The furred & feathered & the worn and weathered. A Druid Herbalist with a Passion for Cats, Vintage, Dogs, Interiors, Nature, Hens, Organic Veggie Food, Plants & Trees & a Kinship with The Earth.

Woodland Wild flowers

Of the Wye valley and beyond.

East of Elveden

Hidden places, secret histories and unsung geography from the east of England and beyond

Author Ari Meghlen Official Website

  • Follow Following
    • A Suffolk Lane
    • Join 687 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • A Suffolk Lane
    • Customise
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    %d bloggers like this: