A Quiet Spring – March and April Part 2

Tags

blossom, butterfly, daffodils, flowers, fruit trees, gardening, plants, spring flowers, Suffolk, sunset

Let me take you back in time……

The daffodils this spring were marvellous!  We had a few warm days at the beginning of April that brought the flowers forward and then from Easter onwards the weather was decidedly chilly.  Very dry but chilly and with very little sunshine.

The white daffodils look just like butterflies when a breeze catches them!  Most of these flowers are scented as well.

The blossom on the fruit trees was good this spring.

Wild Cherry

Wild Cherry blossom

Weeping Crabtree

Weeping Crabtree blossom

Crabtree ‘Evereste’

‘Evereste’ blossom

Crabtree ‘Harry Baker’

‘Harry Baker’ blossom

Greengage

Greengage blossom

Damson blossom

Pear ‘Concorde’ blossom

Other trees with blossom looked wonderful this spring too.

Amelanchier

Amelanchier blossom

The Blackthorn at the end of our drive

The Pussy Willow was covered in fuzzy flowers

I took photos of some of the plants in the garden.

The Spirea in Richard’s new shrub border was very bright and beautiful.

A pretty primula had planted itself in one of the ditches that surround our garden

We have a number of orange and red cowslips that grow here and there about the garden. I have started to gather them into one place so they don’t get mowed before they set seed.

The King-cups on the bank of the pond looked cheerful.

Primroses and Anemone blanda

The clematis flowered at the end of the month and filled the garden with scent.

Clematis flowers

Last autumn I ordered some tulips and planted them in large tubs.  I was glad I did when I saw the damage the deer had wreaked on those planted in the borders!  I covered the tubs in wire mesh and left them at the back of the house to over-winter.  I had no mouse, vole or deer damage at all!

These lovely tulips look more like peonies! Because of the cool spring they were in flower for nearly a month.

This is a male Holly Blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus). There were a number of these flying in the garden at the end of April.

A sunset seen from the back of the house

This post has taken me weeks to write because I have been so busy and tired!  I thought about abandoning it a couple of times because of its lateness but decided to post it after all and I hope you will forebear with me.

My choice of music is ‘Schmetterling’ (Butterfly) by Grieg, one of his Lyric Pieces.

Thanks for visiting!

A Walk in the Black Forest

Tags

bedstraw, berries, bilberry, Black Forest, brimstone butterfly, butterfly, cat's-ear, Common Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Cow-wheat, Common Earthball, common knapweed, Dame's-violet, forest, foxglove, holiday, Lesser Stitchwort, Loosestrife, Lysimachia, Male Fern, moth, Polypody, Scarlet Tiger moth, Small Balsam, Speedwell, St John's-wort, trees, Triberg, views, walking

Our week’s holiday was coming to an end and we wanted to take a walk in the beautiful countryside around the town of Triberg.  The hotel thoughtfully provided maps and suggestions for walks so we chose one and adapted it for our use.  Neither Richard nor I are as fit or as young as we used to be and Elinor cannot walk very far because of her scoliosis so we decided on a half-circuit of the town in the woods.  We went in the direction of the railway station and took a steep path up between houses towards the forest.

Bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

We were soon high enough to be able to look down on the town which was very busy with Sunday visitors and many motorbikes.  I think Richard told us this part of the walk was called the Bilberry Wood and there were certainly many bilberries growing at the side of the path.

There was plenty of fungus too. I think this may be Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)

We soon climbed a little further into the forest and left the town behind and no longer heard the traffic.

The forest became denser but there was never any difficulty following the path which was beautifully maintained.  I began to see many different plants; some I recognised and some I didn’t.  If anyone can help me with the names of these plants I will be very grateful.

Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) – a true fern. When walking with my family I always get left behind because I like to take photos of plants and fungi. I don’t have the time to take the detailed shots I would like in order to identify my finds in case I am left too far behind!

More Polypody

I love the chunkiness of Polypody so I cropped one of the photos above to look at it in more detail.

Polypody

I think this might be Small Balsam (Impatiens parviflora)

Unknown flower

It’s very tall!

Interesting leaves

Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense)

Wild flowers including a Bedstraw, Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea).

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Speedwell

Speedwell

This may be Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

St John’s-wort; I don’t know which of the many St John’s-worts it is.

Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata)

I managed to photograph a butterfly….

A Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni) on Lysimachia

…and a moth.

A Scarlet Tiger Moth (Callimorpha dominula). When flying I could see its underwings which were bright scarlet.

The views as we walked were marvellous.

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Berries

Dame’s-violet (Hesperis matronalis)

Unknown yellow flower

Common Knapweed ( Centaurea nigra)

The path eventually returned us to the town near to the waterfall.

My music selection today is ‘A Walk in the Black Forest’ which was so popular on the radio when I was a little girl.

I am hoping that Elinor will provide the last of my Black Forest posts.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Another Walk up Hen Cloud

Tags

butterfly, caterpillar, eyebright, harebells, heather, Hen Cloud, painted lady, Peak District, Staffordshire Moorland, walking, wild flowers, yarrow

We didn’t have much time for walking on our last full day in the Peak District as we had packing, tidying and cleaning to do as well as taking our awning down.  The ideal walk had to be a short walk and one that was near at hand so we returned to Hen Cloud.  It is just a few minutes drive from where we stay and once there, within quarter of an hour we can be away from the road and up high, looking down.  We try to do this walk every time we visit the Peaks and when we stay there at the end of May/beginning of June we use it as an evening walk.  It is great to be at the top of the hill at 9.00 pm with the sun still shining and the swallows and martins flying round us.  Peregrines nest in the rock crevices of the hill and their calls mingling with the sound of the wind blowing across the tops fills me with such joy.

This time the walk was done during the afternoon in the second half of August so no nesting peregrines and not too many swallows and martins either.

This is the view from the place where we parked our car.

This last day of our holiday was warm at last and quite bright too.  Before setting off on our walk I noticed these flowers by the side of the road.

Some very pink Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis agg.)

Hen Cloud

The path we choose to walk up isn’t the steepest of the paths to the top, in fact it is a nice steady ascent – just right for two middle-aged, not very fit people.

The Roaches seen from the path up Hen Cloud

Ramshaw Rocks seen from the path up Hen Cloud

We had never been to the Peaks when the Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was in bloom before.  The pink-purple flowers with the bright green grass was very beautiful.

This is the path we usually take to the top. You can see Richard is quite a way ahead of me.

Ramshaw Rocks seen from the top of Hen Cloud.

Tittesworth Reservoir

View from Hen Cloud.

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Heather

Heather

We saw this rather battered and faded Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui)

I saw this caterpillar making its way across a rock. I can’t identify it.

All too soon, it was time for us to return to the car.

We saw these Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia) on the way.

Our last view of Hen Cloud from the road.

The following day we got up very early and drove to Sheffield to collect Elinor from Alice’s house.  We only stayed for a couple of minutes and were then on the road back to our camp-site to hitch-up the caravan and then set out for home.

Thanks for visiting!

 

A Walk in the Peak District.

Tags

butterfly, caves, Manifold Valley, Peak District, plants, sheep, squash stile, Thor's Cave, walking, Wetton, wild flowers

Not only did we have a week’s holiday in the Lake District this summer but we also went to the Peak District for a week.  I have already told you about the sad start to this break – the death of my mother-in-law on the day of our arrival.  We spent the first full day of our holiday with my brother-in-law but after that there wasn’t anything else to do but wait until we were told by the Coroner that we could arrange the funeral.

We thought we might as well stay in the Peaks and not abandon our holiday.  If Chris (my brother-in-law) needed us we would be close at hand.  We thought we would find comfort in walking in this beautiful part of the country.

After lunch on Saturday 15th August we drove to the village of Wetton in Staffordshire from where we intended to walk along the Manifold Valley.  We drove along a very scenic road en route to Wetton.

The Roaches and Hen Cloud (the nearest hill) seen from the road.

Another view of The Roaches. The Rocks look like spikes on the spine of a dinosaur.

We could just see the Welsh hills on the far horizon beyond the flat Cheshire Plain.

We got to Wetton and found the car park near the centre of the village.  The buildings and houses in the village are mainly made of stone and the church, which was built in the 14th century has an exterior staircase to the belfrey which contains six bells.  The Royal Oak pub, which owns a camping field next to the car park is also the venue for the World Toe Wrestling Championships which began in the 1970’s!

One of the buildings of Wetton.

Another of those squash stiles which let tall and/or thin people through but not livestock or short people with generously proportioned legs etc.

Richard and I crossed this field which sloped steeply down into the deep valley of the River Manifold.

There were many hazards.

A colourful seed-head – probably Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).  We also saw a number of Betony (Stachys officinalis) flowers but none of my photos were any good.

The route down to the river valley

At the bottom of the field we crossed a couple of stiles and entered a wood.

Path through the wood

Lots of invasive Rhododendron seedlings

Steps up through the woods

Yet more steps! Gasp! Puff!

We were going to see Thor’s Cave.

Thor’s Cave

This is a Karst Cave i.e. it was formed from the dissolution of soluble limestone.  The entrance is just over 18m up on the hillside and the opening is a symmetrical arch, 7.5m wide and 10m high.  I don’t think there is any connection between this cave and the god Thor; the name probably derives from the word ‘tor’ meaning a hill or rocky peak.   I was most disappointed to find that I didn’t have the ability to climb up to the entrance from the path.  I had to wait outside while Richard explored inside.

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You can see minute-me waving at Richard in one of the photos above.  This will give you some idea of the size of the cave.

This is what the entrance to the cave looks like from the path below.

While Richard enjoyed himself in the cave, I kept myself busy looking for things to photograph outside.

Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia) growing out of a crevice in the stone.

A tiny Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes).

Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium caeruleum)

I saw another cave entrance below us.

After Richard emerged from the cave we walked back down to the valley-floor.

Lots of different plants grew in the scree and rocks of the river-bed alongside the path. There were many wild raspberry canes with ripe fruit but again my camera failed to focus on them.

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense) next to the path.

I’m including another photo of these flowers because I like them! You can see that the seed-heads look a little bit like crane’s heads.

The large leaves of Butterbur (Petasites hybridus). Also known as Wild Rhubarb, the heart-shaped leaves can be up to 1m/3 ft across.

This Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) was so strongly and beautifully  scented!

Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

Wild flowers

Wild flowers

The path we were walking along was the former Leek and Manifold Light Railway line.  There had even been a station at Thor’s Cave!

This also explains all the well-made steps up to the cave.

View of a hill from the path.

Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)

Red Campion (Silene dioica) and Bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.)

More Meadowsweet.

Ripening Hazel nuts (Corylus avellana)

The pretty flowers of the terribly invasive Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)

Another view of the path.

Lots of Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium)

This is the dry river bed of the Manifold.

In anything other than very wet weather the river disappears into swallowholes and flows through caves and subterranean passages and reappears at Ilam further downstream.

Lady’s-mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris agg.)

Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis)

A wonderfully gnarled and twisted tree.

Cinquefoil.  I think this is probably Creeping Cinquefoil but the leaves in the photo aren’t quite what I expect from Creeping Cinquefoil.

Hill and valley.  We had left the old rail-track behind us.

Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans) with its drooping flower-heads

A black-faced lamb

Richard walking along the track

Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

It was about this stage in our walk that we missed a landmark and went up a hill on the wrong side of a wall.

A stream

Tufted Forget-me-not (Myosotis laxa)

Small Heath butterfly (Coenonympha pamphilus)

I took a photo of this house little realising that we should have gone past it and then climbed the hill.

‘You’re on the wrong side of the wall, you fools!’, said the sheep.

I took a photo of this sheep tunnel (note my shadow) little realising we could have used it to get onto the right side of the wall!

The wall. We little realised we could have climbed over it at this point.

View from the hillside

Another view

Sun setting behind a hill

It was here that it dawned on us we were heading for the wrong valley.

We re-traced our steps right back to the house I had photographed earlier.

Rock Stonecrop (Sedum forsterianum). This specimen was probably a garden escapee as the plant is only native in the SW of England.

I am not sure what this plant is. I think it might be Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) but I am not sure. My guide says that the emergent leaves of Bogbean have the texture and appearance of broad bean leaves which I would say these do.  However….

Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare)

And that was the last photo I took you’ll be pleased to know.  Only when we got back to the house and saw that the correct path went up the same, long, steep hill that we had just climbed and then come down again, but on the other side of that wall that we realised exactly what we had done and what we still had to do.  I must admit that our hearts sank and we suddenly felt very tired.  We did it though; and got back to the car before the sun set.  We were tempted to have a meal in the pub but thought how late we would get back to our caravan if we did so.  We were very thankful to find the car and then return to the caravan site.

Thanks for visiting!

Apologies for the length of the post.

 

 

A Walk in Whinlatter Forest

Tags

bolete, butterfly, cat's-ear, Climbing Corydalis, common ragwort, Forestry Commission, Fox-and-cubs, fungus, heather, lady's-mantle, lichen, moss, pixie-cup lichen, ringlet, walking, Whinlatter Forest, wild flowers

Alice came to visit us on the last day of our holiday in the Lake District.  We met her off the train in Penrith at about 10.00 am and took her back to our rented cottage for a cup of tea.  After catching up with all her news we took her to Whinlatter Forest which we had visited briefly earlier in the week, as Elinor wanted to show it to her sister.

This is another Forestry Commission forest and is mainly planted with non-native trees.

Not only are there a number of tracks through the woods for walking and mountain biking but they also have segways for hire too.  There are trails designed to appeal to small children and zip wires and swinging on ropes for very active people.

We walked.

Whinlatter Forest

Alice is a fast walker so she and Richard went ahead.  I am forever on the lookout for interesting plants and insects and take lots of photos and Elinor can’t walk fast or far so we both kept together.

Alice and Richard waiting for Elinor and me.

Elinor liked this forest glade.

A Bolete fungus.  I cannot identify this one.

Looking at the underside of the toadstool.   The photo shows that Boletes do not have gills but spongy tissue with pores in. This fungus has been eaten by something.

Climbing Corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata)  Not a very good picture.

Heather (Calluna vulgaris) in bud with a faded Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

Lichen

Fox-and-cubs (Pilosella aurantiaca) with yellow Cat’s-ear

I believe this lichen is Cladonia pyxidata – Pixie-cup Lichen

You can see how small these little cups are by comparing them with the pine needles next to them.

This butterfly flew next to us for some way along a sunny track. I tried to photograph it countless times and this time thought I had managed it….

The reason I really wanted to get a photograph of it was that I thought it looked like a Ringlet butterfly but they usually have eye-spots on their wings.   I have since done some research and I believe it is likely to be a Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) as sometimes they are seen without eye-spots.  What is confusing is that all references to Ringlets state that they aren’t found in the north-west of England!  I am sending my inadequate photo to ukbutterflies.co.uk to see what they make of it.

Yet more moss!

Lady’s-mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris agg) behind more Fox-and-cubs

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)

View of the surrounding fells (hills)

This fell is Skiddaw

We returned to the carpark and went into the café and had a drink and a sandwich.  We took Alice back to our cottage for a while until it was time for her to catch her train to Sheffield.  We spent the rest of the day cleaning the cottage and packing for our journey  home the following day.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Garden Visitors

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on Marjoram

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.

 

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

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

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

A rather chewed Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae).

Large Yellow Underwing moth (Noctua pronuba)

Southern Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna cyanea) – female.

Best wishes to you all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.