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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: Scots Pine

A Winter Miscellany

06 Wed Jan 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Days out, family, literature, plants, Rural Diary, trees, walking

≈ 38 Comments

Tags

bare trees, birch, corsican pine oak, Harleston, hedgehog, honeysuckle, pinks, primulas, Robert Louis Stevenson, Scots Pine, St Cross South Elmham, St Georges church, The Black Arrow, Tunstall Forest, viburnum bodnantense, walking, winter-flowering honeysuckle

I had a lot of difficulty trying to think of a title to this post as it is made up of a mishmash of lots of different photos taken from the beginning of December up to New Year’s Day and at a number of locations.

DSCN0029Hedgehog

A young hedgehog I saw wandering about the garden during the day at the beginning of December.

This little creature looked healthy enough, though still not quite full-grown.  It seemed unbothered by my presence and was trotting about looking for and finding things to eat in the garden.  The photo is a little blurred because it didn’t keep still long enough for me to take a good picture of it.  Hedgehogs are normally nocturnal mammals and only emerge during the daytime if disturbed or hungry.  They hibernate during the winter but emerge during mild spells of weather to feed.

DSCN0090Viburnum

The Viburnum bodnantense is in full flower and smells divine!

DSCN0093Winter-flowering Honeysuckle

The Winter-flowering Honeysuckle is also flowering and its scent is beautiful.

DSCN0101Pinks in bud

The Primulas in Richard’s border are in flower and his Pinks are covered in flower-buds.

Not only do we have all these flowers but also miniature Iris, Grape Hyacinths and Hyacinths are in flower.  On my travels I have seen Daffodils, Snowdrops and Winter Aconites.  My mother’s garden has Hardy Geraniums still in flower from the autumn and also the bright red flowers of Ornamental Quince.  We have had a lot of rain (though much less than in the north and north-west of the country) – the ditches are filling fast, the roads are thick with mud and have standing water on them and parts of our garden are like a quagmire.  The grass hasn’t stopped growing but it is too wet for it to be cut.  I spent some time a few days ago pulling out Stinging Nettle runners from under our Crabapple tree.

DSCN0088Possibly algae

This seaweed-like algae has started growing out from the edge of the grass onto our driveway.

DSCN0059St George's church St Cross

This is St George’s church at St Cross South Elmham – another of the churches in our benefice.

I had reason to call in to this church a couple of days before Christmas and while there I thought I’d take a few photos.  I didn’t have much time to spare so only took a few pictures – I hope to return there again soon and finish the job.

The church is large and seems very tall especially as one approaches it from the bottom of the valley.  I didn’t have time to walk round the outside of the church or visit the grave of the Canadian poet and writer, Elizabeth Smart.

DSCN0060St Cross

Inside the church

DSCN0061St Cross

Sunlight entering through the clear windows

DSCN0062St Cross

A very attractive pulpit and the tiny staircase that used to climb up to the rood loft

DSCN0063St Cross

I like the little bracket on the wall above the reading desk.

DSCN0064St Cross

The altar with its painted reredos. The picture on the left is of St George.

DSCN0066St Cross

The pretty pipe-organ.

DSCN0067St Cross

The heater – a venerable one!

DSCN0071St Cross

A watcher from up in the roof.

DSCN0072St Cross

In this photo you can see where the face is. There are others elsewhere in the church.

DSCN0073St Cross

This person with the jolly face, long auburn hair and white shirt is up in the roof too.

DSCN0074St Cross

This carving round the door is in the porch.

DSCN0075St Cross

This is part of the wooden ceiling to the porch.

DSCN0077The Beck

This is The Beck flowing through St Cross.

DSCN0076The Beck

The road crosses The Beck by a bridge which I looked over to watch the water racing through underneath.

DSCN0108The Magpie in Harleston

The Magpie (or as it’s now known, the JD Young Hotel – so boring!) in Harleston.

We stopped off in Harleston on our way back home after taking Alice to the station on New Year’s Eve.  Harleston is a town on the north side of the River Waveney and in Norfolk.  The Waveney is the border between Suffolk and Norfolk.

DSCN0109Harleston

This is another view of the town from the same spot – outside the bank where Richard was withdrawing some money. By the time I had taken this photo he had finished the transaction and had walked off, as you can see.

DSCN0110The Swan in Harleston

The Swan. Another of the inns in Harleston

DSCN0111Adnam's shop Harleston

The Adnam’s Shop, Harleston.

After we had finished our shopping we treated ourselves to a wander round this shop.  Adnam’s is a local brewery based in Southwold.  They brew many different types of beer and ale and recently have started to produce wines and spirits as well. They opened a very large store selling their beers and spirits and also cooking utensils, china and glassware in Southwold.  This shop in Harleston is a much smaller version of their main store.

DSCN0115Tunstall forest

Tunstall Forest

On New Year’s Day, Richard, Elinor and I went for a walk in Tunstall Forest.  The forest is managed by The Forestry Commission and is about 20 miles to the south of where we live.

One of my favourite books when I was a girl (and I still enjoy reading it now) was The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson.  I was overjoyed to find that I was living near the Tunstall Forest of the book when I moved to Suffolk in 1988.  Surprisingly, this walk was the first time I had visited the place.

The day was very dull and the ground was muddy from the quantities of rain we had had recently.  It was difficult getting decent photos of the walk and there wasn’t much to see of special interest.  However, the walk in the fresh air and in good company was good in itself.

DSCN0116Tunstall forest

The forest is predominantly Scots Pine and Corsican Pine used as a crop but since the Great Storm of 1987 when many of the trees were lost, it has been replanted with mixed woodland.

DSCN0121Tunstall forest

The rides through the forest are wide and sandy and I look forward to returning here in the spring and summer.

DSCN0123Tunstall forest

The Gorse was in flower and the bright yellow flowers were a welcome sight.

DSCN0149Tunstall forest

I noticed this toadstool at the edge of the path.

DSCN0117Tunstall forest

More fungi.

Moss
Moss
More moss
More moss
Even more moss
Even more moss
DSCN0125Tunstall forest

Another view from our walk

DSCN0131Tunstall forest

A fallen tree with its roots in the air.

DSCN0136Tunstall forest

I was surprised to see these new Oak leaves

DSCN0144Tunstall forest

New Honeysuckle leaves

DSCN0134Tunstall forest

A fine tree next to the ride.

DSCN0148Tunstall forest

Proof that I didn’t walk alone. Elinor in the foreground and Richard in the distance.

And now for my music choice.

Thanks for visiting!

 

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May’s End – Part 1

26 Tue May 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild animals

≈ 40 Comments

Tags

Ash, Bush Vetch, Common Vetch, cow parsley, cut-leaved crane's-bill, English Elm, garden, Germander Speedwell, horse chestnut, ivy, Muntjac fawn, Red Clover, Ribwort Plantain, Scots Pine, Small-leaved Lime, Suffolk, Thyme-leaved Speedwell, trees, white dead-nettle, wild flowers

Where has this year gone!  It is nearly June already and I have been so busy and concerned for my family that I have been largely unaware of the passing of time.   If it wasn’t for the photographs I have been able to take periodically I would think I had done nothing and gone nowhere.

This post will record the wild plants and trees I have in the garden.  I haven’t been able to photograph any birds successfully for a few weeks and, because of the cool temperatures, there has been a distinct lack of insects other than a few hardy bees.

IMG_2231Common Vetch (640x429)

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)

IMG_2262Bush Vetch (640x427)

Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium)

IMG_2232Cow Parsley (640x456)

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)

IMG_2233English Elm (640x427)

English Elm (Ulmus procera)

We have a number of English Elm saplings in our garden.  The Elm has a suckering habit so we have groups of them in the scrub area near our big pond.  When we first moved here in 2006 there were a few 20′ trees but those have since succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease.  I can just remember the countryside when we had beautiful, stately Elm trees everywhere with their wide, domed crowns.  Many of the trees had gaps where branches had been lost so they looked as though the trunks had leafy clouds on them.  Not a good description I know but maybe those of you who remember Elms will know what I mean.  My mother was always warned not to shelter under an Elm tree as they tended to lose branches easily.

IMG_2257Scots Pine (640x427)

Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

The Scots Pine is another tree that loses branches easily.  This is a little sapling we planted some years ago and hoped that it would be quite tall by now.  Unfortunately it is still only about 3 foot tall and for some time we couldn’t understand why it wasn’t growing.  We now believe that deer have been eating the new tips of the branches and have been pruning it.  We are trying to protect it with a tall ring of mesh.

IMG_2234Ivy (640x427)

Ivy (Hedera helix)

I love the look of ivy.  The different shades of green of the new and older leaves, the pale veins and the exciting leaf-shape.  The upper leaves are oval and many people don’t believe they belong to the same plant.  It is such a useful plant to have in the garden.  It provides food and shelter to so many creatures and is useful greenery when I reluctantly have to provide flowers for church.

IMG_2235Ribwort Plantain (640x427)

Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

The seedheads are food for Goldfinches and other seed eaters.

IMG_2236Ribwort Plantain & a sawfly (640x433)

This flowerhead has a visiting insect – a type of sawfly I think.

IMG_2260White Dead-nettle (427x640)

White Dead-nettle (Lamium album)

IMG_2244Wild flowers (2) (640x427)

Wild flowers. In this small patch there is Common Vetch, Creeping Buttercup, Heart’s-ease, Red Clover, Ground Ivy, Greater Plantain leaves and grasses.

IMG_2245Horse Chestnut (640x427)

The Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is flowering well. The flowers are scented.

IMG_2248Thyme-leaved Speedwell (640x427)

Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) The flowers are tiny!

IMG_2250Germander Speedwell (427x640)

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

IMG_2249Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (640x427)

Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill (Geranium dissectum)

This is a little plant that is often over-looked but the leaves alone are quite beautiful.

IMG_2252Ash (640x427)

Ash (Fraxinus excelsior). The Ash tree is one of the last trees to come into leaf.

IMG_2258Red Clover (640x427)

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

IMG_2255Small-leaved Lime (640x427)

Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata)

We have four small Small-leaved Lime trees which were a birthday present to me a couple of years ago.  I think the red buds are lovely.

The final photo is a Muntjac fawn we saw a few evenings ago.  It was alone and only stayed for a few minutes.

IMG_4724Muntjac fawn (640x480)

As you can see it was only as tall as my daffodils that needed dead-heading.

Thank-you for visiting!

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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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