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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: moorhen

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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Yet More Garden Visitors.

20 Fri Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Insects, Rural Diary, wild birds

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

birds, buzzard, common darter dragonfly, Damselfly, dove, emerald damselfly, flea beetle, garden, garden spider, grey dagger caterpillar, insects, leaf beetle, long-tailed tit, moorhen, snail, spider's webs

This is the last collection of photographs I took last year of the creatures I saw in my garden.  This post starts with photos I took in mid September and continues until the beginning of November.

003Little black beetle (640x480)

A Flea Beetle. Not a particularly desirable insect to have in the garden but I was fascinated by its shiny wing cases and the enormous rear legs used for jumping.

013Chrysolina varians (640x454)

A Leaf Beetle – I think this may be Chrysolina varians which lives on St John’s-wort. It was such a pretty iridescent beetle that I found on the clothes hanging on my washing line. With apologies for the horrible hand!

012Buzzard (640x469)

Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

I am pleased that Buzzards are returning to East Anglia.   Until eight or nine years ago I had never seen one here.

001Spiders' webs (640x427)

Some beautiful dew-covered Garden Spiders’ webs (Araneus diadematus) I saw at the beginning of October

023OOF Damselfly (640x427)

Apologies for the out of focus image. I believe this is an Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) or it might even be a Scarce Emerald Damselfly (Lestes dryas)

I spent ages following this damselfly round and round the pond until at last it settled and then of course, the camera wouldn’t focus on it!

004(Scarce) Emerald Damselfly (640x427) (2)

I saw it again the following day perched on willowherb seeds.

005(Scarce) Emerald Damselfly (640x429)

This is a better photograph but still not as clear as I would like.

I had never seen one of these damselflies before.  What makes me think it is an Emerald Damselfly is (a) its green body, (b) the way it rested with its wings spread out and (c) the brown wing-spot.  What makes me think it may be a Scarce Emerald Damselfly is the size of the wing-spots which are quite wide.  (The Emerald Damselfly’s wing-spots are narrow).

002Grey Dagger caterpillar (640x480)

Grey Dagger moth caterpillar (Acronicta psi)

003Grey Dagger caterpillar (640x480)

The prominent soft spike is just behind the caterpillar’s head which makes it look back-to-front. Probably a ruse to fool birds. The moth has dagger shaped markings on its wings. I found the caterpillar in the bottom of the wheelbarrow after I had taken the pyracantha prunings down to the heap at the bottom of the garden.

006Common Darter (640x433)

Common Darter Dragonfly (Sympetrum striolatum)

009Long-tailed Tit in Spindle (640x465)

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) in Spindle tree

011 (2)Long-tailed Tit (640x429)

And again

003Moorhen (640x427)

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

007Doves (640x427)

White doves sitting on the shed roof

010Garden Spider (640x480)

Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

011Garden spider (640x480)

Spider silhouette

012Garden spider (640x480)

I held the begonia leaf so that I could photograph the markings on the spider’s back

023Snail on leaf (476x640)

A tiny yellow snail on a dead leaf. I think this is a White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

I hope you have enjoyed looking at some of the things I saw in my garden last year.  Best wishes to you all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Some More Visitors to my Garden : Birds

13 Thu Nov 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, wild birds

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

birds, blackbird, chaffinch, coal tit, Garden birds, Great Tit, greater spotted woodpecker, greenfinch, house sparrow, moorhen, Muscovy duck, pheasant, pied wagtail, Robin, rook, Suffolk, wren

During this summer and early autumn I managed to photograph a number of animals, birds, insects and other creatures in my garden.  Some of these photos are of very poor quality but I will include them as a record of what I saw.  This post will be of the birds I’ve seen in my garden.

006Great Tit (640x397)

This Great Tit has an insect in its beak and was fluttering its wings very quickly (hence the blurring). It was waiting for me to go away so that it could feed its chicks in a nest box we have in the garden.

007Great Tit (640x504)

I quickly took another photograph and then walked away

036Great tit with insect (640x443)

Here is one of the pair of Great Tits using that same nest box nearly two weeks later. I am fascinated to see how carefully they hold the insects in their beaks so as not to crush them.

018Greenfinch (640x427)

This is a Greenfinch. There are always plenty of these in the garden. The feeder pole is always leaning and covered in mud because of the squirrels and rooks that use the feeder too.

003Cock Pheasant (640x427)

I didn’t quite get all of this cock Pheasant’s tail.

038Cock pheasant (640x427)

Cock Pheasant

039Cock pheasant (640x427)

Cock Pheasant

025Female blackbird (640x434)

A female Blackbird collecting insects for her chicks.

037Female blackbird (640x427)

Another female Blackbird searching for food.

036Female blackbird (640x427)

And again.

My daughter came running to me one day saying that there was a strange bird in our garden.  She described it as being half duck, half chicken.  I had to have a look and discovered that one of our neighbour’s Muscovy Ducks was visiting us.  If you have ever seen a Muscovy Duck walking you will know that they move their head and neck back and forth while walking just like a chicken does.

033Muscovy duck (640x427)

Female Muscovy Duck

034Muscovy duck (640x427)

Walking like a chicken

I thought I would post this photo of a Wren again as I was quite pleased to get it.  Wrens are quite shy birds and fairly small (3.75″) but have very loud voices.

029Wren

Wren

005Robin

I’ve posted this photo of a Robin before too

005Female greater spotted woodpecker (640x427)

Female Greater Spotted Woodpecker

006Male chaffinch (640x493)

Male Chaffinch

007Pied wagtail (640x442)

Pied Wagtail

009Rook (640x427)

Rook

010Rook (640x427)

Rook.

011Coal tit (640x499)

Coal Tit. These birds are very slightly smaller than Blue Tits at about 4.5″. You can see the mud on the feeder that the Rooks put there with their dirty feet and beaks!

012Male house sparrow (640x491)

Male House Sparrow

049Rear view of moorhen (640x437)

The usual rear view of a Moorhen as it runs off down the garden

012Blackbird (640x427)

A male Blackbird at dusk

 

 

 

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Peak District Holiday 1st to 9th July. Day 4 Part 1.

11 Sat Oct 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in fish, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, wild birds

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Bakewell, Bakewell Bridge, Bakewell Pudding, Bakewell Pudding Shop, Black-headed Seagull, Canada Goose, Coot, Mallard, moorhen, Peak District National Park, River Wye, Trout, Tufted Duck

After our long walk the day before we decided to do a little gentle sight-seeing on our fourth day, revisiting a couple of favourite places and then going on to somewhere new.  Our first port of call was the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire which is very attractive but always very crowded.  We surprised ourselves by finding somewhere to park quite quickly and walked to the Bakewell Pudding Shop.

002Bakewell Pudding shop (640x474)

The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop

Bakewell is the only market town in the whole of the Peak District National Park.  As with many places in the Peak District, mineral springs are found there and it nearly became a spa town.  The name ‘Bakewell’ comes from ‘Badeca’s Well’ and is nothing to do with baking.  A Bath House was built by the Duke of Rutland in 1697 and it still has the 16′ x 33′ bath in the cellar.  The reason it wasn’t a success as a spa was the temperature of the water which is only 11 degrees Centigrade/52 degrees Fahrenheit – a little chilly!  This is less than half the temperature of the Buxton waters.

R and I wanted to buy a pudding as we love them and hadn’t had one for a couple of years.  We also purchased some bread and a teacloth with the recipe of the pudding printed on it and then went through to their coffee shop and had a pleasant drink while sitting in a sheltered courtyard.


Rather an unprepossessing looking pudding but really very tasty.  It can be eaten hot or cold and with or without cream or custard.  It is made with puff pastry, then a layer of jam (usually raspberry) and then covered with a mixture made of ground almonds, sugar, butter, eggs and almond essence.  This is then baked until the mixture sets.  This confection was made by mistake.  During the 19th century a cook at the Rutland Arms was baking a jam tart but somehow misunderstood the recipe and the result was this pudding.  It was an instant success, though I don’t know how anyone let alone a cook can make a mistake when making a jam tart!

We then walked a little through the town and ended up at our favourite place – the riverside.  There is a wide promenade next to the River Wye and benches to sit on at intervals.  There is a very attractive bridge over the river which flows at a good pace.

008Bridge over R Wye (640x480)

Bakewell Bridge

The river is full of trout and has a couple of little weirs.  There are lots of water-birds to admire and also lots of Black-headed Seagulls too.

020Trout (640x480)

A beautiful speckled trout

014Tufted ducks (640x480)

Tufted Ducks

012Canada goose (640x480)

Canada Goose

019Canada goose (640x480)

Canada Goose

018Coot and moorhen with chicks (640x480)

Coot and Moorhen with chicks

I was fascinated by the behaviour of both the moorhen and the coot.  These birds are not often seen together although very closely related.  I find their chicks indistinguishable and am not sure if these chicks belonged to the coot or moorhen.  Coots have a pure white forehead and bill and are usually found on open water like lakes and moorhens with red bills that have a yellow tip are found on streams and ponds.  Both birds obviously felt threatened by each other and though it isn’t clear in the photo above the coot had lowered its head and had fluffed up all its feathers until it looked enormous.  It was moving very slowly too.

016Coot nest (640x480)

A Coot nest

006Mallards, tufted duck & black-headed seagulls (640x480)

Mallards, Tufted Duck and a Black-headed Seagull which decided it wanted to be photographed too

After sitting by the river for a while, R and I decided we would go on to Haddon Hall which is just a few miles from Bakewell.  I will talk about that in my next post.

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The Ugly-Bug Ball

19 Mon May 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in fish, Gardening, Insects, plants, Rural Diary

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Bees, Cuckoo-spit, Damselfly, fish, Froghopper, gardening, Green Hairstreak, Hornet, Hoverfly, Lily Beetle, Mimulus, moorhen, yellow iris

The first Yellow Iris is in flower.

Image

The weather has been warm and sunny for the last four days so I have tried to make the most of it by being outside.  The tubs of spring bulbs needed tidying and getting ready for their long sleep until next year.  I bought some plants for my window boxes a couple of weeks ago and have now planted them up and fixed them under the kitchen and utility room windows at the front of the house. 

Image

I have put this mimulus in both window boxes

  I also had a few plants that had to be planted out and a few that needed repotting.  I have got other pots of plants that have yet to flower and some more that I’m not sure what to do with, so I’ll feed them all and give them a sort out during the next few days.  I have many more pots of perennials than I would like but until I make a new flower bed or re-instate the one I abandoned after Dad died and all sorts of things went wrong, they’ll have to stay where they are.  I have enjoyed myself very much indeed and wish I could spend all day every day gardening. 

With the warm weather all sorts of  insects good and not so good have arrived.  I have killed five red Lily Beetles so far – such beautiful insects but so destructive.  They and their nasty grubs can destroy a lily plant in a couple of days and not only lilies but fritillaries too.  If they think they are under attack they drop down onto the soil under the plant, red side down and then bury themselves and can’t be found.  I creep up on them and put one hand under the leaf they are on to catch them if they jump and then squash them as quickly as possible.  They do sometimes bite but it’s the last thing they do!

I am hoping that the mild winter we had this year has meant that many more insects have survived.   I can put up with a few more troublesome insects if we have more butterflies and moths, ladybirds and hoverflies, lacewings, crickets and grasshoppers .  The bats flying round the house this evening certainly were catching lots of things to eat.  We have hornets here and they have become noticeable this week with their deep buzzing and their large yellow and brown bodies, flying ponderously about the garden.  They are different in their behaviour to wasps.  They aren’t very intelligent I think, and once in the house have no idea how to get out again.  Wasps are in your face all the time, spoiling for a fight but the hornet is more like a bee, not really interested in us and just wanting to get on with their own business.  I’m not saying they are harmless, far from it;  I wouldn’t mess with a hornet!  We had a hornet’s nest in our old shed a few years ago and as they had positioned it against the door we couldn’t get anything out of the shed until late autumn when they had all perished.  They are attracted to light and will fly towards it at night like moths.  It was so strange to see them crawling up the outside walls of the house trying to get to the outside lights or into bedroom windows.  We have had to learn to keep windows shut when we have the lights on at night.  I would like to get fly-screens fitted to the windows one day.

  Today, I saw the first Damselfly I’d seen this year.  Such a thin body, so fragile looking but so beautiful.  The male, a sliver of turquoise and the female a reddish-brown.  I tried to photograph the male but it came out blurred – I’ll try again tomorrow.

Image

Froghopper larvae are exuding frothy ‘cuckoo-spit’ on all the plants in the garden.

Image

Lots of different bees are flying about.  I noticed bees entering a crack between the mortar and one of our kitchen windows, there are lots of mining bee holes in the dryer flowerbeds and while I was in the conservatory watering R’s cacti today I became aware of a leafcutter bee with its orange underside carrying large pieces of leaf in through the door.  It has made a nest in the soil of one of R’s cacti and was rolling up the bits of leaf and taking them down the hole.

There are many different types of hoverfly about.

 

Image

I noticed a little butterfly had got into the conservatory today so went to get a glass and a card as this is the best way of catching insects I know.  The butterfly was a Green Hairstreak and the first one I had ever seen.  The top of their wings is brown but the underside is a brilliant green.  The butterfly kept its wings shut so I could admire the glorious colour.  I tried to photograph it while it was in the glass but it didn’t work out well at all. 

Image  

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On Friday morning while having a walk aound the garden I came across this on the path…

Image

I couldn’t think how it could have come to be there.  I was also surprised to see such a big fish which had no doubt come from our pond.  Why hadn’t it been eaten?  What had caught it and left it there?  What type of fish is it?  Is it a bream?  It wasn’t until R and I were talking about it when he got home from work that we worked out how it had got there.  It has a stab wound low down on its body and R suggsted that a heron might have inflicted it.  I then remembered that when R had gone down to his vegetable plot near the big pond the night before he had disturbed a heron.

Today while walking round the pond I disturbed a moorhen and her three chicks.  The parent rushed off into the reeds as usual and left the three chicks to find their way back to her as best they could.  As I watched them, one of the chicks started to squeak and looked as though it had caught its foot in something in the water.  I thought this strange so got closer only to see the chick dragged under water and disappear.  What could have done this?  What have we got in the pond that eats baby moorhens?  I thought it might be a pike but R thinks it unlikely that a pike would live in a pond this size.  He thinks it might be a carp.  Has anyone any suggestions?

I took a few photographs of the perch (I think) in our pond today.

Image

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I’ll finish here tonight and do another post tomorrow when I’ll talk about the birds and flowers I’ve noticed this weekend.

 

 

 

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Wednesday 12th to Sunday 16th March

17 Mon Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, walking, wild birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

alder, ambulances, brimstone butterfly, chaffinch, church, cowslip, daffodils, dog violet, Eye, fields, figs, greylags, Harleston, hazel, heartsease, Lent, mallards, moon, moorhen, nesting, pond, prayer, pussy willow, quiz night, rooks, Rumburgh, silverlace primula, sunset, tortoiseshell butterfly, trees, Wissett

Wednesday began with frost and mist.  This soon cleared and the weather was then lovely for the rest of the day.  I did my usual shopping trip with my mother with a detour to a free-range chicken farm at Eye where Mum buys her eggs.  I had a little shopping to do for myself, so called in at Harleston on my way home.  I arrived home just after 2pm for a late lunch and had time for a few household chores and a quick walk round the garden to feed the birds, tidy up a couple of things and take some photos before R came home.

A moorhen and a chaffinch at the front of the house.

001Moorhen and chaffinch (640x480)

 

The moorhen again.

002Moorhen (640x480)

 

A couple of photos of the daffodils that have come up round the big pond.

003Reflection of daffodils on pond (640x480)

005Reflection of daffodils on pond (480x640)

Some violet leaves that have struggled up through the dried mud round the pond.

007Violet leaves on path round pond (640x480)

 

And some cowslip leaves too!

008Cowslip plants on path round pond (640x480)

 

Reflection of trees and cloud in the pond.

009Reflection of trees and cloud in pond (640x480)

 

Afternoon moon.

011Afternoon moon (640x480)

 

I had decided what we should have for an evening meal and was about to start it when R offered to cook and I gladly accepted his offer.  I didn’t have time to eat anything as I had to go out at 6.45pm to collect Mum and take her to Eye to attend a Lent course.  The course in her area is a deanery course.  A deanery is a collection of benefices and a benefice is a collection of parishes.  In rural areas to have benefice and or deanery meetings or courses means that there will be more people attending and any speakers kind enough to visit will have a good audience.  The only downside is that the distances to be travelled by many parishioners is very great.  This year’s course is on prayer and Wednesday’s talk was on ‘Prayer with Words’.  The speaker was the Precentor from the Cathedral at Bury St Edmund’s; a really pleasant man who gave an interesting talk.  He introduced us to poets and poems that were new to us as well as reading from old favourites.  My journey home was very difficult because of thick fog.

Thursday.  I was woken just before 6.00am by the rooks!  I had remembered to bring in the sunflower seed feeder but the rooks were trying to get the remains of yesterday’s seed off the bird-table and were tapping loudly on it with their enormous beaks.  I have a cage round the bird-table which is supposed to prevent large birds from getting on it. However, it doesn’t stop the birds from clinging on to the edge of the table with their claws, flapping their wings for balance and pecking food through the mesh!  Another lovely day.  Went in to Halesworth for a haircut and to get yet more shopping (I always manage to forget something each time I go!)  My usual hairdresser is on maternity leave so her Mum did my hair and we chatted about babies.  Both her daughters are having their first babies in the next two weeks and they are getting a little apprehensive.  On the way home I saw a tortoiseshell butterfly and an enormous brimstone butterfly.

I spent the afternoon gardening as well as having a short (for us!) conversation with my sister who was planning to visit Mum at the weekend.  The geese have been very argumentative this week.  The gander of the pair who have claimed the island has been spending most of his time swimming in the pond and seeing off any other goose/gander who dares to come anywhere near the pond bank.  He must be exhausted as he doesn’t seem to have eaten anything either.

A couple of photos of the mallards in our front ditch.

001Pair of mallards in ditch (640x480)

005Mallards in ditch (640x480)

Miniature daffodils in the grass.

004Miniature daffodils in grass (640x480)

 

Goat or Pussy Willow.  Salix caprea.

006Goat willow or pussy willow (640x480)

 

When R got home he wanted to go out for a short walk across the fields.  The wind had got up a little and it had got cloudy but R managed to take some decent photos while we were out.

003Evening walk over the fields (640x427)

006View across the fields (640x427)

008Path by the fields (640x427)

009A ploughed field (640x427)

010Distant trees (640x427)

Alder catkins and cone-like fruits from last year.

012Alder catkins and fruits (640x427)

 

Hazel catkins.

015Hazel catkins (640x427)

 

More fog overnight.

Friday.  A cooler, cloudier, breezier day.  I did some more gardening and lots of ironing.  The geese seemed to have resolved their differences.  The resident pair came to sit near me while I gardened and whenever I looked up they gave gentle honks.  I knew they were asking for food so when I had got to the end of my weeding I fetched some special goose and duck feed I have for just such an occasion (to quote Foghorn Leghorn) and cast it on the grass near by them.  Of course, the gander then hissed at me while the goose ate the food.  He is a very protective mate and even though I have provided the food he has to warn me off and so I do keep my distance!

Saturday.  A quiet morning and another beautiful one.  Still very breezy but much brighter than yesterday.  Did some housework and spoke to A on the phone.  We drove to Mum’s in the afternoon to see my sister F who was visiting with her eldest son and her dog Ben.   We had a lovely couple of chatty hours and we then had to leave to get our evening meal before going to yet another quiz night.  This one was in aid of Rumburgh village hall.  I think it was the noisiest event I had been too since going to dances when I was young.  The hall had just been insulated and redecorated but there were no curtains or blinds at the windows yet and I think this was the reason it was so noisy.  The two farmers on our team were both a little deaf (caused by driving noisy farm machinery) and they were finding it really difficult to hear anything above the hubbub of loud chatter.  Our local Member of Parliament was taking part too.  He lives in Wissett, the next village along on the way to Halesworth, and is very good about taking part in local events and is a truely supportive MP.  He had been out all day on the ambulances as there has been an enquiry about the time it takes for ambulances to get to emergencies.  He was talking to R and one of our farmer friends and said he was very sympathetic towards the ambulance crews, as he had seen for himself the great distances they had to travel and also how many wasted journeys they had to make.  R told him about my sister’s job as a paramedic in Kent and some of the problems she has to put up with too.  Unfortunately we came ninth today but R won a picture of a tree in the raffle.

Sunday.  There was a Morning Prayer service at Rumburgh today but I couldn’t attend as I took Mum to her church.  She hasn’t got anyone to give her a lift at the moment and as she doesn’t usually see anyone at all during the week except me, and all her friends are at her church, I think it only right that I take her there.  I got back home at 1.00pm and had lunch before doing some chores, putting a loaf on to bake and then back out into the garden.  I fed the birds which took nearly an hour – all the feeders were empty, I have a number of them scattered about the garden and the garden is well over an acre in size.  I had noticed this morning when I looked out of the window that the goose has started sitting on her nest on the island.

003Goose on nest (640x480)

 

005Goose on nest (640x480)

A dog violet in flower.

006Dog violet (640x480)

 

A silverlace primula.

007Silver Laced primula (640x480)

 

A heartsease flower.

013Heart's ease (640x480)

 

Figs are starting to swell on the tree.

014Figs (640x480)

 

Lots of pictures of this evening’s sunset.

015Sunset (640x480)

016Sunset (640x480)

017Sunset (640x480)

021Sunset (640x480)

018Sunset (640x480)

019Sunset (640x480)

020Sunset (640x480)

The rookery in the sunset.

022Sunset (640x480)

 

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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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