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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: Knopper gall

Autumn in a Suffolk Lane – Part 2

11 Sun Oct 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Days out, Gardening, music, plants, Rural Diary, trees

≈ 42 Comments

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

IMG_5766Beach at Dunwich Heath

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.

IMG_5767Beach at Dunwich heath

The mist in the distance is sea-spray.

IMG_5768Beach at Dunwich Heath

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

IMG_5769Beach at Dunwich Heath

Foam was left on the sand and was blowing about.

IMG_5770Dead fish

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

IMG_5771Snail on bracken

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.”

IMG_5772Gorse

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

IMG_5776Sunset

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!

IMG_5778Tansy

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

IMG_5779Tansy

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

IMG_5780Tansy

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.

IMG_5781Dogwood

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.

IMG_5782Dogwood

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.

IMG_5782Dogwood - Copy

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.

IMG_5783Marchantia polymorpha liverwort with snail

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?

IMG_5818Fungus

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.

IMG_5814Fungus
IMG_5816Fungus

Two other unidentified types of fungi.

IMG_5786Hibiscus

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.

IMG_5788Chrysanthemum

Richard has a new Chrysanthemum flower

IMG_5789Geranium

My Geraniums are still flowering

IMG_5792Viola

I like this pretty Viola

IMG_5799Michaelmas Daisy
IMG_5800Michaelmas Daisy
IMG_5807Michaelmas Daisy

Three different Michaelmas Daisies

IMG_5808Salvia

Salvia

IMG_5811Astrantia

The three ages of Astrantia

IMG_5793Elderberries

Elderberries from the bush at the end of the drive.

IMG_5805Acorn

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

018Acorns with galls (640x458)

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

IMG_5806Conker

‘Conker’

IMG_5815Ash keys

Ash ‘keys’

IMG_5795Autumn colour

The trees in our lane

IMG_5812Silver birch

Our Silver Birch is changing colour

IMG_5813Birch leaves

Birch leaves

IMG_5797Pyracantha

I pruned our Pyracantha recently

IMG_5821Apple tree damage

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!

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Could Be Worse

04 Thu Sep 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, trees, weather, wild birds

≈ 17 Comments

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.

013Viburnum flowers (640x427)

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

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

014Alpine pasque flower (640x427)

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.

010Cowslip (640x427)

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.

001Pleated Inkcap (640x480)

Pleated Inkcap

I photographed a better specimen in May

003Pleated Inkcap (640x480)

Pleated Inkcap

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

005Toadstool (640x480)

Snowy Waxcap

Coming home from church on Sunday we saw  this

004Shaggy Inkcap (480x640)

Shaggy Inkcap

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

003Acorns attacked by galls again (640x452)

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

018Acorns with galls (640x458)

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.

007Diseased leaves of Horse Chestnut (640x427)

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.

004Muck spreading (640x427)

Muck spreading. Mmmmn lovely!

005Ploughing (640x427)

Ploughing

006Muck spreading and ploughing (640x429)

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.

007Muck spreading and ploughing (640x433)

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.

030Seagulls (640x427)

A mixed flock of seagulls

039Seagulls (640x433)

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.

 

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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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