The Cat and Fiddle

Tags

Bird's-foot Trefoil, Cat and Fiddle pass, Cat and Fiddle pub, Cladonia pleurota, Common Cottongrass, Common Hawker dragonfly, common knapweed, common ragwort, conifer plantation, Crosswort, Derbyshire Bridge car park, driven grouse shooting, eyebright, Goyt Valley, harebell, Harlequin ladybird, heath bedstraw, heather, Kestrel, Knotted Pearlwort, Lesser Stitchwort, Lousewort, Meadow Crane's-bill, milestone, Mountain Pansy, old coach road, Peak District, River Goyt, Shining Tor, Sneezewort, tormentil, Upright Hedge Parsley, walking, yarrow

On the third day of our stay in the Peak District we decided on a slightly longer walk than usual and took a picnic with us.  We drove towards Buxton but just before entering the town we took the A54 road off to the right and then a minor road off that road and parked the car in the Derbyshire Bridge car park.  This is a pleasant spot and is used as a picnic area.

A ladybird on our rather dusty windscreen

A Ladybird larva on the car.

Unfortunately, both ladybird and larva are Harlequin Ladybirds which have now outstayed their welcome in this country.  I wish that those in authority were more wary about using introduced insects to control other insects.

We were delayed at the beginning of our walk by the car beeping an alarm whenever we tried locking the doors.  After disturbing a couple who were having a picnic with their little grandson we decided that we ought to look at the car’s manual.  We found that the car was telling us that we were locking the spare key inside the car and that it would rather we didn’t.  I took the key out of my handbag which I had left in the boot and we were then able to start our walk.

The first part of the walk was along a path beside the infant River Goyt.

I saw this Common Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea). It was typically wary and didn’t settle where I could get a good photo of it.  Only its head and wings and a little part of its thorax/abdomen can be seen here.

Upright Hedge Parsley (Torilis japonica)

The Goyt was running along merrily

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Upright Hedge Parsley

A bridge across the water

A view of the surrounding moorland

This is a typical sight in moorland where driven grouse shooting takes place.  The patches on the hillside show where the heather has been burned to promote new growth shoots for the grouse to feed on.   I have recently signed a petition to have this sport banned as I think that instead of conserving wildlife these estates try to eradicate any creatures that may be a threat to their grouse.  All raptors, including the scarce Hen Harrier and Golden Eagles are considered a threat and are regularly shot or poisoned illegally by some, not all, gamekeepers employed on some of these estates.  In Scotland hundreds of thousands of Mountain Hare are culled every year.  I’ve signed another petition about this too!  I feel very strongly about this as you no doubt have realised.

The Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was in full bloom

The path across the moor

At this point we turned onto another path which rose up towards a plantation.  We entered the forest through a gate.

The forest path

Inside the forest were walls and the remains of buildings

This reminded me of the stone walls that Allen from New Hampshire Garden Solutions  finds in his local forest.  In this case the land that was originally farmed for sheep was subsequently acquired by a company or organisation that planted conifers but didn’t bother dismantling the walls.

A weir we found halfway through the plantation

Richard on the bridge over the river

The simple bridge

The barrier just up-stream from the bridge and weir

Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica)

This was a flower I had never seen before.  It is very small and the leaves are tiny!  It is semi-parasitic on other plants’ roots.

We could see one of the local reservoirs from the path that went up by the side of the plantation.

Our path….

…. got rougher and steeper

I think this lichen may be Cladonia pleurota

Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile)

I cannot identify this tiny bug. It marched purposefully across this rather bleak landscape.

The three photos above were taken while we rested and ate our lunch.  This last part of the walk I found exhausting as it was a continuous uphill climb and on very uneven and rough paths with large, loose rocks to walk over.

This is the view I saw when I looked up from my seat on a rock

The weather was cloudier and cooler than earlier in the week.  We were glad of this!

There was still plenty of late Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium) in amongst the Heather

This might be a slime mould but I am not sure!

View from the path

View from the path

A Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) hovering high up in the sky

A veritable garden of lichen and moss on top of a stone wall.  It’s a pity the photo isn’t any clearer.

Shining Tor from a distance

Shining Tor close up

We had thought we might go up Shining Tor but we changed our minds when we had got to the top of the stony path.  We were too tired.  Why is it called ‘Shining Tor’?  I don’t know.

This is another view from where we were standing.

The visibility wasn’t great and the distant hills were lost in haze but the sky above us was clear and blue now.  We began to descend towards the Cat and Fiddle pass (I expect you were wondering why this post was called Cat and Fiddle) and the Cat and Fiddle pub.

An out of focus photo of a wild pansy growing next to the path. I think it may be a Mountain Pansy (Viola lutea)

More pansies

and even more pansies!

Just one more!

I eventually looked up and noticed the view. The road you see in the middle distance is the Cat and Fiddle Pass.

Harebells ( Campanula rotundifolia)

Tormentil (Potentilla erecta)

The Cat and Fiddle pub (on the right of the photo)

I saw more Cottongrass next to the path but this was definitely past its best!

I then saw an interesting-looking stone just to the left of the path

On closer examination I found it was an old mile-stone and realised that the path we had been walking on since Shining Tor was part of the old coach road.

I looked at the path and saw that it looked very much like an old road. Richard is ahead of me here as usual and is near where the path joins the new busy road.

I found a very late orchid in the grass. It was faded and I couldn’t identify it.

We were disappointed to discover that the pub was shut and we weren’t to get a drink after all.

It does seem sad that the place that the pass was named after should be shut and empty.  We walked past the pub.  Through the windows we could see everything had been left as it was on the day it had shut months before.  There was even a menu board extolling the virtues of a meat pie!

We soon turned off the main road onto a narrow road that would eventually bring us back to the carpark.  I saw many different plants on the way.

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

Lots more Common Cotton Grass

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) and Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

Yet another poor photo I’m afraid! This is another flower I had never seen before – Knotted Pearlwort (Sagina nodosa)

A very pink Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis agg.)

Crosswort (Cruciata laevipes)

We found the car, drove back to our caravan and made ourselves a nice cup of tea.  We were quite tired after our long walk and found it difficult to stay awake.  We had arranged to have lunch with my brother-in-law the next day so Richard booked a table at a local restaurant and phoned his brother to let him know when and where we were to meet each other.

To be continued….

Thanks for visiting!

A Walk in the Black Forest

Tags

bedstraw, berries, bilberry, Black Forest, brimstone butterfly, butterfly, cat's-ear, Common Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Cow-wheat, Common Earthball, common knapweed, Dame's-violet, forest, foxglove, holiday, Lesser Stitchwort, Loosestrife, Lysimachia, Male Fern, moth, Polypody, Scarlet Tiger moth, Small Balsam, Speedwell, St John's-wort, trees, Triberg, views, walking

Our week’s holiday was coming to an end and we wanted to take a walk in the beautiful countryside around the town of Triberg.  The hotel thoughtfully provided maps and suggestions for walks so we chose one and adapted it for our use.  Neither Richard nor I are as fit or as young as we used to be and Elinor cannot walk very far because of her scoliosis so we decided on a half-circuit of the town in the woods.  We went in the direction of the railway station and took a steep path up between houses towards the forest.

Bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

We were soon high enough to be able to look down on the town which was very busy with Sunday visitors and many motorbikes.  I think Richard told us this part of the walk was called the Bilberry Wood and there were certainly many bilberries growing at the side of the path.

There was plenty of fungus too. I think this may be Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)

We soon climbed a little further into the forest and left the town behind and no longer heard the traffic.

The forest became denser but there was never any difficulty following the path which was beautifully maintained.  I began to see many different plants; some I recognised and some I didn’t.  If anyone can help me with the names of these plants I will be very grateful.

Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) – a true fern. When walking with my family I always get left behind because I like to take photos of plants and fungi. I don’t have the time to take the detailed shots I would like in order to identify my finds in case I am left too far behind!

More Polypody

I love the chunkiness of Polypody so I cropped one of the photos above to look at it in more detail.

Polypody

I think this might be Small Balsam (Impatiens parviflora)

Unknown flower

It’s very tall!

Interesting leaves

Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense)

Wild flowers including a Bedstraw, Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea).

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Speedwell

Speedwell

This may be Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

St John’s-wort; I don’t know which of the many St John’s-worts it is.

Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata)

I managed to photograph a butterfly….

A Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni) on Lysimachia

…and a moth.

A Scarlet Tiger Moth (Callimorpha dominula). When flying I could see its underwings which were bright scarlet.

The views as we walked were marvellous.

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Berries

Dame’s-violet (Hesperis matronalis)

Unknown yellow flower

Common Knapweed ( Centaurea nigra)

The path eventually returned us to the town near to the waterfall.

My music selection today is ‘A Walk in the Black Forest’ which was so popular on the radio when I was a little girl.

I am hoping that Elinor will provide the last of my Black Forest posts.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Wild Flowers in my Garden

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dog-rose (Rosa canina)

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.

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.

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.

Field Penny-cress (Thlaspi arvense)

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.

Rough Chervil (Chaerophyllum temulum)

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.

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.

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.

Fox-and-cubs (Pilosella aurantiaca)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!’.

Scentless Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum)

Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

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

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

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

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.

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.

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.

Black Horehound ((Ballota nigra)

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’.

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’.

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

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!