Black Forest Holiday – Part 2

Tags

birds, Black Forest, Ernest Hemingway, fungi, holiday, lichen, memorials, moss, Nutcracker, Otto von Bismarck, red squirrels, Triberg, waterfall, wildflowers

On our second full day on holiday we thought we would go and see the Triberg waterfall which we were informed is the highest waterfall in Germany.  (In fact, it isn’t as Rothbach Waterfall in Bavaria is the highest with a single, vertical drop of 470 metres.)  We had a short walk through the town to the nature park entrance where we were able to get free entry by using the guest-card that the hotel had given us on our arrival.

Just a few minutes walk brought us to the waterfall.

The waterfall is a series of seven cascades falling 160 metres into the valley.

The waterfall can be heard in the town.

The paths and bridges have been carefully designed to enable everyone to see the falls clearly.

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I didn’t just photograph the waterfall.  There were plenty of plants that interested me, some I recognised and others I still cannot put a name to.

Touch-me-not Balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere)

Fungus

Lichen

Unidentified yellow flower

Slime mould

Moss

More moss

Hoof fungus (Fomes fomentarius) ?

Orange-coloured fungus.

Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)

Wood Sage (Teucrium scorodonia)

Wood Sage flower spike

We also saw glimpses of Red Squirrels, which are not rare in Germany, but they were too quick for me and I was unable to photograph one.

I was very pleased that I managed to photograph a Nutcracker, a bird from the crow family.  They are one of the smallest crows at 12.5 inches long, even smaller than a Jackdaw, and they were moving about quickly in the undergrowth feeding newly fledged young.

Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) on a tree-stump

This is the above photo which has been cropped

Nutcracker

Nutcracker

Nutcracker

Only one of those photos was cropped though I had to use the zoom on my camera to its fullest extent for the rest!

There were a few commemorative plaques placed on the rock face; this one is for Otto von Bismarck.

Bismarck commemoration

This one is for Ernest Hemingway

On the right are his dates of birth and death under a note saying that Ernest Hemingway visited Triberg in the Black Forest in August 1922 where he indulged in his passion for fishing. There is a quote from ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ on the left where he talks about a trout-fishing trip to Triberg.

We enjoyed our walk through the forest and before returning to our hotel, indulged in some more coffee and cake!

Thanks for visiting!

Autumn in a Suffolk Lane – Part 2

Tags

Acorn, ash keys, Astrantia, autumn, Bantam Cock, beach, chickens, Chrysanthemum, conker, dogwood, Dunwich Heath, dwarf gorse, eating apples, Elderberries, fungi, gardening, GERANIUM, Grove snail, Hibiscus, Jake Thackray, Knopper gall, leaf colour, Linstead Magna, Linstead Parva, liverwort, Michaelmas Daisy, moorhen, Pyracantha, rough sea, Salvia, silver birch, Suffolk, sunset, Tansy, viola

The beach at Dunwich Heath.

We visited yet another of our local beaches on a very windy, cool afternoon recently.  We only stayed on the beach for a short while because the wind was so biting; Elinor and I both got earache.

The mist in the distance is sea-spray.

The waves were quite rough but the tide was going out.

Foam was left on the sand and was blowing about.

This little fish must have come too close to the shore.

This Grove Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) attached to its bit of bracken was swinging about in the wind.

My ID guide suggests that the Grove Snail “is used to demonstrate the survival of the fittest in evolution, because Thrushes eat the snails which are least well camouflaged against their environment.”

The Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was past its best but the Dwarf Gorse (Ulex minor) was looking wonderful

Another sunset.

In a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the bright yellow of the Perennial Sow-thistle was not common at this time of year.  I will have to eat my words because most of the flowers I have seen since then have been yellow!

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) seen on the roadside between Linstead Magna and the village of Linstead Parva *(see below)

The Tansy has very aromatic leaves and the little button flowerheads are made up of disc florets only.

The genus name ‘Tanecetum’ and the name Tansy are both derived from the Greek word for immortality. The plant was believed to give  eternal life to the drinker of an infusion made from it.

Tansy used to be used as a flavouring in food until fairly recently.  Egg dishes especially, were enhanced by the use of finely chopped tansy leaves.  Tansy was also used as an alternative to expensive imported spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon and Tansy Cake at Easter was very popular.  Because of the strength of its scent, Tansy was also used as a repellent, keeping mice from corn and flies from meat.

Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)

Close to where I photographed the Tansy I found this hedge of Dogwood.  It was covered in large black berries – the largest I have ever seen on a Dogwood – and most of  the leaves had turned a beautiful red.  Dogwood leaves are usually a much darker, duller maroon in Autumn.

What also surprised me about these Dogwood bushes was seeing flowers in bloom at the same time as the berries and the red leaves.

It isn’t easy to see them in this photo so I cropped it.

One of the flower-heads is in the centre of this picture.  The couple of weeks of warm and sunny weather we have had recently had fooled the bush into thinking it was spring again.

Richard and I have been working in the garden, getting it ready for winter.  I only seem able to get out there a couple of days a week but I have managed to get quite a lot done.  One of my jobs has been tidying behind the garden shed and round the back of the greenhouse.  Behind the shed was rank with weeds, mainly stinging nettles, which I was able to pull out fairly easily as the soil is quite damp there.  I had stored lots of pots and tubs full of spring bulbs behind the greenhouse so these have come back out to be smartened up and got ready for next spring.  I discovered other flowerpots that should have been emptied and cleaned ages ago.

This pot was covered with liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. It has little green cups on the leaf-like structures (thallus). Do you see the baby snail?

We have a lot of fungus all over the grass in our garden. Nothing exciting or colourful, just brown and cream-coloured toadstools. These had been nibbled by something.

Two other unidentified types of fungi.

I have had this Hibiscus for about 26 years. It was a gift from my ex-mother-in-law who brought this with her when she came to see us when Alice was a tiny girl.

I love these double flowers – the peach petals have dark crimson bases.

Richard has a new Chrysanthemum flower

My Geraniums are still flowering

I like this pretty Viola

Three different Michaelmas Daisies

Salvia

The three ages of Astrantia

Elderberries from the bush at the end of the drive.

Acorn  This is the first time in years that these acorns aren’t affected by Knopper galls.

This is a photo I took last year of Knopper gall damage on acorns

‘Conker’

Ash ‘keys’

The trees in our lane

Our Silver Birch is changing colour

Birch leaves

I pruned our Pyracantha recently

We not only had a lot of aphid damage to our apple trees in the spring and early summer but the apples on this tree are now being eaten by Moorhens!  It is odd seeing water birds wobbling about in the trees gulping down our apples as fast as they can.

We are getting a little tired of next-door’s free-range chickens in our garden all day.  They kick about in the flower beds and damage seedlings; they peck off flowers and generally make a mess of the paths, beds and compost heaps in the garden.  We have spoken to our neighbours about it a few times but they don’t appear to have any intention of keeping their chickens on their own land.  They have a constant supply of chicks too.

Linstead Magna (large/greater Linstead) is now a small collection of houses and farm buildings.  The church no longer exists but I spoke to someone some years ago who remembered the church and used to attend it.  For more information about this church see here.

Linstead Parva (small/lesser Linstead) is a pleasant little village with a pretty church.  In spring the churchyard is covered in snowdrops and other spring flowers.

Thanks for visiting!

Autumn in a Suffolk Lane

Tags

amphibian, autumn leaf colour, church, common toad, Edith Cavell, Elder, field maple, Fish Slapping Dance, fungi, Great Tit, Halesworth, Herring Festival, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano, Monty Python, nest, Norwich Cathedral, picture-wing fly, shaggy inkcap, sunset, trees, wild bird

This post and the next will have assorted photographs of things I have seen.  I’ll also mention briefly a few things I have done.  The photos are inserted in chronological order as I can’t think of anything better!

Toadstools on the lawn at the surgery.

A couple of weeks ago I had to attend the doctor’s surgery a few times in one week.  I collected my medication, I had my usual monthly blood test with a test for cholesterol which meant fasting from 10 pm the evening before, and I had my flu injection.  All on different days.  I noticed these toadstools after my blood test but unfortunately I had left my camera in the car.  The following morning I took these photos after my flu jab.

These are Shaggy Inkcaps (Coprinus comatus) also known as Lawyer’s Wig and unfortunately most of them are past their best.

The early morning light made it difficult to photograph them and they had deteriorated significantly overnight.

The white fungi are emerging Inkcaps but I can’t identify the dark brown mushrooms.

Some of you may remember that our parcels box was taken over by Great Tits in the spring and we had to seal it shut so that the birds were not disturbed.  I believe the brood was successful.  Richard dismantled the box last week as it was rotting and we had a look at the nest inside.

Great Tit (Parus major) nest.

We looked closely at what had been used.  Please click on each photo to get a description of the materials used.

Dried grass and lots and lots of moss

Bits and pieces of anything soft. I recognise lint/fluff from two of my pullovers here.

Sheep’s wool

Feathers

The work that went into constructing this nest is astounding.

This is a Common Toad (Bufo bufo) that I saw crossing our drive.  Fortunately it took it’s time and I was able to run indoors and fetch my camera before it disappeared.

Common Toad

Autumn colour.  A Field Maple (Acer campestre)

Last week was a week of sunny warm days and cool nights.  The trees and plants began to show autumnal tints.

Elder (Sambucus nigra) leaves have turned pink

A wonderful sunset seen from the back of our house

A ‘picture-wing’ fly. Possibly from the Herina group.

This little fly was in our kitchen some nights ago.  I took this photo when it landed on the window blind.  It was only a few millimetres in length.

Richard and I noticed posters up in Halesworth announcing the Herring Festival.  This is to take place in The Cut, the centre for the arts in the town.  The herring industry has been in decline for some time and Richard and I wondered what went on at the festival (not ever having gone).  We remembered this……

I haven’t been able to attend our local churches very often recently.  I have been taking my mother to her church once a fortnight to enable me to go to church with Richard every other week.  We took Elinor to the morning service at Norwich Cathedral a couple of weeks ago as she enjoys these services.  The Cathedral was preparing to hold a number of services to commemorate the life of Edith Cavell.

My music choice for this post is one of my favourite arias sung by my favourite mezzo-soprano, the late, great Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Thanks for visiting!

Aira Force – Lake District Holiday

Tags

Aira Force, arboretum, beck, cascade, fells, fungi, Lake District, lichen, liverwort, moss, plants, pool, Ullswater, waterfall, wish tree

We had a slow start to our first day in the Lake District.  We were tired after our long journey of the day before and the weather wasn’t good enough that morning to tempt us out early.  By midday however, the rain had stopped and the clouds had lifted and we thought we would have a short excursion to Ullswater and look at Aira Force.

Ullswater is the second largest lake in the Lake District and last Easter we took a boat trip on it.  I wrote about our Lakes holiday last year but unfortunately that post has gone missing.  I have been sent copies of my missing posts by my friend Heather (thank-you Heather!) but haven’t yet copied them back into my blog.  (Unfortunately, all your wonderful comments have gone for good 😦 ).

Aira Force is a waterfall situated in woodland on the northern shore of the lake and is now in the care of the National Trust.

After a short drive we found the National Trust car park and then started to walk up through woodland towards the force.

Not easy to see, but this is the Aira Beck as it flows through woodland at the bottom of the hill. It will shortly enter the lake.

Richard and Elinor walking ahead of me up the path.

This area was once owned by the Howard family who still live in Greystoke Castle near by.  In the 18th century they renovated an old hunting lodge (a former pele tower) and created a sporting estate around it.  They landscaped the area around the force, planting over half a million native and non-native trees.  They made paths and bridges through the woodland and used the place as a pleasure garden.

Stone slabs used as a bridge across a streamlet

Wooden bridge over a narrow chasm

Steps and viewing platforms. We didn’t go down the steps as Elinor finds them difficult to manage.

Typically for me, the one shot I wanted to come out clearly, clearly hasn’t! I haven’t down-sized this one in an effort to make it look a little better. I only had my little camera with me and the sunlight was causing such a glare too. That’s probably enough excuses.

The main force drops about 70′ from below a footbridge.

Further up in the woods are smaller cascades.

The sound of the falling and rushing water was glorious.

This pool was good to sit next to.

The water is amber-coloured.

Elinor did some sketching while we were there.

This was my favourite place along the beck

There was thick moss everywhere….

…and liverwort too.

A stone parapet to a bridge was covered in lichen.

I think this may be Map Lichen (Rhizocarpon geographicum).

Enchanter’s Nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) grew everywhere.

It has tiny flowers which produce burs once pollinated.

Bracken and ferns were growing alongside our path. I like the way the sunlight caught this fern.

A Chrysolina beetle of some sort.

A flower I had never seen before – Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense)

There was rather a lot of it!

Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea)

A bank of foxgloves

Common Valerian in bud (Valeriana officinalis)

Common Valerian in flower

I thought this might be Trailing St John’s-wort (Hypericum humifusum) but the ID description tells me the leaves should have translucent dots and I didn’t see any dots.

I think these are Woodruff leaves (Galium odoratum)

I saw so many different plants and flowers, grasses and sedges, many of which I have included in posts from home so haven’t included them here, but some I still have no idea what they are despite researching for some time.

This plant for example! (The tri-foliate leaf near my hand was not part of the plant).

On our way back from the waterfall we found this fallen log covered in coins.

This is a ‘Wish Tree’.  People hammer coins into it with a stone from the site and hope that their wish comes true.  We didn’t have any wishes and anyway, I was more interested in the fungi growing on the log.

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I saw another fungus growing at the base of a tree.

If anyone can suggest what this or any of the other fungi are I would be very grateful.

Near to the car park we found the Arboretum that the Howard family had planted in 1846.  They planted over 200 specimen conifers (firs, pines, spruces and cedars) from all over the world.  Apparently there is a Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) that is now 118′ tall though I didn’t see it.  What I did see was a Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) that looked like it’s bark was sliding down like a baggy sock.

I used to see Monkey Puzzles all over the place where I grew up. Trees that had been planted in the 19th century in parks and gardens were fully mature when I was a girl in the 60’s and 70’s. I don’t ever remember looking at them closely so I don’t know if this is what all their trunks look like.

Moss and lichen were growing on one side of the trunk.

I saw a Siskin (Carduelis spinus) hiding in a plant I was wanting to get closer to but didn’t because of the Siskin!

I took a couple of pictures of the fells as we returned to the car.

Ullswater in the distance.

I would love to be able to walk up one of these before I get too old!

Thanks for visiting!

Could Be Worse

Tags

Alpine Pasque Flower, anxiety, black-headed gulls, college, cowslip, fungi, horse chestnut, illness, job seeking, Knopper gall, muck spreading, oak, pleated inkcap, seagulls, shaggy inkcap, snowy waxcap, unpredictable weather, viburnum bodnantense

This has been a very strange summer.  The weather, for one thing, has been very unpredictable.  British weather is always unpredictable but this year it has outdone itself, I think.  Torrential rain, gale-force winds, mini tornadoes ( they are called willies in East Anglia!).  Lots of humid, stormy days in July and the coldest August for many years.  The plants in my garden have got very confused.  It became quite cool and wet at the end of June and the beginning of July (just in time for our holiday) so my Viburnum Bodnantense thought Autumn had arrived and started to flower.

Viburnum Bodnantense is supposed to flower from Autumn through to Spring.

My Alpine Pasque Flower thought Spring had come back and began flowering again.

Alpine Pasque Flower flowering for a second time this year

We found them blooming when we got home from our holiday on the 9th of July.  The poor things then got a bit of a shock as the temperature rose from about 15 degrees C to 28 degrees with high humidity.  August temperatures dipped again and last week I found cowslips in flower in the garden.

A cowslip in flower at the end of August. Cowslips usually flower in April and May.

This week the temperature has risen at last from 12 degrees C and grass frost at night ( in August!) to a pleasant 20 degrees today.

I have found a few fungi recently.

Pleated Inkcap

I photographed a better specimen in May

Pleated Inkcap

which is when I saw this one which is ( I think ) a Snowy Waxcap.

Snowy Waxcap

Coming home from church on Sunday we saw  this

Shaggy Inkcap

The oak tree in our garden is covered in galls as usual.

This is a Knopper Gall on the acorns photographed on 26th July

The same gall photographed on 5th August

As you can see, it had grown quite a lot in ten days.  They are now turning a darker colour.

Our Horse Chestnut is suffering from the fungus infection that causes blotches on the leaves.

Blotches caused by the fungus Guignadia aesculi accidentally introduced into Britain from North America in the 1930s

Muck spreading and ploughing was delayed for a few weeks but was eventually done in the field behind our house last week.

Muck spreading. Mmmmn lovely!

Ploughing

Muck spreading and ploughing. The local farmer is very considerate and doesn’t leave stinky pig-muck on the fields for long as you see.

Skillful and speedy tractor work

The seagulls love following the plough and then stay around for a day or so feasting on all the grubs and worms.

A mixed flock of seagulls

These gulls are Black-headed Gulls with their winter plumage ( no black heads only black smudges on the side of their heads)

Another reason I think this has been a strange summer is the anxiety and worry we have all had has caused the time to pass by in a kind of haze.

My elder daughter has been trying to finish her PhD and find work and now has a large overdraft with the bank.  She has been able to do some proof-reading recently which has helped a little.

My mother was disappointed to find she had another bleed behind her left eye when she went for her check-up at the hospital.  She has started another course of injections.  She has been unwell with a bad upset stomach this last week and when I saw her today she had lost a lot of weight and had become very frail and vague.  She only told me about the upset stomach when I rang her yesterday – she hadn’t wanted to worry me!

My younger daughter, after two years out of education because of chronic anxiety has had the courage to apply for a place at college to do some GCSE exams.  She has been accepted and yesterday she went there for a ‘taster day’ – a practise run-through and a chance to meet her tutors and get time-tables etc.  She came home exhausted and tearful after spending seven-and-a-half hours in college – the longest time away from home and/or family for years.  Her term starts next Monday and she is so very nervous.  I will be driving her into college and then picking her up again when she finishes which will mean nearly 100 miles a day for me.  Eventually we hope that she may be able to get the bus into Norwich but she probably won’t be able to manage it for some time.  We are all holding our breath and hoping that she doesn’t lose her nerve.

My husband has had a problem with his throat since April.  He has had a recurring painful ulcer at the back of his throat that comes up when he eats.  He has pains in his neck too.  He has found that taking anti-histamine seems to control the ulcer.  He has visited his doctor three times and the first two times was told it probably wasn’t anything to worry about and to come back in a month. The third time the doctor referred him to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist at the hospital.  He eventually got an appointment to see the specialist on the 5th August.  The specialist didn’t know what was causing the problem so arranged for R to have an MRI scan which took place on 18th August.  R got a letter from the hospital last week asking him to see the specialist again yesterday.  R has been getting more and more anxious as the summer has progressed, as is only natural, and the long delays in between appointments have been difficult to cope with.  The specialist began by saying that she couldn’t find anything in the scan to account for the problems R has been experiencing, however she had found something else which will need dealing with before any more investigation into the throat business is done.  There is a growth on his pituitary gland at the base of his brain and this will have to be operated on soon before he becomes really unwell.  He will have to take some time off work and won’t be able to drive for some time before and after the operation.  The specialist is referring my poor husband to another specialist who will contact R in about a month.  R is very relieved it isn’t cancer but is very nervous about having a brain operation.

If my posts have been sporadic, if I have written a load of rubbish or made a rather stupid comment on your blogs it is because of all of the above.  I can’t think straight and I can’t concentrate on anything.  My arthritis is playing-up in my hands especially and I am so far behind with everything it is shocking!  However, I am a strong person and with God’s help I will be able to support all the members of my family and all will be well.