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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: fields

Boxing Day Walk

30 Tue Dec 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, trees, walking

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

fields, oak trees, walking, winter

002Easter chocolate display (480x640)

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a display of Easter chocolate at the supermarket.

Despite the cold and cloud Richard and I had a very pleasant walk on Boxing Day.  We had no wish to drive anywhere so we had our usual amble across the fields.

001Hen (640x480)

One of next-door’s chickens searching for grubs in the leaf litter of the road-side

002Field walk (640x480)

Richard walking along the edge of a field of wheat or barley.

003Trees (640x480)

I love the look of leafless trees. These are English Oaks

004Millet (480x640)

Millet

Many of you will remember the walk I had along this path in the summer when I found this plant in flower and didn’t recognise it as millet.  I have Allen of nhgardensolutions to thank for the identification and also Rachel from coulddoworse.me for explaining links to me (though because of my ineptitude and through no fault of Rachel’s, I have still had a lot of difficulty and a lot of help from family in getting them to work!).  Allen’s posts are full of the small but beautiful things he sees on his trails in New Hampshire and he has taught me to slow down even further and look yet more closely at the natural world around me.  Rachel’s posts are packed with anecdotes about her life in London, her lovely family and the walks she takes through the city streets and parks.  She cooks and crochets and reads and gardens and is so inspiring!

028millet

This is what the millet looked like in the summer

013Millet field (640x480)

015Millet field (480x640)

…and these two photos show what it looked like in October when Richard, Elinor and I went for a walk after Richard had got home from work.  One of the last evening walks we took before the clocks went back.  We thought it would be harvested for seed but from the look of the field on Boxing Day it had just been left to dry and die.  A puzzle.

005Sugar beet (640x480)

We also saw a few sugar beet plants in amongst the dead grass

006Holes in trees (480x640)

and holes that we weren’t able to see when the leaves were on the trees.

007Mayweed (640x480)

A few tough Mayweed flowers that are struggling on even through a few frosts

008The Beck (640x480)

The Beck was low but showed signs of when it had been very high a short time ago. It rose again on Boxing Day night and flooded the road at the Washes for a short while.

009The Beck (640x480)

This little stream looks so much nicer in the spring and summer.

011Lichen on branch (640x480)

We saw lichen on branches…

012Rosehips (640x480)

…and a few rosehips.

English Oak
English Oak
017Oak (640x480)
016Oak (640x480)
015Oak (640x480)

These pictures are of my favourite ancient oak tree seen over the hedge from the lane.  I went into the field it stands in and took a photo of the whole tree as well.

026Oak (640x480)
013Oak (640x480)
014Oak (480x640)

These are three more oaks we saw on our walk.

019Lane (640x480)

The lane with Richard in the distance showing how far I had lagged behind him

020Wet field (640x480)

A wet and poorly drained field at the top of the lane. It looks like some heavy vehicle sunk into the soil here.

021View (640x480)

Looking back in the direction we had come

022View (640x480)

Looking towards Flixton where we had been to church on Christmas Eve. There is a wood there on a slight rise in the land.

023New green leaves (640x480)

We saw these new green leaves – the plants have become very confused as the temperature swings from freezing to 10 degrees C or more and then back down to freezing again.

027Lane (640x480)

The Washes don’t often dry out in the winter.

That photograph reminded me of one I took when we last walked this way in October.

023Lane (640x480)

The sun had set but there was such beautiful silver light in the sky and this was reflected in the shallow puddles on the road

028Field (640x480)

A typical early winter scene. The field is full of dead thistles

030Alder cones (640x480)

These are Common Alder cones, the female catkins. I tried very hard to photograph the male catkins but I couldn’t get the camera to focus on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cloud Chasing

12 Tue Aug 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in cooking, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, trees, Uncategorized, walking, weather

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Bertha, black bryony, blue flax, bread-making, clouds, clover, fields, fleabane, gates, grasses, great black slug, greenbottle, hen and chicks, Kestrel potatoes, marsh ragwort, phacelia, Rain, red bartsia, René Magritte, rice, the Beck, thunder, tub-thumping priest, walking, wild radish, willow, wind

I had hoped to be able to stay at home on Saturday as the weather was so nice.  However, when I took a loaf out of our breadmaker and saw that, for the second time in a row, the bread hadn’t risen very much I realised that one of two things had happened.  I knew that I hadn’t made a mistake when measuring out the ingredients or when setting the programme.  The problem was either a faulty batch of yeast or, even worse, a faulty breadmaker.  I went into Halesworth and bought a very nice looking loaf from the health food/delicatessen shop as well as some new yeast.  I had been experimenting with a different brand-name dried yeast and thought that that may have been the problem so I bought some of the old tried-and-tested yeast.  While in town I also got some more vegetables and a couple of newspapers – The Saturday Times so that R could do the crossword (most of the rest of the newspaper usually goes straight into the re-cycling bin) and a Beccles and Bungay Journal.  This had a very nice account of our Requiem Eucharist last Sunday with a photograph and also a double-page centre-spread featuring Dolly and her memories of living in a village which is doubly thankful, in that all its people going off to war in both the Great and the Second World War came back safely. As I drove home I noticed such wonderful clouds in the sky!  The wind was picking up already so I decided to trot back down the lane and photograph them before checking round the garden to make sure all was well battened down and tied up before the high winds that had been forecast arrived. 002Clouds One of my favourite artists is René Magritte who painted clouds like these.

0421-4

La grande famille Series 1 Lithography by René Magritte

I also saw that one of next-door’s chickens had had some chicks and was taking them for a walk on the grass verge of the lane.

001Hen with chicks

There are six chicks there somewhere!

R was mowing the grass when I got home and he also made sure everything was ready for the storm so I didn’t have to.  What a kind man! We had some very heavy rain and thunder over-night and while we were in church on Sunday morning the rain came on again with more thunder.  The Rector is currently having a well-deserved, two-week break from us so the service was taken by a retired clergyman who lives in our benefice and is a great friend of ours.  The bible readings for the day were very apt – the earthquake, wind and fire from which God was absent and then the quiet whisper that was God, and the story of the disciples being tossed about in the boat on the lake and Jesus walking on water to join them and calming the storm.  I was waiting for a stormy sermon and got one though not quite the one I expected.  In fact, we all got a lecture about the current terrible situation in Gaza.  We were told that a lot of what is going on there was our (the British) fault and that we cannot wash our hands of it.  The priest even struck the edge of the pulpit with his hand!  Twice!  Our Rector might grumble and nag but I cannot remember him ever beating up the pulpit during a sermon! 006Clouds I think we have been lucky and haven’t had such bad weather as others around the country.  The rain didn’t last that long really and by mid afternoon the sun was coming out.  It was, and still is very blustery but the wind hasn’t been as damaging as we thought it would be.  We have lost a few apples and pears from our trees and some of the plants look a little sorry for themselves but on the whole, nothing to worry about. Once we saw that the rain had stopped, R and I decided to go out for a walk.  We chose one of our walks across the fields.

010Puddles in field

Evidence of recent rainfall

Before we had walked more than a few steps along the path we saw such a mass of fleabane! 015Fleabane

009Fleabane

Pulicaria dysenterica – Common Fleabane

‘Pulicaria’ refers to the plant’s power against fleas (pulex = Latin for flea) and ‘dysenterica’ recalls a time when fleabane was used as a medicine against dysentery.  When dried and burned, the leaves of fleabane were said to give off a vapour which drove fleas away so the plant was highly prized when houses were plagued with them.  The plants were used in an unburned state as an insecticide too.  Culpeper, the 17th century herbalist, didn’t think much of the flower itself – ‘an ill-looking weed’, ‘the flowers are a dirty yellow’, but he commended its effectiveness against insects.  ‘The smell is supposed delightful to insects and the juice destructive to them, for they never leave it til the season of their deaths’. 014Fallen gate I believe I have photographed this gate before.  It is in an even worse state than the last time we were here.

018Eaten clover leaves

Something has been eating this clover in a crimping style.

R and I were quite surprised to see that the normally fallow field was full of plants and flowers.  We haven’t been this way for some weeks.

022Phacelia & other flowers

Wild flower seeds appear to have been sown here – not all native.

The purple flower, Phacelia tanacetifolia or scorpion weed, is often grown as a green compost but is dug in before it flowers.  It is also grown as a butterfly and insect magnet as the flowers are full of nectar.  It is not a native plant.  I spotted all sorts of plants that I recognised, for example…

031Blue flax

Blue flax

025poss wild radish

I think this may be wild radish

It also appeared as if a trial crop had been planted here.  We did not recognise it at all.  After some research I have decided that it may be rice.  The kind of rice – arborio – that is grown in northern Italy.

021poss rice

Is this rice?

027poss rice 028poss rice I think it looks very much like it.  Can anyone confirm this for me, please? Near to the hedge we found some red bartsia but my photo is very poor as you will see. 013oof Red Bartsia I also found some ragwort which I think may be marsh ragwort. 017poss marsh ragwort We walked past another field of dried peas and continued to admire the enormous clouds on the horizon. 035Clouds We were now approaching the Beck and we could hear all the ditches and little streams that join it gurgling and bubbling. 037Great Black Slug We saw this Great Black Slug in the damp grass.

039The Beck

The Beck was flowing very fast

040Willow leaves

This willow has galls on it and one of its leaves is very distorted

We decided to walk a little further to the top of the hill and look at the view from there.

041Greenbottle

Greenbottle flies develop a coppery tinge with age

043View of field

One of our favourite views

047Signpost

The road junction at the top of the hill

048View and clouds After all the humid weather recently it was lovely at the top of the hill with the strong wind blowing. 050Clouds   051Clouds   It looked as if we might have some more rain so we headed back down the hill. 055Black bryony On the way I noticed some shiny Black Bryony leaves in the hedgerow. 056Field, gate, clouds Another view of a field, a gate and some clouds. 060Dark clouds   The wind and rain had made patterns with the dried grasses. 061Wind-blown grass shapes We got home and I started preparing the evening meal.  I used some of our home-grown Kestrel potatoes which are very tasty indeed.

064Kestrel  pototoes

Purple patterned potatoes

In fact, the clouds passed us by without shedding a drop of rain.  The skies cleared by nightfall and we were able to see the enormous full moon as it rose and then a couple of shooting stars as well.  A beautiful end to the weekend.

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Wednesday 12th to Sunday 16th March

17 Mon Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, walking, wild birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

alder, ambulances, brimstone butterfly, chaffinch, church, cowslip, daffodils, dog violet, Eye, fields, figs, greylags, Harleston, hazel, heartsease, Lent, mallards, moon, moorhen, nesting, pond, prayer, pussy willow, quiz night, rooks, Rumburgh, silverlace primula, sunset, tortoiseshell butterfly, trees, Wissett

Wednesday began with frost and mist.  This soon cleared and the weather was then lovely for the rest of the day.  I did my usual shopping trip with my mother with a detour to a free-range chicken farm at Eye where Mum buys her eggs.  I had a little shopping to do for myself, so called in at Harleston on my way home.  I arrived home just after 2pm for a late lunch and had time for a few household chores and a quick walk round the garden to feed the birds, tidy up a couple of things and take some photos before R came home.

A moorhen and a chaffinch at the front of the house.

001Moorhen and chaffinch (640x480)

 

The moorhen again.

002Moorhen (640x480)

 

A couple of photos of the daffodils that have come up round the big pond.

003Reflection of daffodils on pond (640x480)

005Reflection of daffodils on pond (480x640)

Some violet leaves that have struggled up through the dried mud round the pond.

007Violet leaves on path round pond (640x480)

 

And some cowslip leaves too!

008Cowslip plants on path round pond (640x480)

 

Reflection of trees and cloud in the pond.

009Reflection of trees and cloud in pond (640x480)

 

Afternoon moon.

011Afternoon moon (640x480)

 

I had decided what we should have for an evening meal and was about to start it when R offered to cook and I gladly accepted his offer.  I didn’t have time to eat anything as I had to go out at 6.45pm to collect Mum and take her to Eye to attend a Lent course.  The course in her area is a deanery course.  A deanery is a collection of benefices and a benefice is a collection of parishes.  In rural areas to have benefice and or deanery meetings or courses means that there will be more people attending and any speakers kind enough to visit will have a good audience.  The only downside is that the distances to be travelled by many parishioners is very great.  This year’s course is on prayer and Wednesday’s talk was on ‘Prayer with Words’.  The speaker was the Precentor from the Cathedral at Bury St Edmund’s; a really pleasant man who gave an interesting talk.  He introduced us to poets and poems that were new to us as well as reading from old favourites.  My journey home was very difficult because of thick fog.

Thursday.  I was woken just before 6.00am by the rooks!  I had remembered to bring in the sunflower seed feeder but the rooks were trying to get the remains of yesterday’s seed off the bird-table and were tapping loudly on it with their enormous beaks.  I have a cage round the bird-table which is supposed to prevent large birds from getting on it. However, it doesn’t stop the birds from clinging on to the edge of the table with their claws, flapping their wings for balance and pecking food through the mesh!  Another lovely day.  Went in to Halesworth for a haircut and to get yet more shopping (I always manage to forget something each time I go!)  My usual hairdresser is on maternity leave so her Mum did my hair and we chatted about babies.  Both her daughters are having their first babies in the next two weeks and they are getting a little apprehensive.  On the way home I saw a tortoiseshell butterfly and an enormous brimstone butterfly.

I spent the afternoon gardening as well as having a short (for us!) conversation with my sister who was planning to visit Mum at the weekend.  The geese have been very argumentative this week.  The gander of the pair who have claimed the island has been spending most of his time swimming in the pond and seeing off any other goose/gander who dares to come anywhere near the pond bank.  He must be exhausted as he doesn’t seem to have eaten anything either.

A couple of photos of the mallards in our front ditch.

001Pair of mallards in ditch (640x480)

005Mallards in ditch (640x480)

Miniature daffodils in the grass.

004Miniature daffodils in grass (640x480)

 

Goat or Pussy Willow.  Salix caprea.

006Goat willow or pussy willow (640x480)

 

When R got home he wanted to go out for a short walk across the fields.  The wind had got up a little and it had got cloudy but R managed to take some decent photos while we were out.

003Evening walk over the fields (640x427)

006View across the fields (640x427)

008Path by the fields (640x427)

009A ploughed field (640x427)

010Distant trees (640x427)

Alder catkins and cone-like fruits from last year.

012Alder catkins and fruits (640x427)

 

Hazel catkins.

015Hazel catkins (640x427)

 

More fog overnight.

Friday.  A cooler, cloudier, breezier day.  I did some more gardening and lots of ironing.  The geese seemed to have resolved their differences.  The resident pair came to sit near me while I gardened and whenever I looked up they gave gentle honks.  I knew they were asking for food so when I had got to the end of my weeding I fetched some special goose and duck feed I have for just such an occasion (to quote Foghorn Leghorn) and cast it on the grass near by them.  Of course, the gander then hissed at me while the goose ate the food.  He is a very protective mate and even though I have provided the food he has to warn me off and so I do keep my distance!

Saturday.  A quiet morning and another beautiful one.  Still very breezy but much brighter than yesterday.  Did some housework and spoke to A on the phone.  We drove to Mum’s in the afternoon to see my sister F who was visiting with her eldest son and her dog Ben.   We had a lovely couple of chatty hours and we then had to leave to get our evening meal before going to yet another quiz night.  This one was in aid of Rumburgh village hall.  I think it was the noisiest event I had been too since going to dances when I was young.  The hall had just been insulated and redecorated but there were no curtains or blinds at the windows yet and I think this was the reason it was so noisy.  The two farmers on our team were both a little deaf (caused by driving noisy farm machinery) and they were finding it really difficult to hear anything above the hubbub of loud chatter.  Our local Member of Parliament was taking part too.  He lives in Wissett, the next village along on the way to Halesworth, and is very good about taking part in local events and is a truely supportive MP.  He had been out all day on the ambulances as there has been an enquiry about the time it takes for ambulances to get to emergencies.  He was talking to R and one of our farmer friends and said he was very sympathetic towards the ambulance crews, as he had seen for himself the great distances they had to travel and also how many wasted journeys they had to make.  R told him about my sister’s job as a paramedic in Kent and some of the problems she has to put up with too.  Unfortunately we came ninth today but R won a picture of a tree in the raffle.

Sunday.  There was a Morning Prayer service at Rumburgh today but I couldn’t attend as I took Mum to her church.  She hasn’t got anyone to give her a lift at the moment and as she doesn’t usually see anyone at all during the week except me, and all her friends are at her church, I think it only right that I take her there.  I got back home at 1.00pm and had lunch before doing some chores, putting a loaf on to bake and then back out into the garden.  I fed the birds which took nearly an hour – all the feeders were empty, I have a number of them scattered about the garden and the garden is well over an acre in size.  I had noticed this morning when I looked out of the window that the goose has started sitting on her nest on the island.

003Goose on nest (640x480)

 

005Goose on nest (640x480)

A dog violet in flower.

006Dog violet (640x480)

 

A silverlace primula.

007Silver Laced primula (640x480)

 

A heartsease flower.

013Heart's ease (640x480)

 

Figs are starting to swell on the tree.

014Figs (640x480)

 

Lots of pictures of this evening’s sunset.

015Sunset (640x480)

016Sunset (640x480)

017Sunset (640x480)

021Sunset (640x480)

018Sunset (640x480)

019Sunset (640x480)

020Sunset (640x480)

The rookery in the sunset.

022Sunset (640x480)

 

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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!

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