Autumn Berries and Fruit

Tags

autumn, berries, blackthorn, colourful leaves, countryside, field maple, haws, Hawthorn, Holly, ivy, rosehips, sheep, sloes, Suffolk, walking, wild fruits

Richard asked me if I’d like to accompany him to the post-box down the lane.  He had a birthday card to post to his brother and also a notice to put on the village notice-board.  The weather was fine, though cloudy and we hadn’t walked anywhere together for a few weeks.  I quickly put on my coat and walking shoes and we set off.

The hedge on the opposite side of the lane was pale green and orange.

The hedges still had a few leaves left on them. This is a Field Maple (Acer campestre) hedge.  Not in focus, but I liked the colours.

A gap in the hedge further along the lane gave us a sight of the tower belonging to All Saints church.  It is surrounded by trees, most of which have lost their leaves now.  The field has been sown with barley or wheat which has germinated and will continue to grow on milder days all through the winter.

All Saints church in the distance

Some of the more sheltered Field Maple trees still had leaves.

This fine-looking old house near us has been empty for some time.

Richard proudly demonstrates his posting technique!

We met a neighbour and chatted with her for some time.  I admired the fine cherry tree in her front garden.

Our neighbour’s beautiful cherry tree.

We walked on to the notice-board and then decided to continue down the lane.

A row of Italian Alders (Alnus cordata) were planted some years ago as a wind-break along the edge of a field.  The cones are much larger than our native Alder cones.

Italian Alder cones

Our local stream, The Beck, has been dry for months.  We have not had enough rainfall this year.

The Beck

Another pretty hedge

The Guelder-rose trees (Viburnum opulus) have been beautiful this autumn! I have never seen so much viburnum fruit before!

Here is another Guelder-rose.

This is a Spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus) in the hedgerow

Here is the pretty pink and orange spindle fruit

This is a picture of the lane along which we walked

There were a few sloes left on the Blackthorns (Prunus spinosa)

A few Common Hawthorn berries (haws) too (Crataegus monogyna)

A view over the hedge to the fields beyond. The skies were clearing.

This tree-trunk was covered with Ivy stems (Hedera helix). It attaches itself to trees, fences and walls by short roots and can completely cover tall trees. A Dog Rose (Rosa canina) stem hung in front of the tree.

Rosehip

Bird’s nests are easier to see now that the leaves are falling from the trees

Puddles were full of leaves and reflections

We walked through St Margaret South Elmham churchyard and Richard sat for a while to rest his back.

A late rose was blooming

The Holly (Ilex aquifolium) had a few berries on it

Our Blackberries (Bramble) (Rubus fruticosus agg.) were very poor this year because of the low rainfall. Even the mice and birds didn’t chose to eat these ones which have been left to shrivel on the vine.

I am not sure whether these fruits are Blackthorn or Bullace (a type of wild plum). 

Autumn leaves

Sheep were being grazed on the common at the end of our lane

This sheep was happy to stop and stare

We soon arrived back home, having been away a lot longer than we had originally intended.

This was a walk we took a fortnight ago and after a couple of frosts and some strong wind last night most of the remaining leaves have fallen from the trees.  The countryside looks ready for winter now.

My music choice today is ‘Somewhere in my Heart’ by Aztec Camera.  There is no special reason for my choice except I like it and am amazed it is thirty years old!

Thanks for visiting!

Bluebells

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.

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’.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum)

A mossy tree-stump

More Sweet Violets

The path through the woods

Lesser Celandines (Ranunculus ficaria)

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.

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) flower spikes

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

The pond in the wood

A Common Backswimmer (Nononecta glauca)

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

A Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

Water-violet (Hottonia palustris)

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

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

A large coppice stool

Another Early Purple Orchid

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.

This is a typical view of a coppiced wood

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

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

Blackthorn blossom (Prunus spinosa)

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

This and That – Part 1

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Pussy Willow / Goat Willow (Salix caprea)

Goat Willow in flower

Cowslips (Primula veris)

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.

The summerhouse

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.

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

White Dead-nettle (Lamium album)

Wild Cherry blossom (Prunus avium)

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.

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

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

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

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

More Marsh-marigold

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

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.

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

Snowy Mespil (Amelanchier canadensis) blossom

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

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!

Out Like a Lion!

Tags

blackthorn, daffodils, early dog-violets, flint boulder, gales, garden plans, geese, goose nest, greylags, hyacinths, mallards, March, muck spreading, primroses, scillas, starlings

In my post at the beginning of the month I wondered if March would go out like a lamb because it had come in like a lion.  Well – no – the month is going out as it came in, with gales!

I have just been outside and found my poor Hyacinths have been flattened!  These are Hyacinthus Delft Blue.

The Blackthorn tree (Prunus spinosa), just coming into flower, has been battered.

The flowers are being ripped off the trees by the wind.

Ten days ago the local farmer began muck-spreading and we have only just got rid of the smell!

More countryside joys!

We have had a small flock of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) visiting our garden during the past week.

Despite my having put the ground feeder in a cage with extra chicken wire on two sides of it, the Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) seem determined to get to the bird seed.

The daffodils are coming out nicely around the garden.

The path round the pond is beginning to green up nicely.

The Early Dog-violets (Viola reichenbachiana) that grow in the grass-path round the pond are looking very pretty.

Early Dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana)

The Primroses (Primula vulgaris) in the ditch are looking fine too. When we first came to live here there weren’t any primroses at all, only cowslips. These have appeared in the last couple of years.

The Greylag geese (Anser anser) often come up close to the house to see what food there is for them to eat.

I took advantage of their absence and had a look at the nest which has a few eggs in it. This was taken before the goose had finished laying her eggs and started sitting on the nest.

This is the garden on the south side of the house. Work in progress: I have cleared the beds of weeds and other unwanted seedlings and will cover them with soil-improver next.

The central grass path will be kept (there is a flowerbed just out of shot on the left) and I want to position a couple of arches over it and train roses and clematis up them.

This narrow area of grass is difficult to mow and will eventually be removed and replaced with a gravel bed and stepping-stones to give access to the windows, electricity meter and the drain.

The soil here is very poor; full of stones and builder’s rubble.  I am constantly finding very large flints just under the surface.  People in days gone by used to think that stones grew and I can understand why they might think that.

This is a flint boulder I dug up last week – the ruler is a 30 cm one.

I put a pot with a primula in next to the boulder to give you an idea of the size.

Blue Scillas

White Scillas

 

 

These Scillas are flowering in the flowerbed on the left of the grass path.  I have yet to weed here!

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

In My Garden

Tags

Ash, birds, blackthorn, catkins, Christmas box, crocus, flying mallards, garden plants, goldfinch, hazel, hazel gall, horse chestnut, ice, iris reticulata, lichen, Mahonia, moon, pond, reflections, silver birch, song thrush, Suffolk, trees, winter-flowering honeysuckle, witch-hazel

This is a post featuring a few of the things I have noticed in our garden recently.  A large part of the garden is exposed to the prevailing south-westerly wind and we find plants here are slower to grow and flower than those in other gardens near us.  I have seen large carpets of Winter Aconites in other peoples gardens but there is no sign of them here at all.   The beds around the house and near the hedge are more sheltered and this is where we see the first signs of spring.

Buds on the Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior)

I like the Ash’s black, conical buds – they look a little like deer hooves.  So far, we haven’t found any sign of ‘Ash die-back’ in our garden yet.  This is caused by the Hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus.  East Anglia is badly affected and has lost many of its Ash trees already.

Horse-chestnut sticky buds (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Little red buds on the Blackthorn in the hedge (Prunus spinosa)

While I was photographing these I looked up and found a Barn Owl was flying straight towards me.  I don’t know who was more surprised, the owl or me!  I tried to photograph it before it veered away from me but I couldn’t focus in time.

Lichen in the hedge

 Hazel male catkins (Corylus avellana)

 

Hazel female catkins with their tiny red petals

Hazel bud

 

 

Hazel buds.

I wondered what these were on our hazel trees as I had never noticed them before.  None of my books mentioned buds looking like this so I googled for information and discovered a photograph that looked like mine on ramblingsofanaturalist.blogspot.com.  The author says that these are bud galls made by the mite Phytoptus avellanae.  He also talks about unopened brown catkins which have been attacked by either the mite Phyllocoptes coryli or the Cedidomyid midge Contarinia coryli.   I had also seen distorted brown catkins and had wondered about them too but had been unable to get a clear photo of them.

Reflection of sky and cloud in our big pond

Flying ducks

Our Silver Birch tree (Betula pendula) is also growing its catkins.

Thin ice on the pond. Hail has got frozen onto the ice that was already there.

The icy pond

The Witch-hazel (Hamamelis) is flowering in its large pot next to the front door and on mild days fills the porch with scent.

The Christmas Box (Sarcococca) is also scenting the garden.

Another scented shrub – the Winter-flowering Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)

This shrub Honeysuckle is a real favourite of mine.  Its small flowers are powerfully scented and it flowers from mid-winter until well into spring hardly stopping except in the harshest of weathers.  It is virtually evergreen and the flowers are followed by bright red heart-shaped berries loved by Blackbirds.

The Mahonia (Mahonia x media ‘Charity’) with its Lily-of-the-Valley scent has been flowering since the end of October.

The first of my miniature Iris Reticulata bloomed today

A tiny crocus has appeared in the rough grass under one of the crabapple trees.

I found some more – paler ones this time. I hope the birds don’t rip them up and the mole doesn’t dig them up.

 

 

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)

Finally, here is the setting full moon seen on the morning of 4th February.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday’s Garden

Tags

blackthorn, bullace, cowslip, daffodils, Elmer Fudd, fritillaries, greengage, jonquils, ladybird, lathyrus, Mothering Sunday, pieris, primulas, rabbits, saxifrage, simnel cake, wild cherry

 

I must admit to having an Elmer Fudd moment this morning.  I went to have a look at the cowslip/primula plants I had transplanted last weekend and to my horror I saw that all the flowers and buds had been eaten on almost all the plants.  I suspect some wascally wabbit!  I will now not know until next spring which of the plants are normal cowslips to be planted at the top of the ditch and which are the different ones to be grown on elsewhere.

Very strange weather today.  It was quite warm – in fact it got to 18 degrees centigrade but we only got a little sunshine at midday and then a few showers of rain during the afternoon.  Quite humid all day and extremely cloudy this afternoon.   I walked round the garden checking on the bird feeders and looking to see what plants had started to grow or flower since Saturday.  I hadn’t been able to get into the garden at all yesterday as I had been busy cooking lunch after coming home from church and then entertaining Mum all the afternoon.  We had had a good Mothering Sunday service at church and all the women had been presented with little posies of flowers.  The Rector looked wonderful in his rose coloured chasuble but sneakily removed it before I could photograph him!

My eldest daughter A had sent me a card which had arrived in the post on Saturday and she telephoned me when I got back from church.  E gave me a card and two stoneware pots for the garden.  Mum arrived bringing with her an apple pie and a simnel cake.  My mother will be 84 in a couple of weeks time and can hardly see but she still manages to bake and garden and run her house with no help at all.

Mum’s simnel cake.

 

The goose is still sitting on her nest on the island.  She probably only has another week or so to go until her eggs hatch and then we’ll see how many goslings there are.  While I walked round the pond I heard not only frogs croaking but also what I assume to be toads as well.  We do get toads in the garden but I’ve never noticed them in the pond before.  I also saw flower buds on the marsh marigold in the big pond that has never flowered before as well.  I was really quite pleased about this as the pond has looked so awful since we had the work done to remove most of the willow scrub.  What willows we have left are full of pussy willow flowers and alive with so many bees.

The wild damson or bullace tree is in flower.

The wild or bird cherry is also just coming into flower too.

Our greengage tree has its first flowers.  We planted it the autumn before last and it didn’t flower at all last year but grew very well.  My mother-in-law had asked us if we would grow one as she likes greengages so we got it especially for her and we call it Joyce (her name).

The blackthorn at the front of the house is now in full flower.  The tree at the back of the house has finished flowering and the tree by the front gate hasn’t started to flower yet.  The front of the house is colder than the back and the gate is coldest and shadiest of all.

My pieris ‘Forest Flame’ has new leaves on it.

The saxifrage has started to flower.

The new Frittilaries under the crabapple are flowering.  I am pleased to see that there is a white one.

Primulas.

Cowslip.

Daffodils at the front of the house at the edge of the ditch.

A seven-spot ladybird on a daffodil.  A lot of our daffodils suffered in the hail and rain we had last Wednesday and they also have to put up with all sorts of wild fowl trampling over them.

An orange-red cowslip.

Jonquils.

Lathyrus vernus ‘Spring Beauty’.  This is an ornamental vetch – a member of the pea family.

Meanderings and More March Flowers

Tags

blackthorn, daffodils, fish, frogs, hyacinths, lesser periwinkle, Leycesteria, marsh marigold, miniature iris, nesting, oak, pond, primrose, primula, rooks, rose, spirea, tawny owl, Twilight, viola

I went outside in the twilight this evening to collect my two sunflower seed feeders and bring them indoors.  I’ll tell you why later.  It was very cold – approaching freezing I should think – but so beautiful.  The sky above, a deep blue with stars and a gibbous moon.  The western horizon a strange mixture of misty yellow, pink and grey – a typical cold, wintry sunset.  The strong NW breeze that had been blowing all day had dropped and everything was almost still and quiet, except for a few blackbirds singing and some pheasants calling across the fields.  The largest feeder is hanging from the silver birch tree near the big pond and as I walked down the garden towards it a tawny owl sitting in one of the trees at the end of the garden gave a couple of loud, quavering hoots.  I went to look at the pond.  It was shining and the surface was a little puckered by the light breeze.  It looked like pewter and reflected the trees nearby.  Every now and then a ‘plip’ sounded as a fish leapt and rings appeared on the surface –  frogs were croaking from the reeds at the far end.

Unfortunately, it was getting too cold to stand out there for much longer and I had the evening meal to prepare so reluctantly I returned to the house.

The rooks have definitely started nesting now.  They no longer fly off to their night-time communal roost towards Beccles but are staying with their nests in the rookery.  At nesting time they use a different call – almost a bleating sound – and as soon as I hear it I know that spring is here.  The reason I collect the sunflower seed feeders in at night is because of the rooks.  They descend on the feeders ‘en masse’, just at dawn and any seed left overnight disappears very quickly.  I have known them unhook the feeders and take the lid off to get at the seed more easily.  The smaller feeder is hanging from a pole stuck in the grass at the front of the house.  At this time of year dawn is still quite late, but by May and June with dawn at 3.30am it is not pleasant to be awoken by twenty or more squabbling rooks just outside the open bedroom window.  Until I decided to bring the feeders in I was having to get out of bed and shoo them away every few minutes.  They soon realised that the noise they were making attracted my attention so they started eating in (almost) silence.  Their rookishness always eventually got the better of them and some little ‘whispered discussion’ invariably got out of hand and there I was at the window again.  I am a very light sleeper and I began to wake up at the slightest noise outside so something had to be done.

This morning started very overcast and cold but by 10am the clouds were breaking up and the sun coming out.  I had some shopping to do so drove to Bungay.  Bungay is a little difficult to get around at the moment as it is having lots of new pavements put in and the centre of the town is shut off to traffic.  My ankle has been painful recently and I found walking through town difficult.  Added to this, I was called ‘dear’ twice within about five minutes and I really object to being called ‘dear’ by strangers.  I got home again at 11.30 and put the radio on while I had a cup of tea.  Lisa Stansfield was choosing her favourite records tracks I mean (showing my age there!) and one of the ones she chose today was by Sylvester.  Listening to this took me back to my youth.  My friend W will remember that I used to go out with her brother who had a mobile disco which he ran with a friend.  I used to go with them to gigs and help them set up and get the dancing going if it was a bit slow.  I could dance for hours without tiring!  (This also reminds me of a really good spoonerism I came out with at the time, when telling a friend what I did.  I intended saying that I was ‘a roadie and a groupie’ but what I actually said was ‘a rudie and a gropie’).  I thought a lot about this while drinking my tea.  It didn’t seem that long ago when I was dancing all night with no aches and pains and now, here I was hobbling through town carrying my shopping bag and being called ‘dear’!  What would be next, I wondered?  Mowing passers-by down with a mobility scooter?  Elbowing my way through shoppers to the freezer cabinet in the supermarket and running over their toes with my shopping trolley while they tut-tut and raise their eyebrows to each other over my head?  Hmmmm….

To cheer myself up I went out into the garden and took a few photos.

We have a blackthorn tree at the back of the house.  It is now in full blossom.  The blackthorn at the front of the house is still covered with small tight buds.  The temperature at the front of the house is very much lower than at the back and there is often about a weeks difference in flowering times.

Blackthorn tree

Blackthorn blossom

Blackthorn blossom

Blackthorn

Bumblebee on blackthorn

 

 

 

 

 

This oak tree was given me by my father a year after we moved into this house.  He had dug it up from his garden and at the time it was only about nine inches tall.  I call it Dad’s oak tree.  He died nearly four years ago.  A wood pigeon nested in the tree last summer and the shallow nest is still there.

 

I think this is a marsh marigold.  Please correct me someone if I’m wrong.  I found it today at the top of a shady ditch near the big pond.

 

This is of of my newest miniature iris ‘Natascha’.  I only planted the bulbs last autumn.

 

Early daffodils with pretty hanging heads

Early pale daffodils

 

 

Perhaps these photos of my Delft Blue hyacinths show up their lovely colours better.

Delft Blue hyacinths

Delft Blue hyacinth

 

 

 

New leaves on the Leycesteria or Pheasant Berry

 

A self seeded primula in the grass

 

A yellow viola

 

Lesser periwinkle

 

New leaves on R’s spirea

 

Deer damaged daylilies

 

New leaves on one of R’s roses

 

Primroses

 

March

Tags

bacon onion potato sauté, blackthorn, cattle, chickens, Coffee morning, common reeds, cooking, ditching, Dog's Mercury, electric fence, farmyard, good food, greylags, Italian alders, ivy, lesser celandine, Lords and Ladies, marble galls, narcissi, nature, phone box library, photography, primroses, quiz night, rookery, Rumburgh Church, sheep, snowdrops, St James South Elmham, St Margaret South Elmham, St Michaels South Elmham, stinging nettle, the Beck, trees

A wet start to the month.  R and I went off in the rain to the benefice coffee morning at the Rector’s house.  We could find nothing to bring with us this time and, as usual, I had not done any baking, so we just took ourselves and a little money.  We bought raffle tickets, a classical music c.d., a jar of the Rector’s home-made lenten three-fruit marmalade (i.e. without whisky) and a jar of plum jam.  After indulging in a bit of chit-chat and getting the local gossip (no raffle prizes this time!) we left to go shopping in Halesworth.  Boring groceries shop in the Co-Op and then, while R read the paper in the car, I walked in to town to see if I could find some flowers for the church.  I eventually found what I was looking for in the third place I visited – some really pretty multi-headed narcissi, some in yellow and some in a creamy-white.  The individual flowers very tiny and delicate;  I bought two bunches of each colour.

The rain was easing off a little by the time we got to Rumburgh church but the path to the church was very puddly and muddy.  The snowdrops were still looking good and the primroses were just starting to come out.  The churchyard will be a mass of wild flowers very soon.  We found a suitable vase in the cupboard and just put the poor flowers in water.  I cannot attempt anything more than this and even this made the flowers look as if ashamed to be where they were.  They all huddled in the middle of the vase and faced inwards and no matter what I did they twisted back and hid their faces.  I eventually gave up,  put the vase on a ledge and checked that the other flowers in the church were all o.k.

I went out to feed the birds later that afternoon after the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.  Something, probably a squirrel, had pulled the top off one of my fat block feeders and had removed and taken away a block that I had only put in the day before.  I mended the feeder, replaced the block with a new one and wired up the top to prevent it being pulled apart so easily again.  We shall see!  I took a couple of photos of the geese and some of next door’s ****** chickens in the garden again.

 

 

I discussed with E what she would like for her evening meal and we decided on one of her current favourites – fried bacon, potatoes and onions.  I added some diced eating apple as I thought that might go well with it.  E was of a different opinion!

 

R and I set off for the quiz at St James at 7.00pm.  We had become quite reluctant to leave our nice warm home and get into my very cold, damp car.  It was just 1 degree celsius outside and it took the whole journey to de-mist the windscreen.  I drove most of the way bending forward and peering through the only clear bit at the bottom.  Fortunately, we met no-one on the journey but the real danger is in the deep ditches at the sides of the road.

The quiz was great fun and the six of us on our team all know each other and get on well.  We eventually came second which was very pleasing.  R and I also won two prizes in the raffle.  The food provided by the village hall committee (I suppose) and cooked by two ladies from the village was really good.  A pork casserole or a vegetable bake with a baked potato and a little pot of butter for the first course and then a choice of four or five (I can’t remember how many) desserts with cream or custard for the second course.  This was followed by tea or coffee with a chocolate mint – all for £8.00 per person.  There was thick frost on the cars when we left just after 11.00pm.

A lovely bright morning and hardly any wind the next day.  We went to church at St Michael’s.  This is a very small church in the middle of fields and has only recently had electricity put in – only a couple of sockets though.  There is no electric light, I think, and no heating except for an enormous very old gas heater at the back of the church.  If they have evening services they have oil lamps which makes it look so lovely.  The lane is very narrow and there aren’t many places to park.  R squashed up as close as he could to the electric fence and had great difficulty in getting out of the car.  The fence might not have been switched on as there weren’t any animals in the field – we weren’t going to take any chances though!

 

 

By the time we had had lunch and washed up the sun had disappeared and the wind had got up again.  R and I went out for a walk in the lanes near our house.

There is still a lot of standing water about.  This water is as the base of a hedge on St Margaret’s common.

 

In the village of St Margaret South Elmham is the old phone box which they have converted into a mini library.

 

The rooks are busy in the rookery near the old rectory.

 

The geese who live at the old rectory were resting for a change!

 

The churchyard is full of pretty flowers.

 

Lots of common reeds in the ditches at the side of the lane all waving in the wind.

 

The tributary to the Beck at Froghall.

 

Some lovely silhouettes of trees on the skyline.

 

Blackthorn just starting to come out in the new hedge.

 

Marble galls.

 

The top of our lane.

 

The fields in St James have very few hedges.  It is very windswept here and very cold!

 

Primroses at the side of the lane.

 

And lesser celandines.

 

A lot of work has been done here at the bridge to dig out the ditch again and lay new drainage pipes.

 

A row of Italian Alders with catkins.  Not a very clear photo because of the wind and my lack of skill.

 

The farmyard with sheep wandering about freely and cattle in the barn feeding from their manger.

 

Our lane again – muddier now.

Even worse!

 

More primroses.

And these are ‘weeds’ in our garden.  All lush green plants – the arrowhead leaves of Lords and Ladies, ivy, dog’s mercury and stinging nettles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Winter

Tags

blackthorn, cannon bird scarers, flower arranging, North-east wind, quiz nights

I woke this morning to see thick frost everywhere and the sun rising.  All looked rather nice.  However, within an hour or so the frost had gone and so had the sun and we were left with gloom and cloud.  A cold day with a strong north-easterly wind.  We haven’t had too many winds from the north or east this winter so this makes a change (probably not for the better!).

One thing I didn’t say was that I was woken before the alarm by the bird scarers in the field of oil-seed rape near us.  The farmer is using  a new triple-cannon scarer which explodes very loudly THREE TIMES IN SUCCESSION each time it is triggered by birds – usually woodpigeons.  This has been going off all day.

  I had to go to Halesworth for my monthly blood test this morning and I was surprised at the amount of blackthorn blossom in the hedgerows, no doubt brought on by the mild sunny days we have had recently.  It would have looked so much better in bright sunshine today! 

Slight problem with my blood test in that it wouldn’t stop bleeding afterwards.  I had great difficulty driving home afterwards with my arm strapped up tightly. I left feeding the birds until the afternoon as usual but, typically, as soon as I got outside it started to rain very heavily and continued all the time I was out only easing off as I took my wet things off indoors.  The geese were noisy and nervous today.  They had been disturbed this morning by ‘their’ field being treated with fertiliser or something.  The tractor was driven very quickly and the birds got panicky.

So, not a very good day today.  However, R is home again from his travels and he is taking Monday and Tuesday off work which will be very pleasant.  Tomorrow we will be going to the coffee morning at the Rector’s house (if it’s on) and then do some shopping.  I will have to get some flowers for Rumburgh church as March and April are my months on the flower rota.  Lent is always in March and/or April and we remove the flowers from church during this time  So, by having both months I get about four weeks of flowers and four weeks without so it works out quite nicely.  I am absolutely no good at arranging flowers.  I’m afraid I have no interest in the art – I prefer to see plants growing in the garden and have no wish to pick them and bring them indoors.  For the church, I just bung some flowers I’ve bought from the florist in a vase and hope for the best. 

We have just had a phone call from some friends who asked us to make up a team with them for a quiz night tomorrow at St. James.  So, that’s tomorrow sorted out.  More later!

Spring is Nearly Here!

Tags

Beccles, blackbird, blackthorn, Bungay, butterfly, Dunwich, free-range pigs, greylags, mallards, Muscovy duck, rood screen, skylark, spring weather, St Peter South Elmham

A windy,cloudy morning on Sunday. R and I decided to go to the early service of Morning Prayer at St. Peter’s church as we were going out for lunch. There were only seven of us there, including Maurice who took the service and played the organ as well. Maurice always gives interesting and thought-provoking sermons and the church is such an attractive one – it has a wonderfully carved rood screen with a rood (cross) and statues on top too. Pleasant talk afterwards with very good coffee.
I think a future post will have to be about all the lovely churches in ‘The Saints’ – the area where I live.
We (R, E and I) took my mother out for lunch at The Dove at Wortwell which is just over the border into Norfolk. An extremely enjoyable meal and everything well cooked and presented. Mum came back home with us for the afternoon and we just sat around and chatted.
Monday was a glorious day; a gentle, almost warm breeze, lots of sunshine and blue sky. Mum had an appointment for a blood test so I took her to her medical centre and waited for her outside in the car. A long wait; even though her appointment was fairly early (10.30) all the GPs and nurses were running 45 minutes late already. Dropped her back home and then drove to Beccles to shop in Tesco. I drove up to the main road at Harleston and then straight to Beccles via Bungay. Just before Bungay at Earsham, there is a free range pig farm and I saw a number of little pink piglets running about. I do like to see free range pigs – they seem to enjoy life, rolling in the mud, socialising with other pigs or going off on their own to rest in their personal ‘bijou residences’ full of straw. The farm close to my house looks after pigs but these are store pigs not free range. One farmer will care for pigs just separated from their mothers for a couple of weeks until they are a certain weight and then they are taken off to another farmer who will fatten them further and then pass them on to someone else. Or, the pigs are kept by the same farmer but moved periodically from one shed to another. Every Monday and Tuesday we have the noise of frightened pigs being loaded into lorries at the farm close by and then driven squealing past us down the lane. Other lorries full of squealing pigs are then driven past to be unloaded at the farm.
I noted that the temperature had risen to 14 degrees centigrade at midday – a spring day at the end of winter. Hung some washing out in the garden when I got back home. While struggling to get the washing line up a butterfly flew past me. I did’nt see it clearly but it was a dark one – a peacock perhaps – and it was flying strongly. By the time I had the line fastened the butterfly had gone.
Rain overnight and a cloudy and showery morning on Tuesday. Caroline, who has retired from being one of our church readers, visited this morning to give me some books and stayed for coffee. She made me laugh very much by recounting an awful accident she and her husband had had at the weekend involving an exploding bottle of home-made liquid manure!
After lunch I took E with me to Bungay to buy Mum’s bird seed. The pet shop there sells very reasonably priced seed – much cheaper than in Halesworth and Beccles. I can afford to buy in bulk (which works out cheaper in the long run) and I order it on-line but Mum on her small pension buys small quantities weekly – well, she pays for it but I go and buy it. We then drove to Halesworth to pick up my medication and went on to Dunwich where E and I walked on the beach. The sun was shining on the coast and the tide was further out than it had been when R and I walked there on Saturday. The wind was stronger and the waves higher than Saturday too. E can’t walk far so we soon turned and made our way back to the car but not before we had both got earache from the cold wind. On the way back we disturbed a bird in the grass and shingle a couple of feet in front of us. By the way it flew and the shape of it’s almost triangular wings I recognised it as a skylark. It only moved a few feet further on and walked about pecking at the ground now and then. I could clearly see it’s crest on the top of it’s head. As we continued walking forward the lark decided to take off and at our head height began to sing! We watched it getting higher and higher singing all the while.
Took Mum for her weekly shop in the supermarket in Diss today. Another lovely day – so many spring flowers in people’s gardens and the blackthorn is starting to come out in sheltered and sunny places. Got home at 2pm, had a late lunch, made a few phone calls then went out to feed the birds. Twenty geese on the field behind the house today including the two who have claimed the island as their nest site. Eggs have begun to be laid on the island. The female lays the eggs in the very early morning, covers them (not very thoroughly because I can see them!) with grass and leaves etc. and then goes off with her mate for the day. Once she has laid enough she will start to sit for about four weeks only leaving them for two very short periods during the day to feed. Her mate stays close by, wandering about disconsolately all the time she is sitting and always seems pleased when it’s her feeding time when he joins her.
The mallards seem to have reached an agreement as we now only have one male with the female in the garden.
Our neighbour who lives further along the edge of the field at the back of the house came to talk to me as I walked round the garden. He owns the muscovy ducks (both female) but one of them has gone missing. The one he still has is sitting on eggs and kept chasing the other one off if it got too close. It has now gone missing and he hopes the fox hasn’t had it. I said I hadn’t see it and he was free to look round our garden for it. They are very tame ducks; they come when called and sit at his feet. The missing one likes spending time with their chickens as well. Our neighbour, his wife and children will be very upset if the duck can’t be found, I think.
I gardened until 5.30 when it got too cold to stay out though it was still wonderfully light. As I gardened I heard a blackbird singing for the first time this year. Tentatively at first and then with more confidence – a clear flute-like song.
A cold, starlit evening though by dawn we are supposed to have wind and rain again. R is away for a couple of nights til Friday.