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

A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: cooking apples

In My Garden Again

28 Wed Sep 2016

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

≈ 75 Comments

Tags

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

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

p1010238fish-hook-cactus

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

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

p1010239sweet-peppers

Sweet pepper ‘Sweet Banana’

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

p1010240zinnia

Zinnia flower

p1010241zinnia-001

Zinnia flower-bud

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

p1010245fleabane

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

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

p1010250hogweed

Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) seed-heads

p1010246speckled-wood

Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)

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

p1010253comma

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

p1010248hoverfly-on-creeping-thistle

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

p1010296crabapples

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

p1010298biffin

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

p1010301concord

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

p1010304haws

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

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

p1010305brown-hawker

A female Brown Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna grandis)

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

p1010324hornet

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

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

p1010330mole

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

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

p1010326sunset

Sunset

p1010327sunset

Sunset

p1010328sunset

Sunset

p1010329sunset

Sunset with mist

And shortly afterwards on the same evening…..

p1010332moon

Moonrise

p1010333moon

Moonrise

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

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

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

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

p1010346-nest

I do not know what bird built this nest.

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

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

Thanks for visiting!

Share this:

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

Like this:

Like Loading...
Follow A Suffolk Lane on WordPress.com

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

Join 687 other followers

I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

My Posts

Jul 2022
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Feb    

Pages

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

Archives

Blogs I Follow

Posts I Like

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

Tags

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

Meta

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

Goodreads

Blog at WordPress.com.

Interesting Literature

A Library of Literary Interestingness

naturechirp

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

Sophie Neville

Writer and Producer

Going Batty in Wales

Developing a more sustainable lifestyle in SW Wales

Paol Soren

A bit of this and that

Our Lake District Escapades

Exploring the Lake District and beyond

Making Book

All sorts of stuff about books and book manufacturing

Julian Hoffman

Notes from Near and Far

Short Walks & Long Paths

Wandering tales from around the coast of Wales

Dukes and Princes

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

The Biking Gardener

An English persons experience of living and gardening in Ireland

Nan's Farm

A Journal Of Everyday Life

Walk the Old Ways

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

Writer Side UP!

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

Meggie's Adventures

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

amusicalifeonplanetearth

Music and the Thoughts It Can Inspire

lovefoundation.co.uk

Traveling Tortuga

Simply Living Well

Pakenham Water Mill

Historic watermill in the beautiful Suffolk countryside

Take It Easy

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

Secret Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife

Public Rights of Way Explorer

PROW Explorer

thanksfortheadventureorg.wordpress.com/

The Beat Goes On

#TBGO

PLESZAK

Frank Pleszak's Blogs

John Bainbridge Writer

Indie Writer and Publisher

roughwighting

Life in a flash - a weekly writing blog

Walking the Old Ways

Rambling in the British Countryside

A Voice from Iran

Storytelling, short stories, fable, folk tales,...

CapKane

thoughts on social realities

SkyeEnt

Jottings from Skye

jodie richelle

embracing my inner homemaker

Skizzenbuch/Blog

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Author Kevin Cooper

Life, Love, Tears & Laughter: Then, Now & Hereafter.

Have Bag, Will Travel

The Call of the Pen

Flash Fiction, Book Reviews, Devotionals and other things.

Book Jotter

Reviews, news, features and all things books for passionate readers

John's Postcards

STADTAUGE

Ailish Sinclair

Stories and photos from Scotland

Art in Nature

The ‘Beauty of the Moment’

The Strawberry Post

Here to Entertain, Educate & Inspire!

You dream, I photographe it !

Smile! You’re in Barnier World......

theinfill

the things that come to hand

Dr. Mary Ann Niemczura

Author of "A Past Worth Telling"

Provincial Woman

LIFE IN MUD SPATTERED BOOTS

A Quiet Celebration of Life on a British Farm

The Pink Wheelbarrow

The Mindful Gardener

The sensory pleasures and earthy delights of gardening.

Luanne Castle's Writer Site

Memoir, poetry, & writing theory

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

Loading Comments...
 

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