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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: Fox-and-cubs

A Walk in Whinlatter Forest

05 Mon Oct 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, walking

≈ 40 Comments

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.

IMG_5237Whinlatter Forest

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.

IMG_5238Whinlatter Forest

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.

IMG_5239Alice and Richard in the forest

Alice and Richard waiting for Elinor and me.

IMG_5240Forest glade

Elinor liked this forest glade.

IMG_5243Bolete fungus perhaps

A Bolete fungus.  I cannot identify this one.

IMG_5244Underside of the Bolete

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.

IMG_5245Climbing Corydalis

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

IMG_5247Heather

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

IMG_5249Lichen

Lichen

IMG_5254Fox and cubs

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

IMG_5250Lichen perhaps Cladonia pyxidata

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.

IMG_5251Ringlet perhaps

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.

IMG_5252Moss

Yet more moss!

IMG_5256Lady's-mantle

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

IMG_5258Common Ragwort

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)

IMG_5255Fell view

View of the surrounding fells (hills)

IMG_5253Skiddaw

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!

 

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Wild Flowers in my Garden

09 Thu Oct 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, trees

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bittersweet, Black Horehound, cat's-ear, Common Field-speedwell, Common Mallow, Common Spotted-orchid, Dog-rose, dogwood, Elder, fern, Field Forget-me-not, Field Penny-cress, Field Rose, Fox-and-cubs, Lesser Stitchwort, Midland Hawthorn, Oxeye Daisy, Rough Chervil, scentless mayweed, Selfheal, Smooth Sow-thistle, Smooth Tare, Soft Rush, Suffolk, summer, Water Mint, weeds, White Clover, wild flowers

I will be publishing a short series of posts this autumn in which I will show you some of the wild flowers I have seen in my garden this summer.  The photographs will be ones I haven’t used before.

Many of you will wonder why we have so many weeds in our garden.  Well, er, I like weeds/wild flowers!  We have decided that the part of the garden around the big pond should be a wild garden and this is the place where I have found most of my plants to photograph.  We do try to control the worst of the brambles and nettles and my husband mows and hacks his way through it all regularly.  When we have time we will manage the area a little better.

012Hawthorn flowers (640x427)

These hawthorn flowers from our hedge have a definite pink tinge to them. I believe this is a Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata).

As any gardener knows, weeds grow anywhere and everywhere and some of the plants in these posts I will have found in the lawn or in a flowerbed.  We have a country garden and it is surrounded by arable fields and common land.  Weed seeds get blown into our garden on the wind.  We have a hedge round most of our land made up of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, ash, elder and dog-rose among others.  We also have ditches almost all the way round our land – our moat to protect us from flooding.  We are visited by many birds and wild animals and all these creatures may have contributed to the flora by bringing seeds in on their coats or feathers or in their droppings.  We have had quite a damp summer following on from a mild and wet winter and the plants, bushes and trees have grown and grown!  This year, we have found many more different types of plant than usual, as well.

This post will be featuring flowers from early summer – mid May until the end of June.

007Sow Thistle (640x480)

Smooth Sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)

The leaves of this plant have been an important dietary supplement for many hundreds of years; they can be boiled like spinach or even taken raw in winter salads.  The plant is thought to be strength-giving and Pliny the Elder says that a dish of smooth sow-thistles was eaten by the legendary Greek hero Theseus before he slew the Minotaur.  The leaves are thought to revive and strengthen animals when they are overcome by heat and its local names of ‘rabbit’s meat’, ‘swine thistle’, ‘dog’s thistle’, ‘hare’s lettuce’ denote this.

010Fern (640x480)

I thought I would include this fern in this post although not a flower. It is growing in the hedge at the front of the house and it is the only fern we have. By the end of May it has usually been swamped by other plants in the hedge and we don’t see it again until the next year.

001Dog rose (640x480)

Dog-rose (Rosa canina)

026Dog Rose bud (640x427)

Dog-rose buds.

I was fortunate when I was a little girl to have a mother who didn’t give me nasty medicine like caster oil and syrup of figs.  I was given ‘Halib-orange’ (which tasted of oranges but also contained fish-oil) and also rosehip syrup to which my mother sometimes added a drop or two of cod-liver oil.  Rosehip syrup is rich in vitamin C and I remember it tasting absolutely glorious!

King Henry VII adopted the Tudor rose as his official emblem and the rose has continued to be a symbol of the British monarchy and of England herself.

004Ox-eye Daisy (640x480)

Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)

I love Oxeye Daisies – also known as marguerite, moon-daisy and dog-daisy – and when roadsides are carpeted with them I know that summer has arrived.  I remember lying in a field full of them when I was very young and looking through their swaying heads at a clear blue sky – a wonderful memory.

009Elder flowers (640x480)

Elder flowers (Sambucus nigra)

Both the elder’s flowers and berries are edible and it is widespread on land with a high nitrogen content.  Rabbits do not damage it and it benefits from their droppings so is often to be found near warrens.

011Field Pennycress (480x640)

Field Penny-cress (Thlaspi arvense)

017Field Penny-cress (640x480)

Field Penny-cress (Thlaspi arvense)

This plant got its name from the circular shape of its fruit which were thought to resemble a penny.  When crushed the plant has a strong, unpleasant smell and is avoided by herb-eating animals.  The plant was introduced many, many years ago.  Despite efforts to exterminate it the Field Penny-cress still does very well on agricultural land.

019Rough Chervil (640x480)

Rough Chervil (Chaerophyllum temulum)

020Rough Chervil (640x480)

Rough Chervil (Chaerophyllum temulum)

This is another poisonous plant belonging to the parsley family.  The word temulum derives from the latin word for vertigo.  If ingested the effect on human beings is that of drunkenness; staggering incapability and shaking. Most unpleasant.

013Self-heal (640x480)

Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)

This plant loves our garden.  It is all over the lawn and when we take our eyes off it for a day or two we find it has rushed onto the flowerbeds and made itself at home there.  I read that it likes growing in grassy places (yes, our lawn) and woodland rides, on calcareous and neutral soils. (I do find a lot of chalk in the soil here).  It spreads by putting out runners that root regularly and it produces nutlet fruits as well.  The bees love it and it is a very pretty purple colour.

005Cat's-ear (640x480)

Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

Bees and many other insects, love this flower too.  It is called ‘Cat’s-ear’ because it was thought the little scale-like bracts on the flower stem look like cat’s ears.  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get a good enough photograph of these bracts to show you.

007Fox-and-cubs (640x480)

Fox-and-cubs (Pilosella aurantiaca)

008Fox-and-cubs (480x640)

Fox-and-cubs ((Pilosella aurantiaca)

Looking at the second photo you can see why it is called Fox-and-cubs.  These photos were not taken in my garden but in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Halesworth but I haven’t found an opportunity better than this for posting these pictures.  This is an introduced plant and has spread quite happily out of people’s gardens and into the countryside.

020Dogwood flowers (640x480)

Dogwood flowers (Cornus sanguinea)

This is another plant that prefers calcareous soil.  The stems in winter glow with a rich red colour, the birds love the black berries and the leaves turn a wonderful maroon-red in the autumn.

024Woody nightshade in ditch (640x480)

Bittersweet or Woody Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) which grows all over our garden. This plant was growing in the ditch at the front of the house.

When the flowers first open the petals are spreading or slightly curved.  The older the flower, the more the petals fold themselves back against the stalk.  The berries are green at first, then yellow and finally a bright shiny red.  The berries are poisonous and can cause sickness.  The species name ‘dulcamara’ is derived from two Latin words meaning sweet and bitter.  The toxic alkaloid solanin in the stem, leaves and berries causes them to taste bitter at first and then sweet.

028White rose in lane (640x427)

Field Rose (Rosa arvensis)

Though called Field Rose it is usually found in woodland or hedgerows.  This grows prolifically in the narrow strip of woodland on the opposite side of the lane in front of our house.

030Smooth tare (640x480)

Smooth Tare (Vicia tetrasperma)

It is very easy to miss this little plant.  It is very slender and scrambles about in grass and in hedgerows.  I found it in the grass round our big pond.  The flowers are borne singly or in pairs and are 4-8 mm long.  Another member of the Pea family.

026Forget-me-not (640x480)

Field Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis)

A probably legendary tale from medieval Germany tells of a knight walking with his lady by a river.  The knight bent to pick her a bunch of flowers but the weight of his armour caused him to fall in.  As he drowned he threw the flowers to his lady crying: ‘Vergisz mein nicht!’ – ‘forget-me-not’.  Since then this flower has been associated with true love.  I wonder why the knight was wearing armour when not fighting or jousting?  In 1802, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a poem based on the story of the knight called ‘The Keepsake’.  ‘That blue and bright-eyed flowerlet of the brook/Hope’s gentle gem, the sweet Forget-me-not!’.

030Mayweed (640x480)

Scentless Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum)

030Common spotted orchid (640x480)

Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

This orchid grows very well in our garden.  The leaves are shiny and green with dark spots on them.

036Lesser stitchwort with fly (640x480)

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

040Lesser stitchwort (480x640)

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

This plant grows mainly on acid soils – I found it in our lawn.

044White clover (640x480)

White Clover (Trifolium repens)

We have White and Red Clover in our garden.  I have posted photographs of the red before but not the more common white.  This is another plant with creeping stems and we have it in our lawn.  We tolerate it because the bees love it and it keeps the lawn looking green during a drought.

047Common field-speedwell (640x480)

Common Field-speedwell (Veronica persica)

This plant is probably not a native but was introduced at some time in the distant past from Asia.  Its flowers are solitary on a long stalk and the lower petal is usually white.

061Water mint with water lilies (640x480)

Water Mint (Mentha aquatica) growing amongst water lilies

This is the commonest mint of all the species growing in the British Isles and has a very strong mint smell.

The next couple of plants I found on the same day as I found the Fox-and-cubs plant in Halesworth.

022Black Horehound (480x640)

Black Horehound ((Ballota nigra)

025Black Horehound (480x640)

Black Horehound (Ballota nigra)

There is a little alleyway that leads to the supermarket in Halesworth and on one side of it is some waste ground and that is where I found this plant.  Black Horehound smells awful if it is bruised and this has earned it a second name of ‘Stinking Roger’.  Poor old Roger!  It is quite an attractive plant to look at and its smell is its defence mechanism – to stop it being eaten by cattle.  It looks a little like Red Dead-nettle but is larger and coarser.  A third name for the plant is Madwort as it was used in the treatment of bites from mad dogs.  ‘A dressing prepared from the plant’s leaves, mixed with salt, was said to have an anti-spasmodic effect on the patient’ – to quote from the Reader’s Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain.  It could also be used to treat coughs and colds but it was very powerful.  Nicholas Culpeper wrote that ‘it ought only to be administered to gross, phlegmatic people, not to thin, plethoric persons’.

023Common Mallow (480x640)

Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

This was also on the waste ground though it can be seen on most road verges all through the summer.  The flowers are very pretty and the plant has long been used for food and medicine.  According to my Field Guide young mallow shoots were being eaten as a vegetable as early as the 8th century BC.  Cicero the orator complained that they gave him indigestion, the poet Martial used Mallow to get rid of hang-overs after orgies and the naturalist Pliny mixed the sap with water to give him day-long relief from aches and pains.  In the Middle Ages it was used as an anti-aphrodisiac, promoting calm, sober conduct.  Mallow leaves have been used to draw out wasp stings and the sap, which is quite viscous was made into poultices and soothing ointment.  The fruits of the Mallow are round flat capsules and some of the names for Mallow refer to them – ‘billy buttons’, ‘pancake plant’ and ‘cheese flower’.

023Soft rushes in the ditch (480x640)

Soft Rushes (Juncus effusus) in the ditch at the front of the house

022Soft rush (640x427)

Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) with flowers

These grow mainly on acid soils and on over-grazed land.  They live in our ditches and sometimes spread into the lawn.  The stems are a pretty pale yellow-green and are shiny and smooth.  The flowers are olive-green in colour.  The name ‘rush’ comes from a Germanic word meaning ‘to bind’ or ‘to plait’.  The spongy white pith in the stems used to be scraped out and made into wicks for candles.  I remember on wet camping holidays when young (and there were many of those) splitting rushes with my fingernail and trying to remove the pith in one piece without breaking it.  This was in the days before Nintendos – simple pleasures!

 

 

 

 

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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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