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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: fritillaries

Fox Fritillary Meadow

26 Tue Apr 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, literature, plants, Rural Diary

≈ 54 Comments

Tags

Fox Fritillary Meadow, Framsden, fritillaries, In the Artist's Garden, meadow, Post Mill, Ronald Blythe, Saxtead Green, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, wild flowers

I belong to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, one of the 47 Wildlife Trusts in the UK and recently, while looking through their list of upcoming events I spotted a guided walk round Fox Fritillary Meadow in Framsden.  It was recommended that I book a place, not because of limited space but so I could be contacted if there weren’t enough flowers in bloom to make my visit worthwhile.  I was very pleased when Alice phoned me shortly afterwards suggesting she stay with us that weekend.

A few days after making the reservation I was happy to find a mention of the meadow in the book I was currently reading;  ‘In the Artist’s Garden’ by Ronald Blythe.

He says of fritillaries … ‘Every April and May, from time immemorial, they show themselves in my orchard to remind me of what I have come to think of as their native land – Framsden, in Suffolk.’

He remembers his youthful visits to the meadow …

It is there, at the long pasture in the dell, which is covered with these speckled, bell-shaped, vaguely sinister blooms – the British species of genus Fritillaria liliaceae.  It was an hour’s bike-ride from my house, and a proper pilgrimage for a member of the Wild Flower Society.  And Mrs Fox, tall, elderly and generous, standing at the gate to welcome us where snake’s heads grew.

For 50 weeks her long meadow was no more than two acres of dank grass, with a lush drainage ditch severing it; but when the fritillaries came, it turned into the Plains of Enna when Persephone set foot in them.  There they were – hundreds, thousands of them, some a papery white, but most a muted purple colour with the reptilian markings that gave them their nickname.  Nightingales sang over them.  There was a cold wind blowing, as well as these mysterious spring flowers.

It would have been a Saturday afternoon when Mrs Fox was at home.  There were so many of them that we never knew where to tread, and when we left she would give us little fritillary bouquets.  This was the time when country people believed that the more you picked the more they grew – a policy that rioted when it came to bluebells.

Fritillaries were so called by the Romans after their dice box, or shaker, which was one of the few personal belongings that a soldier carried around.  This, and a chequer-board. ‘And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots’.

I have a rather beautiful book (sent to all members in 2011 to celebrate the Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s 50th anniversary) which includes a photograph of the meadow and a little about its history.  In it I am told that the meadow was sprayed in 1957 with a broad-leaved selective herbicide, as the owner hoped to benefit the fritillaries by killing all the other plants.  The fritillaries survived because they are members of the narrow-leaved lily family.  Cowslips, cuckooflower and ragged-Robin are slowly returning but compared with other meadows where fritillaries are found this meadow is less diverse.  The Trust acquired the meadow in 1977 when the farm was sold, as Queenie Fox the owner wanted to be sure the fritillaries would be safeguarded.

P1000010Fox fritillary Meadow

The field we crossed on our way to the fritillary meadow.

The morning of Saturday the 23rd April was cold and breezy with many heavy hail showers.  The Trust hadn’t contacted me so we assumed the open day was going ahead.  By lunchtime the showers were dying out and when we set off on the 45 minute journey the sun was shining – but it was still cold!

P1000011Fox Fritillary Meadow

The entrance to the meadow.

We found the site easily and joined others eager to see these strange flowers.  At first, on entering the meadow through the gate, we didn’t see where the flowers were but a few steps further on and the mass of blooms became obvious to us.  We carefully picked our way through the flowers, sometimes crouching down to admire them more fully, but all the while the further we walked the more flowers there were to see.  The tributary of the River Deben which Blythe mentions as bisecting the field is still there but sadly, we heard no nightingales.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When we had had our fill of fritillaries we left for home, stopping off at Saxtead Green to admire the Post Mill there.

P1000033Saxtead Post Mill

Saxtead Post Mill – now owned and run by English Heritage

 

P1000034Saxtead Post Mill

Richard and the Post Mill

 

P1000035Saxtead Post Mill

Saxtead Post Mill

 

P1000036Ladies' Smock

Some Lady’s-smock or Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) that was growing on the green by the mill.

Thank’s for visiting!

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Monday’s Garden

31 Mon Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in amphibians, churches, cooking, Gardening, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, trees

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

blackthorn, bullace, cowslip, daffodils, Elmer Fudd, fritillaries, greengage, jonquils, ladybird, lathyrus, Mothering Sunday, pieris, primulas, rabbits, saxifrage, simnel cake, wild cherry

 

I must admit to having an Elmer Fudd moment this morning.  I went to have a look at the cowslip/primula plants I had transplanted last weekend and to my horror I saw that all the flowers and buds had been eaten on almost all the plants.  I suspect some wascally wabbit!  I will now not know until next spring which of the plants are normal cowslips to be planted at the top of the ditch and which are the different ones to be grown on elsewhere.

Image

Very strange weather today.  It was quite warm – in fact it got to 18 degrees centigrade but we only got a little sunshine at midday and then a few showers of rain during the afternoon.  Quite humid all day and extremely cloudy this afternoon.   I walked round the garden checking on the bird feeders and looking to see what plants had started to grow or flower since Saturday.  I hadn’t been able to get into the garden at all yesterday as I had been busy cooking lunch after coming home from church and then entertaining Mum all the afternoon.  We had had a good Mothering Sunday service at church and all the women had been presented with little posies of flowers.  The Rector looked wonderful in his rose coloured chasuble but sneakily removed it before I could photograph him!

My eldest daughter A had sent me a card which had arrived in the post on Saturday and she telephoned me when I got back from church.  E gave me a card and two stoneware pots for the garden.  Mum arrived bringing with her an apple pie and a simnel cake.  My mother will be 84 in a couple of weeks time and can hardly see but she still manages to bake and garden and run her house with no help at all.

Mum’s simnel cake.

001Simnel cake 2014 (640x480)

 

The goose is still sitting on her nest on the island.  She probably only has another week or so to go until her eggs hatch and then we’ll see how many goslings there are.  While I walked round the pond I heard not only frogs croaking but also what I assume to be toads as well.  We do get toads in the garden but I’ve never noticed them in the pond before.  I also saw flower buds on the marsh marigold in the big pond that has never flowered before as well.  I was really quite pleased about this as the pond has looked so awful since we had the work done to remove most of the willow scrub.  What willows we have left are full of pussy willow flowers and alive with so many bees.

The wild damson or bullace tree is in flower.

003Damson or bullace flowers (640x480)

037Damson or bullace flowers (480x640)

The wild or bird cherry is also just coming into flower too.

019Wild or bird cherry (640x480)

022Wild or bird cherry (640x480)

Our greengage tree has its first flowers.  We planted it the autumn before last and it didn’t flower at all last year but grew very well.  My mother-in-law had asked us if we would grow one as she likes greengages so we got it especially for her and we call it Joyce (her name).

031Greengage flower (640x480)

The blackthorn at the front of the house is now in full flower.  The tree at the back of the house has finished flowering and the tree by the front gate hasn’t started to flower yet.  The front of the house is colder than the back and the gate is coldest and shadiest of all.

027Blackthorn at front of house (640x480)

My pieris ‘Forest Flame’ has new leaves on it.

005Pieris 'Forest Flame' (480x640)

The saxifrage has started to flower.

008Saxifrage flower (640x480)

009Saxifrage flowers (640x480)

The new Frittilaries under the crabapple are flowering.  I am pleased to see that there is a white one.

023Frittilaries (640x480)

Primulas.

024Primulas (640x480)

Cowslip.

025Cowslip (480x640)

Daffodils at the front of the house at the edge of the ditch.

026Daffodils (640x480)

A seven-spot ladybird on a daffodil.  A lot of our daffodils suffered in the hail and rain we had last Wednesday and they also have to put up with all sorts of wild fowl trampling over them.

028Seven spot ladybird on daffodil (640x480)

An orange-red cowslip.

036Orange-red cowslip (640x480)

Jonquils.

039Jonquils (640x480)

Lathyrus vernus ‘Spring Beauty’.  This is an ornamental vetch – a member of the pea family.

040Lathyrus vernus 'Spring Beauty' (480x640)

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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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