The Cat and Fiddle

Tags

Bird's-foot Trefoil, Cat and Fiddle pass, Cat and Fiddle pub, Cladonia pleurota, Common Cottongrass, Common Hawker dragonfly, common knapweed, common ragwort, conifer plantation, Crosswort, Derbyshire Bridge car park, driven grouse shooting, eyebright, Goyt Valley, harebell, Harlequin ladybird, heath bedstraw, heather, Kestrel, Knotted Pearlwort, Lesser Stitchwort, Lousewort, Meadow Crane's-bill, milestone, Mountain Pansy, old coach road, Peak District, River Goyt, Shining Tor, Sneezewort, tormentil, Upright Hedge Parsley, walking, yarrow

On the third day of our stay in the Peak District we decided on a slightly longer walk than usual and took a picnic with us.  We drove towards Buxton but just before entering the town we took the A54 road off to the right and then a minor road off that road and parked the car in the Derbyshire Bridge car park.  This is a pleasant spot and is used as a picnic area.

A ladybird on our rather dusty windscreen

A Ladybird larva on the car.

Unfortunately, both ladybird and larva are Harlequin Ladybirds which have now outstayed their welcome in this country.  I wish that those in authority were more wary about using introduced insects to control other insects.

We were delayed at the beginning of our walk by the car beeping an alarm whenever we tried locking the doors.  After disturbing a couple who were having a picnic with their little grandson we decided that we ought to look at the car’s manual.  We found that the car was telling us that we were locking the spare key inside the car and that it would rather we didn’t.  I took the key out of my handbag which I had left in the boot and we were then able to start our walk.

The first part of the walk was along a path beside the infant River Goyt.

I saw this Common Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea). It was typically wary and didn’t settle where I could get a good photo of it.  Only its head and wings and a little part of its thorax/abdomen can be seen here.

Upright Hedge Parsley (Torilis japonica)

The Goyt was running along merrily

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Upright Hedge Parsley

A bridge across the water

A view of the surrounding moorland

This is a typical sight in moorland where driven grouse shooting takes place.  The patches on the hillside show where the heather has been burned to promote new growth shoots for the grouse to feed on.   I have recently signed a petition to have this sport banned as I think that instead of conserving wildlife these estates try to eradicate any creatures that may be a threat to their grouse.  All raptors, including the scarce Hen Harrier and Golden Eagles are considered a threat and are regularly shot or poisoned illegally by some, not all, gamekeepers employed on some of these estates.  In Scotland hundreds of thousands of Mountain Hare are culled every year.  I’ve signed another petition about this too!  I feel very strongly about this as you no doubt have realised.

The Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was in full bloom

The path across the moor

At this point we turned onto another path which rose up towards a plantation.  We entered the forest through a gate.

The forest path

Inside the forest were walls and the remains of buildings

This reminded me of the stone walls that Allen from New Hampshire Garden Solutions  finds in his local forest.  In this case the land that was originally farmed for sheep was subsequently acquired by a company or organisation that planted conifers but didn’t bother dismantling the walls.

A weir we found halfway through the plantation

Richard on the bridge over the river

The simple bridge

The barrier just up-stream from the bridge and weir

Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica)

This was a flower I had never seen before.  It is very small and the leaves are tiny!  It is semi-parasitic on other plants’ roots.

We could see one of the local reservoirs from the path that went up by the side of the plantation.

Our path….

…. got rougher and steeper

I think this lichen may be Cladonia pleurota

Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile)

I cannot identify this tiny bug. It marched purposefully across this rather bleak landscape.

The three photos above were taken while we rested and ate our lunch.  This last part of the walk I found exhausting as it was a continuous uphill climb and on very uneven and rough paths with large, loose rocks to walk over.

This is the view I saw when I looked up from my seat on a rock

The weather was cloudier and cooler than earlier in the week.  We were glad of this!

There was still plenty of late Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium) in amongst the Heather

This might be a slime mould but I am not sure!

View from the path

View from the path

A Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) hovering high up in the sky

A veritable garden of lichen and moss on top of a stone wall.  It’s a pity the photo isn’t any clearer.

Shining Tor from a distance

Shining Tor close up

We had thought we might go up Shining Tor but we changed our minds when we had got to the top of the stony path.  We were too tired.  Why is it called ‘Shining Tor’?  I don’t know.

This is another view from where we were standing.

The visibility wasn’t great and the distant hills were lost in haze but the sky above us was clear and blue now.  We began to descend towards the Cat and Fiddle pass (I expect you were wondering why this post was called Cat and Fiddle) and the Cat and Fiddle pub.

An out of focus photo of a wild pansy growing next to the path. I think it may be a Mountain Pansy (Viola lutea)

More pansies

and even more pansies!

Just one more!

I eventually looked up and noticed the view. The road you see in the middle distance is the Cat and Fiddle Pass.

Harebells ( Campanula rotundifolia)

Tormentil (Potentilla erecta)

The Cat and Fiddle pub (on the right of the photo)

I saw more Cottongrass next to the path but this was definitely past its best!

I then saw an interesting-looking stone just to the left of the path

On closer examination I found it was an old mile-stone and realised that the path we had been walking on since Shining Tor was part of the old coach road.

I looked at the path and saw that it looked very much like an old road. Richard is ahead of me here as usual and is near where the path joins the new busy road.

I found a very late orchid in the grass. It was faded and I couldn’t identify it.

We were disappointed to discover that the pub was shut and we weren’t to get a drink after all.

It does seem sad that the place that the pass was named after should be shut and empty.  We walked past the pub.  Through the windows we could see everything had been left as it was on the day it had shut months before.  There was even a menu board extolling the virtues of a meat pie!

We soon turned off the main road onto a narrow road that would eventually bring us back to the carpark.  I saw many different plants on the way.

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

Lots more Common Cotton Grass

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) and Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

Yet another poor photo I’m afraid! This is another flower I had never seen before – Knotted Pearlwort (Sagina nodosa)

A very pink Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis agg.)

Crosswort (Cruciata laevipes)

We found the car, drove back to our caravan and made ourselves a nice cup of tea.  We were quite tired after our long walk and found it difficult to stay awake.  We had arranged to have lunch with my brother-in-law the next day so Richard booked a table at a local restaurant and phoned his brother to let him know when and where we were to meet each other.

To be continued….

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!

 

Home from Abroad

Tags

agrimony, butterflies, clouds, common darter, common knapweed, Diary, dragonflies, Field Beans, gatekeeper, Great Willowherb, hedge bindweed, lane, Lords and Ladies, Marsh Woundwort, Meadowsweet, ponds, ringlet, ruddy darter, scarlet pimpernel, spear thistle, Suffolk, Sweet Chestnut, thunderstorm, wild flowers, yarrow

We arrived back home last Wednesday after spending eight days in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest).  It was probably the hottest day of the year so far and we spent it travelling by train up from Triberg, Germany to Ebbsfleet in Kent (England) where we had left our car.  We set off from the hotel at 6.30 am European time and got home just after 7.00 pm British time (one hour behind Europe).  The car thermometer said it was 32C (89.5F) when we set off from Kent and it peaked at 34C (93F) near the tunnel at the Dartford Crossing (under the Thames).  As we drove home up through Essex and Suffolk we watched large black clouds to the west edging ever nearer and we hoped we’d be able to get home before the storm got to us.  We did.  It was still 32C as we unpacked the car, opened all the windows and doors in the house and wandered round the garden for a while looking at the long grass and the drooping plants.  While I put the kettle on and made a cup of tea Richard telephoned the Chinese restaurant in Halesworth and ordered a take-away meal.  He was just about to set off when the storm broke.  It was the most violent one I’ve seen for many years with continuous thunder and bolts of lightening coming down vertically and travelling horizontally across the sky.  The rain was very heavy indeed.  Elinor and I sat on the stairs together as she gets quite frightened during thunderstorms and Richard went off to collect our evening meal.  The storm gradually abated and the sky cleared but still Richard hadn’t come back and I began to worry about him.  I found his phone which he had left behind so I couldn’t get in touch to find out where he was.  I was considering getting in the car and going to look for him when I was relieved to see him driving up to the house.  He had had a hair-raising journey and when he had got to Halesworth he found that the Chinese restaurant had a power-cut and couldn’t give us a meal.  They had tried to phone him on his mobile to let him know, but of course he had left it at home.  The town’s Thoroughfare was flooded with a foot of water and people were out trying to sweep the water away from the shop doors.  Water was coming up through the drains and the town river was in full spate.  Richard didn’t lose his head and knew he had a mission to accomplish so went to the other Chinese restaurant at the top of the town which hadn’t lost it’s power and ordered our meal from them instead.

When the rain stopped I went outside to enjoy the fresh, cooler air and took some photographs of the strange clouds.

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The following day I resumed my dutiful-daughter job and took Mum out to do her shopping.  We had bought double her usual amount of shopping just before we’d gone away and we had made sure she had enough of her medication to last as well.  While we were on our holiday she had been taken to church by my brother on the Sunday and he had cooked lunch for her at his house, so she had plenty to tell me.

When I got home again I got on with the washing and started to tidy the garden.  Richard and I called in to see our next-door-neighbours who had been kind enough to water the plants in the greenhouse and to put our rubbish bins out for collection while we were away.  We are very fortunate to have such thoughtful and generous neighbours.

The next day I continued with house and garden work.

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis ssp.arvensis) found behind the greenhouse

Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris) found growing on the bank of the big pond.

I think this may be a male Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) though it could be a male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)

A Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) in flower near the big pond

A rather old and tired Ringlet butterfly (Aphantopus hyperantus)

Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) in flower in the area between our garden and the field at the back of the house.

I believe this may be a female Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Our Variegated Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa variegatum) in flower

Sweet Chestnut flowers

I walked down the lane with Elinor to post birthday cards to my niece Natalie (my brother’s daughter) who had her 31st birthday on the 23rd of July and cards to Alice my elder daughter who had her 31st birthday on the 24th of July.  Natalie is exactly 23 hours older than Alice.

This is a teneral, or newly emerged dragonfly as you can see by the pale colouring and very shiny wings. I don’t know which dragonfly it is, unfortunately. It is perched on a Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) growing in the ditch at the side of the lane.

The new pond at the side of the lane which was dug during the winter.

Richard spoke to the man who lives on the opposite side of the lane to the pond and who was responsible for digging it.  Apparently, many years ago there was a pond there which was wide enough and deep enough to enable the horses to be led to drink while still attached to their carts.  It was filled in when horses were no longer needed on the farm but it has now been re-instated and I am very pleased.  The pond is already full of interesting plants and insects which have found their way there on their own.

Our lane. I am standing next to the pond (on my left) and looking back in the direction from which we had come.

Looking over the hedge into the garden of Church Farm I noticed this piece of wall covered in ivy. I wonder if it is part of the old church of St Nicholas demolished many hundreds of years ago.

Lots of unripe Lords and Ladies berries (Arum maculatum)

A field full of Field or Broad Beans.

Another pond at the side of the lane. This one has become rather overgrown. It has fish in it and I once saw a couple sitting at the side of the road with rods trying to catch fish.

View across the fields towards All Saints church which can just be seen to the right of centre on the horizon. It is slightly obscured by a thistle flower!

Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Wild flowers at the side of the lane.

Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria)

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)

Meadowsweet has a beautiful almond-blossom-like fragrance.

A poor photo of a male Gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus)

These were all the things I saw at the side of the lane on a short 20 minute walk to post cards.

Here now is my musical choice – the Petite Symphonie in B flat for nine wind instruments by Charles Gounod, composed in 1888.  It lasts about 20 minutes and is of four movements.  I love the lyricism of French 19th century music and I like this recording of the piece very much.  It is a piece of music I used to play and it brings back such good memories to me when I hear it.

Thanks for visiting!

June Flowers and Insects

Tags

azure damselfly, Bittersweet, Black-tailed Skimmer, blue-tailed damselfly, common knapweed, Common Marsh-bedstraw, Common Sorrel, Creeping Cinquefoil, Cyperus Sedge, damselflies, dogwood, dragonflies, Elder, Four-spotted Chaser, garden, greenbottle, Hoverfly, insects, Meadow Buttercup, Oxeye Daisy, pond, Pyracantha, Suffolk, White Water Lily, wild flowers, yellow iris, Yorkshire Fog

Until this week we have had a very cool summer indeed which has meant that there have been very few insects about.  The common garden pests, greenfly and blackfly for example, seem to cope with chilly weather but the insects that eat them don’t!  Some of the flowers are continuing to flower a little late but a few are flowering at about their usual time which has made for unusual combinations.

Meadow Buttercups (Ranunculus acris) on All Saints’ Common

We have a number of ‘commons’ here in East Anglia.  A common is an area of land either owned by a group of people or one person but it can be used by the general public in certain ways such as walking your dog or playing sport.  Some commons and village greens have ‘rights of common’ where it is possible to graze livestock on the land.  If you want to use the common for anything other than walking on it or having a picnic, (for instance, if you wanted to camp there), you’d have to ask permission of the land owner.

This is another view of the common showing one of the unusual flower combinations.  This didn’t come out as well as I’d have liked.

The Common Sorrel is flowering at the same time as the buttercups and for a while it looked as though the field was alight with red flames above the yellow.

Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) is also in flower on the common.

As is Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus)

The Elder (Sambucus nigra) is in flower.

The Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is in flower too.

Many people dislike the scent of the Elderflower; they describe it as smelling of ‘cats’.  It isn’t a pleasant smell but it is preferable to the smell of Dogwood flowers!

Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara), also known as Woody Nightshade, is flowering in the hedgerows.

The Pyracantha in our garden is covered in blossom. This is another plant with a strange scent but the bees love it!

I discovered a new plant at the edge of our big pond the other day – a Cyperus Sedge (Carex pseudocyperus), also known as Hop Sedge.

The plant is quite large and must, I suppose, have been there last year without me seeing it.  Its leaves are strap-like, similar to Iris leaves, so I might have thought it was an Iris.  The flowers are unmistakable though.

The flowers are pendulous, like catkins.

Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus)

Another new plant to our garden is this Common Marsh-bedstraw (Galium palustre) growing by our corner pond.

One of my favourite flowers is this little one – Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). Its petals are heart-shaped and such a pretty shade of yellow. The creeping refers to its trailing stems that root at the nodes as it grows.

I love Oxeye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) too.

A White Water-lily (Nymphaea alba) on our big pond.

Elinor saw the Kingfisher at the pond a couple of days ago and since yesterday we have  all heard the purring of a Turtle-dove in the trees round the pond.  The temperature has risen to 25 degrees Centigrade and I think it has been too cold up til now for the Turtle-dove.

Female Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Male Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Male Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)

I believe this is a male Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)

Greenbottle (Lucilia caesar) on Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)

A brightly-patterned Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)

Male Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum)

I hope to see some more insects now the weather has warmed up.

Thank-you for visiting!

High Summer Walk 2

Tags

Bird's-foot Trefoil, bramble, bulrush, cardinal beetle, cat's-ear, common knapweed, cuckoo bee, dewberry, greater plantain, hazelnuts, hedge bedstraw, hemp-agrimony, Hoverfly, meadow brown butterfly, poppy, robin's pincushion, rowan, small white butterfly, spear thistle, speckled wood butterfly, straw baling, the Beck, the Washes

Before I continue my walk, I’ll update you on the local harvest scene.  Yesterday, all the farms here were extremely busy working on the fields because rain was forecast for today.  I was listening to combine harvesters working well into the small hours.  I think the last tractor to roar past our house with its laden trailer of grain was at about 2.00 a.m.  The rain duly came just a few hours later and this morning was very wet.  On my way to collect Mum for our weekly shopping trip I had to slow the car to a crawl with the wipers going very fast as I couldn’t see the road because of the torrents.  There were some very deep puddles and water was bubbling up from the drains in the villages we passed through.  I was about to say that this afternoon has been dry and bright when I heard that familiar pitter-patter of rain on the leaves outside and had to rush outside and close the garden shed.

Straw baling yesterday.

The tractor pulls a baling machine up and down the field which sucks up the straw and packs it into bales which emerge from the back of the machine and are then tossed onto the field.

The finished job

Last week I took a couple of photos of a field at the other end of our lane.  The farmer there was using a different type of baler.

I noticed that the field on the other side of the lane had had its first plough

This morning, before I went out, the field at the back looked like this – and when I got home, it looked like this – So, some progress had been made despite the wet weather.

Back to my walk …

The Hedge Bedstraw is still in flower.

Bedstraw and Common Knapweed

The Washes were showing signs that we had had a lot of rain recently.  The road here often floods as it is next to the Beck and in a little valley.   The Beck was flowing quite nicely but was very overgrown and difficult to see.

Reflections in the Beck

Common Poppy

A ‘Robin’s Pincushion’ – a gall on wild rose plants

The hazelnuts in the hedgerow are ripening

Greater Plantain

People with lawns do not like either the Greater or the Hoary Plantain as they are very persistent and can survive crushing and tearing.  New growth comes from the base of the plant.  Birds love the seeds and when caged birds as pets were more popular, people used to gather the dried seed-heads for them.  Another name for this plantain is Rat’s Tail. I tried many times, unsuccessfully, to photograph this male Meadow Brown butterfly but the camera was having none of it and kept focusing on the rose leaf.  So, I have gone with it because of the little red ball on the leaf.  Is this another type of gall or is it the very first stage of a Robin’s Pincushion? I was looking at all the brambles in the hedge and noticed these –  They are dewberries – a relative of the bramble/blackberry.  The flowers are larger and the fruits too, which have a bloom to them.  The leaves have three leaflets.

Here is bramble with a visiting bee

Rowan or Mountain Ash berries – a sign of the approach of autumn

A Spear Thistle with a Cuckoo Bee (L) and a Hoverfly (R)

This is the Great Reedmace or as it is now known, the Bulrush.  Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema painted ‘Moses in the Bulrushes’ and showed the baby in amongst a clump of Reedmaces.  Since then the Reedmace has been known as the Bulrush.  The brown sausage-like part of the flower is female and the narrow spire at the top is male.  In the Lesser Bulrush there is a gap between the female and male parts of the flower.

I think this is Greater Bird’s-foot-trefoil. The flower stalks were very long.

Two white butterflies – I think they are both Small Whites but as they were both battered and faded I can’t be sure

A Speckled Wood butterfly

Cat’s-ear and Agrimony Hemp-agrimony.  This is a member of the daisy family – Agrimony is a member of the rose family.  Early herbalists wrongly classed this plant with true Agrimony.  The leaves of this plant look like cannabis leaves hence the ‘hemp’. Cardinal Beetle and a saw-fly visiting the Hemp-agrimony I was going to return to the Hemp-agrimony a few days later to look at it again once the flowers had all come out.  Unfortunately, the common was mown the next day and all the flowers had gone.  The following photos are of a large clump of them that I see on my way to my mother’s house. They are tall plants – about 4-5 feet tall – and I think they look beautiful.   The walk I took was only about a mile in length – I was pleasantly surprised to find so many things to look at in such a small area.

High Summer Walk Part 1

Tags

agrimony, bindweed, common knapweed, common ragwort, Gatekeeper butterfly, hoary plantain, hogweed, hop trefoil, oil-seed rape, peas, pineapple weed, ploughing, poppy, Ringlet butterfly, seagulls, silverweed, thatched barn, thrips, thunder-flies, walking

I had been shopping in Norwich with E two weeks ago and the weather had just changed for the better.  We had had a lot of very humid weather, with heavy rain and thunder and lightening.  We had had the usual accompaniment to humid weather of flying and swarming ants and thunder-flies.  These are tiny little thrips with feathery wings; a millimetre long and thread-thin.  They get everywhere – in your ears and eyes, up your nose, in your hair, crawling on your skin until you feel like screaming. They come in the house and die in heaps on every surface; they even get behind the glass in your picture frames.  And then, after a storm at the weekend, we woke on the Monday to fresh air, warm sunshine and a gentle breeze. As we were driving home I had such a longing to be out of doors, walking in the fields that instead of having lunch I found the camera and my hat and went off down the lane.  The verge at the side of our lane had just been cut but there were still a few flowers hanging on there.

Beautiful pink and white bindweed.  The flowers are almond scented.

The harvesting had begun.

Oil-seed rape stubble.

The stubble is almost a foot high and so hard and sharp like knives; it is almost impossible to walk through.

You can see for miles from here

There is a UFO in this shot. Is it a bird?  Is it a plane? No!  It’s…. you tell me!

Ploughing had started in one of the fields.  Seagulls love to follow the plough as it turns up lots of worms and grubs.  Black-headed, herring and lesser black-backed gulls.

A rather tired and tatty ringlet butterfly

This is agrimony and there has been a lot of this about this year.  Apparently it has a scent reminiscent of apricots; I haven’t noticed this but then I don’t have a very good sense of smell – at least not for nice smells!  The ancients found this a very versatile plant as it was held to be a remedy against snake-bite, poor sight, loss of memory and liver complaints.

Silverweed leaves. Potentilla anserina

Common Knapweed buds. These plants have been flowering for many weeks now; and for many to come if these buds are anything to go by.  Also known as Hardheads.

We have had lots of hogweed too

Hoary plantain. This is an unusual plantain in that it produces a delicate scent which attracts bees and other insects.  All other British plantains are wind pollinated.

A field of peas.

For many years, peas were grown everywhere in this part of Suffolk as there was a frozen food factory in Lowestoft on the coast.  We were all used to the enormous pea harvesters and the smell of burnt peas wafting on the air.  Then the factory was closed.  Many people were made redundant and the farmers here had to find a different crop to grow and had to sell their harvesters.  In recent years peas have started to be grown again.  Some farmers are working together as a collective, sharing harvesters and have found other customers for their peas.  This field is being left until the peas have dried.  I don’t know if the plants will just be dug into the soil as a source of nitrogen or if the plants are used for animal feed or the dried peas sold to a processing factory.  Perhaps someone can tell me. Red is so difficult to photograph.  This photo looks as though I’ve done some careless ‘photoshopping’. You will recognise this photo from my previous post.  This works better as the poppies take up more of the photo but they still don’t look ‘real’.

A snail hiding in a hogweed seedhead

A female Gatekeeper butterfly

An enormous thatched barn

This is hop trefoil.  The stems are downy and the seed-heads are covered with dead petals making them look like hops.

There was a lot pink and yellow.

Pineapple Mayweed

This smells of pineapple when crushed.

This is Common Ragwort, a poisonous plant and the food plant of the Cinnabar Moth caterpillar.

I will continue this walk in Part 2.

Trinity Sunday and Father’s Day

Tags

19th century, acanthus, altar, bedstraw, church architecture, common knapweed, corn dolly cross, cypress, Easter Sepulchre, Father's Day, font, greater knapweed, hardheads, hedge bindweed, hedge mustard, hogweed, Hoverfly, jack-go-to-bed-at-noon, kneelers, meadow vetchling, medieval, mosquito, needlework, Norman, parvise, pyramidal orchid, Rood loft stairs, rood screen, St Margaret South Elmham, Trinity Sunday, tutsan, village sign, village stocks, yarrow

This is R’s Father’s Day present from E.  This is the third year she has got him the Tour de France premium pack and I am sure he is really happy with it.  He cycles whenever he can and has enjoyed watching the Tour for many years.

It was also Trinity Sunday on Sunday, the day on which we have to consider God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Many people have difficulty with this concept but I have never found it difficult to understand that God is one god but has three parts or roles; though of course my ability to express this is woefully inadequate.   I can accept this without having to question it.  I can accept that God is Father (the Creator) and that God is Son (Jesus, who lived on earth experiencing everything that a human could ever experience and who died for us) and that God is Holy Spirit (the Comforter, our strength when we are in need).  I think we are all different things to different people and have to behave differently depending on what is needed of us but at the same time we are still the same person, so we have an idea of where to start from when considering the Trinity of God.  A human father has many other roles as well as being a father – son, husband, wage-earner, jack-of-all-trades.  I hope all fathers were made to feel appreciated on Sunday.

The Trinity Sunday service was at St Margaret South Elmham church which is close enough for us to walk to which R and I really enjoy.  The weather was cloudy and cool again but we were fortunate in that it didn’t rain while we were going to and coming from church.  I saw a number of interesting plants on our walk and took a couple of photos on the way home.  After doing a few chores after lunch I decided to walk back to St Margaret’s and take some more pictures and include some of the pretty church too.  The light was bad and it rained a little while I was out so some of the photos didn’t come out at all well.  The interior of the church was too dark for some of my shots and even with the flash most didn’t come out.  I did have enough fairly good pictures though, to give you an idea of what I saw.  I am indebted to the history of the church leaflet I bought at the church for some of the information below.

The old village stocks which are kept in the porch.

The beautiful South Door with the Norman archway. The stonework is at least 800 years old.

The porch has a room above it, a parvise or priest’s room but it is not normally open to the public.  Parvise means ‘paradise’ but I doubt whether it is like paradise up there!  The books and documents belonging to the church used to be kept in a parvise and sometimes the priest used to live there.  Some of these rooms in other churches are made into little chapels for private prayer.

The 15th century font.

The font is of a design which is common in East Anglia.  It is octagonal and the symbols of the four Evangelists alternating with angels bearing shields are round the bowl.  There are lions round the stem of the font, too.

The Easter Sepulchre.

I was unable to get all of the medieval sepulchre in;  there are a couple of pinnacles and a finial above it.  This is where some of the consecrated bread from the Mass was placed on Good Friday and then brought back to the altar on Easter Day which symbolised Jesus’ burial in the tomb and then resurrection.

Panels from the base of the former rood screen.

These old medieval panels are not in a good condition but you can just see remnants of the paintings that once covered them.  In my photograph you can’t see the one on the left, thought to be St Hubert but you can see the ones on the right who are probably bishops.

The 19th century altar

Beautiful needlework

These are just a few examples of the many lovely kneelers in this church.  The photos are worth zooming in on!

The tiny narrow rood loft stairs.

The stairs enabled the priest to get to the top of the Rood Screen where lots of candles were lit.

A corn dolly cross behind the pulpit

I saw many pretty flowers on my walk to St Margarets and some less pretty but equally noteworthy.

Hedge Mustard

This plant is recognised by its branches which protrude almost at right-angles to the stem.  The French used to use an infusion of this plant as a gargle and to improve their vocal performance.  The pungent taste of the concoction was improved by adding liquorice or scented honey.  The British were not so keen and used the plant to make a sauce to be served with salt fish.  The sap was mixed into a syrup with honey or treacle as a cure for asthma.

Tutsan

Another plant with antiseptic properties, the leaves of tutsan were laid across flesh wounds to help heal them.  Tutsan derives its name from the Anglo-Norman word ‘tutsaine’ (toute-saine in French) meaning ‘all-wholesome’ or ‘all-healthy’.  When fresh, the leaves have no particular smell, but a day or so after drying and for four years or so afterwards they emit a subtle, pleasant odour.  This is likened by some to that of ambergris so tutsan is known by some people as sweet amber.  Richard Mabey in ‘Flora Britannica’ says the leaves have ‘an evocative, fugitive scent, reminiscent of cigar boxes and candied fruit’.  I wonder if this helps anyone imagine what it smells like?  Its dried leaves have been used as scented book-marks, particularly in prayer books and Bibles.

Common Knapweed or Hardheads

Common Knapweed

Common Knapweed

According to folklore this flower can be used to foretell a girl’s future.  She must pick the expanded florets off the flower-head and then put the remainder of the flower in her blouse.  After an hour she must take it out and examine it; if the previously unexpanded florets have now blossomed it means that the man she will marry is shortly coming her way.

Yarrow

Achilles was said to have cured wounds made by iron weapons by using yarrow.  The Anglo-Saxons believed yarrow could purge and heal such wounds when pounded with grease.  It was used to drive away evil and sickness, to increase physical attractiveness and to protect people from being hurt by the opposite sex.  In a Gaelic chant a woman says: ‘I will pick the green yarrow that my figure may be fuller….. that my voice will be sweeter….. that my lips will be like the juice of the strawberry…. I shall wound every man, but no man shall harm me.’  Scary!!

Meadow Vetchling

Bedstraw

Bedstraw

I cannot decide whether this is Common Marsh Bedstraw or Hedge Bedstraw.  It is probably Common Marsh Bedstraw and was used to stuff mattresses with.

Greater Knapweed

Greater Knapweed with visiting mosquito

This plant and common Knapweed are very similar but this is the larger plant and has more thistle-like leaves.  Also the outer row of florets are larger than the rest and more spreading.  The bracts under the flower-head are slightly different too.  For many years this plant was used to treat wounds, ruptures, bruises, sores, scabs and sore throats.

Hedge Bindweed

These beautiful white flowers glow in the dusk and the flowers stay open into the night, sometimes all night if there is a moon.  They attract the convolvulus hawk moth which has a long enough tongue to extract the nectar at the base of the flower and the moth pollinates the flower at the same time.

St Margaret’s village sign

This is on the village green.  The old building behind looks as though it used to be the forge.

Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon

And it had already gone before I found it!  I will see if I can take a photo of its large dandelion-like flowers one morning.  It also has enormous ‘clocks’ of downy seeds.  The long tap-roots are sweet-tasting like parsnips when cooked.

A hoverfly on hogweed

Acanthus

An acanthus plant by someone’s garden fence.

Cypress with cones

Not a very clear photo I’m afraid.

Lastly, a few photos of some Pyramidal Orchids.