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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Reydon Wood

25 Tue Apr 2017

Posted by Clare Pooley in Insects, plants, Rural Diary, walking, wild flowers

≈ 63 Comments

Tags

Alexanders, Barren Strawberry, Bugle, Common Dog Violet, coppice wood, cow parsley, Dryad's Saddle, early dog-violet, Early Purple Orchid, ferns, Goldilocks Buttercup, Great Diving Beetle, Greater Stitchwort, ground-ivy, Herb-Robert, Hornbeam, lesser celandine, primrose, Reydon Wood, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Three-nerved Sandwort, water-violet, wild flowers, wild strawberry, Wood Anemone, Yellow Archangel, Yellow Pimpernel

We drove to Reydon Wood on Friday, in search of bluebells.

Wood Lane

We parked at the end of Wood Lane. The walk down the lane is pleasant and we get glimpses of the wood on the other side of the deep ditch on our right.

Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) is in flower everywhere.

The Romans introduced Alexanders into Britain and it is mainly found near the coast especially in the east of the country.  It was used as a medicinal herb and also as a pot herb.  The flowerheads can be steamed like broccoli.

Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) is another flower that is blooming wherever I go at present.

The Anglo Saxons and Celts believed that a stitch in the side was probably caused by elf-shot and this plant cured it!

Greater Stitchwort

Our first sighting of Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

Cow-parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) is coming into flower very early this year

There they are, on the far side of the ditch!

A beautiful Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna )

Bluebells and Greater Stitchwort

To the left of us as we walked up Wood Lane we could see a field full of bright yellow Oil-seed Rape (Brassica napus) through the hedge.

I believe this is Goldilocks Buttercup ( Ranunculus auricomus)

This is the first time I have taken notice of this buttercup.  I have probably seen it before because I find they are fairly common in woodland, but I’ve never looked at one properly, just assuming it was a Meadow or Creeping Buttercup.  The stem leaves are quite different from the other buttercups I know and I read that the flowers are usually deformed or have some or all of their petals missing.

We arrived at the entrance to the wood

This is the first time I have seen Wood Anemones ( Anemone nemorosa) here.

There were a few primroses (Primula vulgaris ) still flowering.

Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana )

This is the most common violet we have in this country and it can be found anywhere except on very acidic soils.  The leaves are heart-shaped and the spur (at the back of the flower) is much paler than the petals.  This violet is unscented.

Early Dog Violet (Viola reichenbachiana )

Another unscented violet; the flowers of this plant are paler and smaller than the Common Dog Violet and the spur is usually as dark or even darker than the petals.  The leaves are narrower than those of the Common Dog Violet.  This isn’t a good photo but it is the best out of the three I took!

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)

This plant could be named after St Robert of Molesme who founded Citeaux Abbey in France and who is said to have staunched wounds and healed ulcers with Herb Robert.  It could also be named after Robert, Duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror and a patron of medical botany.  He used Herb Robert to cure the plague.

The path through the wood.

Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis )

The flower here is past its best so it is not easy to see that the petals have a gap between them and that the sepals are clearly seen.  The leaves (on the right of the photo) are a dull, matt green and divided into three toothed leaflets with the terminal tooth on each leaflet being smaller and shorter than the adjacent teeth.

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca )

Here is a Wild Strawberry, which I found just a few feet away from the Barren Strawberry and you can see the difference between them.  The petals are close together and mainly hide the sepals.  The leaves are a bright, shiny yellow-green and the terminal tooth is as long as (sometimes longer than) the adjacent teeth.

Here is the pond in the middle of the wood. On the far side are Water Violets (Hottonia palustris )

More Water Violets – I couldn’t get a better photo of them.

Great Diving Beetle (Dytiscus marginalis )

We watched this beetle for a while as it came to the surface to gather air which it stores under its elytra or wing cases.  The beetle’s spiracles (breathing pores) are under the wing cases and allow the air stored there to enter the body.  When the air is used up the beetle returns to the surface for more.  There were many newts in the pond too.

Yellow Pimpernel (Lysimachia nemorum )

A large patch of Bugle (Ajuga reptans )

Beautiful new green leaves of Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus )

Hornbeams look a little like Beech trees but the trunks have fluted bark and the leaves are toothed.  Hornbeams are regularly coppiced and Reydon Wood is a coppice wood.

A coppice tree which will probably be harvested in the next few years. The tree is probably many hundred years old.

The area just beyond this barrier has recently been coppiced and the stools (tree stumps) will be sprouting soon. The barrier has been built up using twigs and branches to stop deer from eating the new growth on the coppice stools.

Coppice stools surrounded by Bluebells and with the deer barrier in the background

A strange-looking stool which looks as though it might run off as soon as our backs are turned!

Harvested coppice logs

I believe this fungus is Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus squamosus )

Early Purple Orchid ( Orchis mascula)

Early Purple Orchid showing its spotted leaves

Three-nerved Sandwort (Moehringia trinervia )

At first I thought this was Common Chickweed but then I noticed the petals are not split and that the sepals are longer than the petals.  The leaves have three to five parallel veins on them.  I didn’t manage to get a close-up shot of the plant.

Herb Robert (pink flowers) and Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea ) (Blue flowers)

Lesser Celandine, Herb Robert, Ground Ivy and Early Purple Orchid

 

 

Yellow Archangel ( Lamiastrum galeobdolon)

There is a cultivated form of this plant (subspecies ‘argentatum’) with silvery patches on the leaves which has escaped into the wild and is quite invasive.

Lesser Celandines and Bluebells

 

Early Purple Orchid and Bluebells

Fern and Bluebells

Bluebells and ferns

Here is a slideshow of the Bluebells we saw.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Bluebells were not quite at their peak and as the day was overcast and chilly we didn’t smell their wonderful scent.  We decided it would be a good idea for us to return in a week’s time to see how they had developed.  Unfortunately, we have had very cold weather this week with frosts and wintery showers of hail and sleet.  I hope the Bluebells are not too damaged.  I apologise for the length of this post.

Thanks for visiting!

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Highlights Part 7 : Redgrave and Lopham Fen

14 Tue Feb 2017

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, plants, Rural Diary, walking, wild flowers

≈ 67 Comments

Tags

ferns, flowers, plants, Redgrave and Lopham Fen, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, wild flowers

At the beginning of September, I visited Redgrave and Lopham Fen with my friend Heather whom I hadn’t seen for over a year.  It was a very muggy, clammy day so not ideal for walking any distance.

p1010278r-l-fen

Redgrave and Lopham Fen – one of the many large ponds.

The sedge and reeds were very tall so we didn’t manage to see much open water and the pathways across the fen were quite narrow and enclosed at times.  We got very hot and sticky and our feet were black with the peaty soil we walked on.  However, we saw a few interesting plants and we managed to catch up with all our news!

p1010279r-l-fen

Water at Redgrave and Lopham Fen

Redgrave and Lopham Fen is situated on the border between Suffolk and Norfolk and is owned and maintained by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.  It is where the River Waveney and the Little Ouse River have their beginning.  It is the largest remaining area of river valley fen in England.  Its diverse habitat make it a very important site; saw sedge beds, open water, heathland, scrub and woodland can all be found here.

It is one of only three sites in the UK where the Fen Raft Spider can be found, though we didn’t manage to see it on our walk.  Nineteen species of dragonfly, twenty-seven species of butterfly, twenty-six species of mammal, four species of amphibian, four species of reptile and ninety-six species of bird can be seen here.  The beginning of September isn’t a great time of year to go looking for wildlife but we were pleased with what we did manage to see.  It is a place I would like to return to one day.

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Hips of the Dog Rose (Rosa canina)

p1010258purple-loosestrife

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

Surprisingly for a plant so widespread, this was the first time I had seen this flower since I was a little girl.

p1010266purple-loosestrife

Purple Loosestrife

p1010259purple-loosestrife-mint

Purple Loosestrife and Water Mint (Mentha aquatica)

p1010260birds-foot-trefoil

Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus pendunculatus)

p1010263bedstraw-trefoil-seedheads

Bird’s-foot Trefoil seedheads with Fen Bedstraw (Galium uliginosum)

These seedheads really do look a bit like birds feet!

Bulrush and Common Reed
Bulrush and Common Reed
Bulrush and Common Reed
Bulrush and Common Reed

Bulrush (Typha latifolia) is also known as Great Reedmace.  Common Reed (Phragmites australis) stands in this country are a priority habitat because of their importance for wildlife as food and shelter.

p1010267devils-bit-scabious

Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis)

According to legend, the Devil was so angry with this plant because it was successful at curing all sorts of ailments that he bit off part of the root.  The plant may have a short root but it still has curative powers!  Nicholas Culpeper says the boiled root is good for snake-bite, swollen throats, wounds and the plague.

p1010268devils-bit-scabious

A meadow full of Devil’s-bit Scabious

p1010269broad-buckler-fern

Broad Buckler Fern (Dryopteris dilatata)

Broad Buckler Fern has 3-times pinnate leaves.  Pinnate leaves are made up of leaflets, often in pairs, attached to a central stem and often with a terminal leaflet.  2-times pinnate leaves = the leaflets have their own leaflets.  3-times pinnate leaves = the leaflets of the leaflets have leaflets!  Broad Buckler Fern has a long stalk which only has leaf branches for half its length.

p1010270earthball

Probably Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)

p1010271blackberries

Blackberries on Bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.)  There is an out-of-focus Speckled Wood butterfly sitting on a leaf just to the right of the top red berry

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Haws of a Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

p1010274lesser-water-parsnip-perhaps

This might be Lesser Water Parsnip (Berula erecta)

p1010276amphibious-bistort-perhaps

I believe this is probably Amphibious Bistort (Persicaria amphibia)

It took me a while to identify this plant, mainly because it is extremely variable.  It has two main forms – an aquatic form, which is described and illustrated in most ID guides, and a terrestrial form, which isn’t often described and hardly ever illustrated.  The plant I saw is the terrestrial form.

p1010277mole-in-peat

This mole-hill shows how black the soil is

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Common Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)

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Guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus) with clusters of red berries

Heather kindly bought me a gift of two hardy cyclamen plants as our meeting was close to my birthday.  I took a photo of them at the end of October where I had planted them in my garden.

p1010470cyclamen

White and purple hardy cyclamen.  I am hoping they will spread out under the shrubs I have in this border and prevent the moss from returning as soon as my back is turned!

Thanks for visiting!

 

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Bluebells

24 Fri Jun 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in amphibians, Days out, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild flowers

≈ 47 Comments

Tags

blackthorn, bluebells, Bugle, common backswimmer, Common Frog, coppice, early purple orchids, great crested newt, Herb-Robert, Lesser Celandines, primroses, Reydon Wood, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, sweet violets, walking, water-violet, wild strawberry, wildflowers

I love bluebells, as you no doubt have realised by now, and I don’t think I am alone in my love of these flowers.  There is a scene in the film ‘Howard’s End’ that has one of the main characters walking through a bluebell wood – I find it very moving.

We try to visit a bluebell wood each Spring and this year we re-visited Reydon Wood on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in early May.

P1000109Reydon Wood

Elinor walking down the path towards the wood.

Last year we mistimed our visits, with one visit a little too early and another a little too late.  This visit was ‘just right’.

P1000107Reydon

The trees were just beginning to put on their beautiful spring clothes.

P1000114Reydon wood-001

I peeped through the bars of a gate from the path and saw my first bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta).

P1000115Violets

Sweet Violets (Viola odorata) were growing at the side of the path, as were Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) and Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) but my photos of them were over-exposed.

P1000116Reydon wood

There is a very deep ditch between the path and the wood (you can see the far bank of the ditch at the bottom of the photo)

The ditch was originally dug many centuries ago in an attempt to keep deer out of this coppiced wood.  The bottom of the ditch may have had heaps of brush-wood in it as well as water to make crossing it more difficult.

P1000117Strawberry

This is a Wild Strawberry flower (Fragaria vesca) – not a good photo I’m afraid.

P1000119Herb robert

Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum)

P1000121Reydon wood

A mossy tree-stump

P1000122Reydon wood

More Sweet Violets

P1000123Reydon wood

The path through the woods

P1000124Celandines

Lesser Celandines (Ranunculus ficaria)

P1000125Primroses

Primroses (Primula vulgaris)

Both Celandines and Primroses had already flowered and gone to seed in the lanes near to my home, but the woods are darker, cooler places and the plants flower later and last longer.

P1000126Bugle

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) flower spikes

P1000127Reydon wood

An open ride in the wood with stacks of the harvested timber.

P1000128Reydon wood

The pond in the wood

P1000130Common backswimmer

A Common Backswimmer (Nononecta glauca)

P1000131Female Great Crested Newt perhaps

This might be a female Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus)

P1000132Frog

A Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

P1000134Water-violet

Water-violet (Hottonia palustris)

P1000135Reydon wood

There are a mass of these Water-violets round the pond

P1000139Early purple orchid

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula)  Unfortunately not in focus, though you can clearly see its spotted leaves.

P1000140Reydon wood

A large coppice stool

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Another Early Purple Orchid

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Large amounts of brushwood have been stacked around an area that has been newly coppiced in an effort to keep the deer (and people, I expect) away from the new shoots growing from the stools.

P1000143Reydon wood

This is a typical view of a coppiced wood

Here is a gallery of photos of the bluebells in Reydon Wood.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

P1000163Reydon wood

I love to look up at the sky through the new leaves

P1000170Blackthorn

Blackthorn blossom (Prunus spinosa)

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

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Fox Fritillary Meadow

26 Tue Apr 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, literature, plants, Rural Diary

≈ 50 Comments

Tags

Fox Fritillary Meadow, Framsden, fritillaries, In the Artist's Garden, meadow, Post Mill, Ronald Blythe, Saxtead Green, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, wild flowers

I belong to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, one of the 47 Wildlife Trusts in the UK and recently, while looking through their list of upcoming events I spotted a guided walk round Fox Fritillary Meadow in Framsden.  It was recommended that I book a place, not because of limited space but so I could be contacted if there weren’t enough flowers in bloom to make my visit worthwhile.  I was very pleased when Alice phoned me shortly afterwards suggesting she stay with us that weekend.

A few days after making the reservation I was happy to find a mention of the meadow in the book I was currently reading;  ‘In the Artist’s Garden’ by Ronald Blythe.

He says of fritillaries … ‘Every April and May, from time immemorial, they show themselves in my orchard to remind me of what I have come to think of as their native land – Framsden, in Suffolk.’

He remembers his youthful visits to the meadow …

It is there, at the long pasture in the dell, which is covered with these speckled, bell-shaped, vaguely sinister blooms – the British species of genus Fritillaria liliaceae.  It was an hour’s bike-ride from my house, and a proper pilgrimage for a member of the Wild Flower Society.  And Mrs Fox, tall, elderly and generous, standing at the gate to welcome us where snake’s heads grew.

For 50 weeks her long meadow was no more than two acres of dank grass, with a lush drainage ditch severing it; but when the fritillaries came, it turned into the Plains of Enna when Persephone set foot in them.  There they were – hundreds, thousands of them, some a papery white, but most a muted purple colour with the reptilian markings that gave them their nickname.  Nightingales sang over them.  There was a cold wind blowing, as well as these mysterious spring flowers.

It would have been a Saturday afternoon when Mrs Fox was at home.  There were so many of them that we never knew where to tread, and when we left she would give us little fritillary bouquets.  This was the time when country people believed that the more you picked the more they grew – a policy that rioted when it came to bluebells.

Fritillaries were so called by the Romans after their dice box, or shaker, which was one of the few personal belongings that a soldier carried around.  This, and a chequer-board. ‘And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots’.

I have a rather beautiful book (sent to all members in 2011 to celebrate the Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s 50th anniversary) which includes a photograph of the meadow and a little about its history.  In it I am told that the meadow was sprayed in 1957 with a broad-leaved selective herbicide, as the owner hoped to benefit the fritillaries by killing all the other plants.  The fritillaries survived because they are members of the narrow-leaved lily family.  Cowslips, cuckooflower and ragged-Robin are slowly returning but compared with other meadows where fritillaries are found this meadow is less diverse.  The Trust acquired the meadow in 1977 when the farm was sold, as Queenie Fox the owner wanted to be sure the fritillaries would be safeguarded.

P1000010Fox fritillary Meadow

The field we crossed on our way to the fritillary meadow.

The morning of Saturday the 23rd April was cold and breezy with many heavy hail showers.  The Trust hadn’t contacted me so we assumed the open day was going ahead.  By lunchtime the showers were dying out and when we set off on the 45 minute journey the sun was shining – but it was still cold!

P1000011Fox Fritillary Meadow

The entrance to the meadow.

We found the site easily and joined others eager to see these strange flowers.  At first, on entering the meadow through the gate, we didn’t see where the flowers were but a few steps further on and the mass of blooms became obvious to us.  We carefully picked our way through the flowers, sometimes crouching down to admire them more fully, but all the while the further we walked the more flowers there were to see.  The tributary of the River Deben which Blythe mentions as bisecting the field is still there but sadly, we heard no nightingales.

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When we had had our fill of fritillaries we left for home, stopping off at Saxtead Green to admire the Post Mill there.

P1000033Saxtead Post Mill

Saxtead Post Mill – now owned and run by English Heritage

 

P1000034Saxtead Post Mill

Richard and the Post Mill

 

P1000035Saxtead Post Mill

Saxtead Post Mill

 

P1000036Ladies' Smock

Some Lady’s-smock or Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) that was growing on the green by the mill.

Thank’s for visiting!

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A Visit to Captain’s Wood – 4th May 2015

29 Fri May 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, trees, walking

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

Alexanders, bluebells, Captain's Wood, Climbing Corydalis, coppice, foxglove, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, veteran Oaks, wild cherry, wood sorrel, woods

Captain’s Wood is owned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust and is found next to the village of Sudbourne which lies south of where we live, about 40 minutes drive away.  The morning had been beautiful and bright but by early afternoon the skies were beginning to cloud over and by the time we got to the wood the sun wasn’t shining much at all.

This was the first time we had visited the wood.  We had heard that the bluebells there were wonderful and hoped that we would see some.  We parked the car in a small car-park a few hundred metres from the entrance to the wood and walked down the lane towards it.

IMG_4571Alexanders (640x480)

Both sides of the lane were covered in Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) which had been in full sun all the morning and as a consequence were giving off a perfume redolent of rotting spinach!

IMG_4572 (640x480)

Alexanders is a very attractive umbellifer and until recently has only been found within a few miles of the coast. I am not sure why, but in the last couple of years it has spread very quickly further inland and I have seen it in Norwich this spring for the first time.

I remember including it in one of my posts last year but can’t remember which so I’ll repeat what I said then.  The name Alexanders refers to its origins as a herb of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s country of birth). Its black seeds were sold in the 17th century under the name of Macedonian Parsley and Nicholas Culpeper the herbalist noted that among other things, Alexanders could cure not only flatulence but snake bite!  The whole of the plant is edible and the generic name Smyrnium refers to its myrrh-like taste.

We walked along a short entrance path between gardens towards the wood.

IMG_4573Bee hives (640x480)

Bee hives in someone’s garden

The first part of the wood we walked through didn’t really look like a wood.

IMG_4574Captain's Wood (640x480)
IMG_4575Captain's Wood (640x480)

This is newly acquired land consisting of 17 acres of small fields, scrub and a little area of woodland in-between the village and Captain’s Wood proper.  This land has not been farmed for many years and was largely left fallow.  Part of the land stays wet for most of the year and apparently has Marsh Orchids and other wetland plants growing there.

IMG_4576Moss (640x480)

On entering the wood I saw this beautiful moss.

IMG_4577Captain's Wood (640x480)

Most of the wood looks like this.

Captain’s Wood consists of mainly open woodland with Oak and Birch.  There is a large stand of Hazel, clumps of mature Scots Pine and lines of planted Sweet Chestnut.  Herds of deer roam at large through the wood and seven different types of bat live here.

IMG_4578Violet (640x480)

There were a few Violets on the woodland floor. I didn’t check to see which violet this was but I think it may be Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)

IMG_4579New bracken (480x640)

New bracken.

IMG_4580Climbing Corydalis (640x480)

Climbing Corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata)

Bartholomew of Glanville was an English friar living in the 13th century.  He wrote an encyclopaedia of natural history and in it he said that, despite its ‘horrible savour’, the roots of this plant could be made into a potion for dispelling melancholy.  Later on Climbing Corydalis became known as a cure for intestinal diseases.  This plant, along with fumitories, has flowers that resemble clovers and vetches though with fewer petals.  The flower’s peculiar shape has been likened to the head of a crested lark; hence the name ‘corydalis’.

IMG_4581Wild Cherry (640x480)

Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)

IMG_4585Foxglove (640x480)

The Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) were growing well.

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Woodland floor under the pine trees.

IMG_4588Witch's broom (640x480)

A ‘Witch’s Broom’ in a Birch tree.

These ‘Witch’s Brooms’ are caused by a type of parasitic fungus which induces galls in its host.

Bracket fungus
Bracket fungus
Bracket fungus
Bracket fungus
IMG_4591Oak tree (480x640)

One of the veteran Oak trees in the wood.

IMG_4592Lichen-covered trunk (640x480)

A close-up of the lichen-covered trunk of the Oak tree. A lot of the bark has disappeared and it no longer looks like a tree trunk anymore.

These veteran trees support many different species of fungi and invertebrates that are dependent on the slowly rotting heartwood of the tree.  Most notable is the Oak Polypore fungus which is known from only six other sites in Britain.  The Oak Polypore fruits for only a very short time in the summer.

IMG_4623Oak (640x480)

New Oak leaves and flowers

IMG_4593Pond (640x480)

One of the several ponds in the wood

IMG_4608Wood Sorrel (640x480)

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). A flower which indicates ancient, undisturbed woodland and hedges. The petals are white or pink with lilac veins.

IMG_4610Wood Sorrel (640x480)

Wood Sorrel

IMG_4626Beech (480x640)

A Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) coming into leaf

IMG_4597Green river of Dog's Mercury (640x480)

This bright green, running like a river through the woods is Dog’s Mercury(Mercurialis perennis)

IMG_4611A  coppiced tree (640x480)

A coppice stool. The wood from the coppice is harvested every few years. New shoots are protected from deer and then left to grow until they are ready to be cut again.

At last we reached the part of the wood where the bluebells were, but found we were just a little too early to see them at their best.

IMG_4604Bluebells (480x640)

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

IMG_4612White Bluebell (640x480)

There were a number of white bluebells.

IMG_4594Bluebells (640x480)

Bluebell potential was good….

IMG_4599Bluebells (640x480) (2) IMG_4600Bluebells (640x480) IMG_4601Bluebells (480x640) IMG_4605Bluebells (640x480) IMG_4606Bluebells (640x480)

….but if we had visited a week later it would have looked heavenly.   Unfortunately, a week later we were doing other things.

We got back to the car and discovered we had a puncture.  Richard tried to change the tyre himself but we were unable to get the tyre off.  We had to call a rescue company and after just under an hour’s wait the mechanic arrived.  He managed to remove the tyre by sitting on the ground and kicking it with his left then right boot alternately.

Captain’s Wood is somewhere we would visit again.  It has plenty of plants and a variety of trees.  The walk through the wood would be pleasurable at any time of the year.

Thank-you for visiting!

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A Walking Week Part 2

07 Wed May 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, trees, Uncategorized, walking

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

bluebells, Bugle/Ajuga, Bush Vetch, coppicing, Deer fences, Early Purple Orchid, Lords and Ladies, Pendulous Sedge, primroses, Ragged Robin, Reydon Wood, Roger Deakin, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, violets, Yellow Archangel

By Friday R had recovered from his trip to Gloucestershire, so when he got home from work I suggested that we might take our postponed bluebell-wood walk that evening.  He thought that would be a great idea so we set off about 6.00pm and managed to persuade E to come with us.  This was a real surprise as E once got lost in Reydon Wood and hadn’t been back since.  To get to Reydon Wood we usually go via the road to Southwold, our nearest seaside town, passing by the Henham Estate which is the venue for the Latitude Festival.  Henham Woods were awash with bluebells so we were hopeful that our walk would not be in vain.

When we got to the entrance to the wood there were only a couple of cars parked there and plenty of room for us.

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The path to the wood.

The path is usually quite interesting in itself as it runs along next to Reydon Wood on one side and fields on the other.  Between the path and the wood is a very deep ditch, probably quite ancient and dug as a boundary and/or to stop deer entering the wood and damaging the trees.

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It is not easy to see the depth of the ditch with this photo.

We walked a little further until we came to the entrance.  The wood is excellently maintained by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.  They have started to coppice it again and have cleared away a lot of scrub.  They have marked out paths through the wood and maintain the ditches.  Bluebells are very sensitive plants and if their leaves are crushed they die so it is best to stick to the paths.  Not only are there bluebells in this wood but many other interesting plants and trees.  This wonderful habitat is also good for all sorts of animals, birds and insects too.

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A bridge over a little drainage ditch.

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An old coppiced tree ready for more coppicing.  The word ‘copse’ for a small wood means that it was once and maybe still is a coppiced wood.  There are many trees which are suitable for coppicing – hazel, ash, willow – as long as they re-shoot after their branches are cut off low they are suitable.  Coppicing is similar to pollarding which is more often seen in towns where the branches are cut off near the crown of the tree.  If you look to the left of the picture you will see how the paths have been marked out by laying sticks next to each other.  A bio-degradable path and easily maintained too.

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This is a deer fence made of brushwood.  The area inside has been newly coppiced and the fence is here to stop the deer eating the new tree shoots.  In Roger Deakin’s delightful book ‘Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees’ he goes coppicing with a friend and also says that some woodsmen put a heap of brushwood on each individual stump to stop deer and rabbit damage.

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A couple of woodland ponds.

If anyone can tell me what the plant in the second pond is I would be very grateful.  I apologise for the poor quality of the photo but I included it as I wished to show where the flowers are growing.  The flowers are a little like primrose flowers and are in tiered whorls.  The leaves are strap-like.

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Lords and Ladies.

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Early Purple Orchid.

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Early Purple Orchid.

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Ajuga/Bugle.

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Primroses.

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Violets.

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Ragged Robin.

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Pendulous Sedge.

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Pendulous Sedge.

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Bush Vetch

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Yellow Archangel.

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Yellow Archangel.

The next few photos are of the bluebells in Reydon Wood.

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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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