The Cat and Fiddle

25 Tue Oct 2016

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

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

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!

Peveril Castle

09 Sun Oct 2016

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

≈ 54 Comments

Tags

Castleton, courtyard, English Heritage, harebells, maidenhair spleenwort, Mam Tor, Peak District, Peveril Castle, ruins, the keep, views, wild marjoram

The day following our walk at Ilam we had arranged to meet Alice and Elinor at Castleton in Derbyshire.

Castleton is a pretty village and a great place to stay if you want to walk in the hills or visit the mines. For some years we stayed at a site just outside the village every Whitsun half-term holiday but gave up eventually because we got tired of the crowds of people everywhere. Looking at the numbers of visitors when we went there this August, it seems that there are fewer visitors in the later summer than earlier in the year.

Alice and Elinor took the bus from Sheffield and arrived ten minutes before us. We had got delayed by having to make a detour round an accident on the Leek to Buxton road. We met them in a pub and decided to stay there and have some lunch.

After lunch we wandered through the village and noted all the changes made since we had last visited. We all agreed that it would be good to climb up to Peveril Castle. I didn’t manage to take any pictures on my ascent to the castle. I found it much more tiring than I remembered and in retrospect maybe I shouldn’t have had quite so much for my lunch! The path zig-zags up the steep climb from Castleton and we got very hot in the bright sunshine. Alice sped up the path before us; she lives in a very hilly city and is used to walking everywhere. Eventually we got to the entrance to the castle which is through the remains of one of the gatehouses built in the 12th century. We then entered the main courtyard of the castle which is now a large lawn. Originally this space had many buildings in it; a great hall, a kitchen, perhaps guest halls, servants and retainers homes, store sheds, stables and the like. It is possible to see the outline of some of these long-demolished buildings.

The keep at Peveril Castle with the steep lawn which is all that is left of the castle.

Looking down the courtyard to the remains of the curtain wall and beyond to the surrounding Peak District hills. Mam Tor is the peak to the left of centre.

The curtain wall which surrounded the courtyard was constructed early on in Norman times. It was built by the Peverils and apparently includes Roman tiles probably taken from the ruins of the Roman fort at Navio (Brough).

The curtain wall and gatehouse.

William the Conqueror’s supposedly illegitimate son William Peverel was a great favourite with the Conqueror and after the conquest he was granted the Royal Manors of the Peak. In this way he became the administrator of the Royal Forest of the Peak in Castleton on behalf of the Conqueror. He built a castle in 1080 on this site which is naturally strategically strong; it is quite difficult to get to and also easy to defend. It was originally built of wood but after some years it was thought expedient to replace it with a stone structure and this was done in about 1175 and the remains of this later building is what is seen today.

Looking over the curtain wall to Castleton below

One of the views from the courtyard

An information board at the castle

Mam Tor

Castleton

The entrance to the Keep

The Keep

The Keep was originally 60′ high and was faced with fine gritstone blocks. These can still be seen on the south and east sides of the building. You can see them at the top of the Keep and around the lower window in the photo above.

Harebells (Campanua rotundifolia) and what looks like Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) growing in the courtyard. There are a couple of other plants here that I can’t ID. I wish I had looked more carefully at the time!

Looking down into Cavedale at the rear of the castle. Originally the approach to the castle was from this side with a bridge across a moat.

Cavedale

Inside the Keep

Inside the Keep

When the castle was rebuilt in stone in 1175/6 this Keep with round-headed windows was added. The Keep was never meant to be lived in but was the administrative centre of the castle and would have been a place of refuge if ever the curtain wall was breached.

A drawing of what the Keep was thought to look like when it was built

In the 17th century the castle was considered too uncomfortable to live in and all the apartments except the Keep were demolished. The Keep was retained to serve as a courthouse. From then on until the early 19th century the place was left unoccupied and it quickly deteriorated. Repairs and reconstruction work was carried out by the Duchy of Lancaster in the early 1800s who retained the castle until it was taken on by English Heritage.

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Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)

More Wild Marjoram

A model showing what the castle was supposed to look like when newly built

From another angle

We spent a most enjoyable afternoon together. Eventually it was time for the girls to catch their bus back to Sheffield. Richard and I then drove back to Leek, stopping briefly just outside Castleton at the top of Whinnat’s Pass to take the following photograph.

The entrance to Speedwell Cavern

Thanks for visiting!

Peak District Holiday 2016

07 Fri Oct 2016

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

≈ 48 Comments

Tags

annual meadow-grass, Betony, bull, calves, cows, Devil's-bit Scabious, enchanter's nightshade, eyebright, flowers, former industrial landscape, garlic mustard, grasses, greater plantain, harebell, hart's-tongue fern, Hawthorn, Ilam Country Park, Ilam Cross, Ilam Hall, Ilam village, industrial landscape, lamb, Lesser Burdock, Maidenhair Pleenwort, Paradise Walk, Peak District, power station, Rabbit, River Manifold, rowan, Sheep's Fescue, Small Teasel, stile, The Battle Stone, tormentil, unimproved grassland, wind farm

Richard and I had a weeks holiday in the Peak District during August and stayed in our caravan as usual and at a favourite site. We travelled on the 15th taking Elinor with us and once we had set up the caravan and had had a short rest we then drove to Sheffield as Elinor would be staying the week with Alice. We had a cup of tea, a nice chat with Alice and Richard met Mona, Alice’s cat for the first time.

This is Mona

Richard and I then returned to our caravan near Leek in Staffordshire calling in at the supermarket on the way where we bought enough food to keep us going for most of the week. We couldn’t find anywhere to buy a take-away meal so we heated up a ready-made lasagna in the oven and had a very late but tasty dinner.

The weather forecast was for four days of good weather followed by cooler rainy weather so we thought we’d do as much walking in the dry at the beginning of the week as we could. Our first full day was also Richard’s birthday and we decided to have lunch at the White Hart in Leek where we know we can get very nice Staffordshire oatcakes filled with cheese and bacon or cheese and sausage. Before going in to Leek we had to put the awning up on the caravan. An awning (for those who don’t know) is a tent, shelter or canopy which is attached to the side of a caravan which provides a little extra space to live in. We find ours very useful, especially in wet weather as we can keep our soggy shoes and coats out there.

After lunch we tried to find a wood I wanted to walk in but we had great difficulty following the directions to it. In the end we gave up and went to Ilam Park and walked from there.

Ilam Hall which is now a Youth Hostel

From the carpark we walked towards the remains of the hall and through the archway to the other side of the building.

The gardens at Ilam

The gardens are very attractive and have places to sit and admire the scenery. We made our way through the pleasure grounds, the path descending towards the River Manifold.

Hart’s-tongue Fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium) and Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes) decorate the wall behind the handrail.

The underside of the leaves of the Hart’s tongue Fern have stripes of spore sacs.

Looking down through the trees to the River Manifold

Looking back up the steps we had just come down.

The water in the river is very clear.

Interesting rock formations can be seen down by the river.

A profusion of Enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana)

The view across water meadows from ‘Paradise Walk’

Paradise Walk is a Lime tree avenue where, in its heyday, the owners of the hall and their guests could walk and talk and admire the parkland.

The Battle Stone

The description of the Battle Stone

This cross shaft, known as the ‘Battle Stone’ has been set in a little enclosure at the side of the Paradise Walk. It is strange to us to find that people in former times were happy to use any material they found to build their houses, even part of a cross!

We were advised not to use this bridge to cross the river.

Small Teasel (Dipsacus pilosus) growing with Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus)

Small Teasel

This was the first time I had ever seen this plant and it took me some time to ID it. My photograph isn’t the best and I wasn’t too sure where to start my search. The plant is often found on damp, disturbed ground near woodland edges and near streams and rivers.

Lesser Burdock

We went over the river at the next bridge and then crossed a meadow the ascent of which gradually got steeper.

Cow and calves

The calves were a little curious but the cow continued calling to them and they stayed with her.

Bull and cows

At the top of the field was a bull and a couple of cows. Fortunately, they were more interested in eating than in us because we were quite puffed by the time we had got to the top of the field and I don’t think we could have run anywhere!

The next field was even steeper and the grass was dry and shiny.

There were flowers everywhere! Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) (the yellow flowers) and Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Betony (Stachys officinalis)

Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) and Harebells

Devil’s-bit Scabious and Tormentil

I’m afraid the photos got more out of focus the further up the hill I got. It was all I could do to keep my footing.

Betony and grasses

Annual Meadow Grass (Poa annua)

The view from the top of the hill

We were glad to get to the top and catch our breath. There was still rising ground to cover but the really steep bit was finished with.

I think this grass is Sheep’s Fescue (Festuca ovina) It caught my eye because the seedheads were shining in the sunlight.

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis agg.)

Eyebright is slowly becoming rarer because it is semi-parasitic on the roots of other plants and will only grow in undisturbed grass land. There is very little undisturbed grassland in this country.

Another shot of the same view but from further up the hill

I love this rather untidy scene

Through the gateway

Both pictures are typical of cattle-farming country. The well-trampled area next to the gateway and water-trough which in wet weather is extremely squelchy. The bank of nettles beyond the trough…

A hedge in this part of the world is a rare thing

A view of Ilam village below us

A weathered Hawthorn tree (Crataegus monogyna)

I like the stand of trees on the crest of the next hill

I used the zoom on my camera to photograph a wind farm on the horizon

A different source of electricity. This may be Willington power station or maybe Rugeley? I know both these places have/had 5 cooling towers and my camera has quite a powerful zoom. I would be interested to know which station this is.

This is the interesting thing about the Peak District. The whole area has been industrial at some period in its history. We may be out on the moors and seemingly miles from anywhere but industry or the effects of industry surround us.

We began the descent towards Ilam village.

Grasses and flowers

This may look like a rather uninteresting patch of grass with a few flowers in it. However, in this approximately 40cm x 40cm piece of land there are at least three different types of grass and more than six different flowering plants, not all in flower. True diversity!

Having had cows, calves and a bull on this post we had to have a lamb too. Look at those ears! Richard called him/her ‘Wingnut’!

One of the many stiles we clambered over that afternoon

The path across the meadow

The path was much clearer in real life than in my photograph. An indentation in the soil; the grass growing differently on the path and the light reflecting off it in a different way making it look lighter, sometimes darker than the surrounding grass. I’m sure it would be more obvious at sunset or sunrise or with a dusting of snow on it.

A Rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia)

Another stile. This time a squash stile’; my favourite (I don’t think!)

We had descended to the valley again and entered Blore Pastures Wood by the stile.

A brown lamb in the late afternoon sun

I was surprised to see Jack-by-the-Hedge/Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in flower this late in the year

Greater Plantain (Plantago major)

We saw this enormous plantain next to the road as we approached Ilam.

Ilam Cross, built by Jesse Watts-Russell (who also built Ilam Hall) in memory of his wife.

The cross was badly damaged in a storm some years ago but has recently been completely restored.

A plaque with all the information about the cross

The village was full of people enjoying the evening sunshine. I had hoped to photograph the houses and the bridge but there were too many people in the way.

A Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) seen on our way back to the carpark

A most enjoyable walk in glorious sunshine.

Thanks for visiting!

In My Garden Again

28 Wed Sep 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, Insects, music, plants, Rural Diary, trees, wild animals, wild flowers

≈ 75 Comments

Tags

bird's nest, Brown Hare, Brown Hawker dragonfly, comma butterfly, Common Fleabane, Common Hawthorn berries, cooking apples, Crabapples, Creeping Thistle, Fish-hook Cactus, garden, hogweed, Hornet, Hoverfly, leveret, mole hill, moonrise, pears, speckled wood butterfly, Suffolk, sunset, Sweet Pepper, Water Mint, Zinnia

This is another collection of things I’ve seen in my garden or near my home during the past month. The weather until a few days ago has been wonderful! Warm, sometimes very hot, mainly dry and sunny; it has been a lovely late summer.

Flower on Richard’s Fish-hook Cactus (Ferocactus wislizeni)

This cactus nearly flowered for the first time two years ago but the warm, sunny weather didn’t last long enough and the buds shrivelled. Last year was too dull and cool so no buds formed at all. This year however, one of the three buds opened and stayed open for three days.

Sweet pepper ‘Sweet Banana’

Richard is growing sweet peppers this year and this is a photo of them when they were just starting to turn red. Unfortunately, the camera focused on the leaf not the pepper.

Zinnia flower

Zinnia flower-bud

Richard bought a tray of Zinnia flowers from the garden centre. They took their time to get established but eventually they got going and have been so bright and cheerful for the past month.

Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenteria) has been everywhere I’ve looked this summer but this poor shot is the only photo of it I’ve taken.

For centuries, the leaves of Fleabane were hung in bunches from ceilings or dried and burnt as a fumigant to repel fleas. Richard Mabey in his ‘Flora Britannica’ says the plant is a relative of the species which supplies the insecticide ‘pyrethrum’.

Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) seed-heads

Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)

This is a woodland butterfly and its markings make it difficult to spot in dappled shade.

A Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album) on Water Mint (Mentha aquatica)

Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) with a Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) on the lowest flowerhead

The crabapples on our species crabapple tree look like cherries. Woodpigeons are very fond of them.

We don’t have many apples this year. This one looks very good – a cooking apple.

We have what looks like a good crop of pears but sadly many of the fruits are rotting on the tree.

Common Hawthorn berries, known as Haws. (Crataegus monogyna)

The Hawthorns are full of fruit; some people say this means we are to have a hard winter. I think it means we had good pollination in the spring.

A female Brown Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna grandis)

I took this photo in a hurry as Brown Hawkers are such restless dragonflies and only perch for a few seconds. I love their amber wings!

Another poor photo, this time of a Hornet (Vespa crabro)

We have had a Hornets’ nest under the tiles of the garage roof this summer. They are busy insects and carry on flying until well after sunset, unlike wasps who retire early. We have also got a wasps’ nest under the house roof tiles near our bedroom window. I could hear them chewing and munching away through the night when they were first constructing the nest in the early summer.

This is a mole hill that appeared in the rather dry border next to the conservatory. The hill got bigger the following day and many spring bulbs were uprooted.

We haven’t had much rain during the past month and the moles are searching for worms. The worms congregate where there is moisture i.e. in flower-beds (if they are watered) or next to paths or buildings where water runs off into the soil.

Sunset

Sunset with mist

And shortly afterwards on the same evening…..

Moonrise

Moonrise

We were pleased to welcome a new visitor to our garden; a Leveret, a young Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus)

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We first noticed it when it was very close to our kitchen window so you see part of the window frame in my photos! It then moved a little further away and was easier to photograph.

The best time of day to see hares is early morning or at dusk, as during the day they rest in grass, scrubland or in a ploughed furrow. They crouch low against the ground with their ears laid flat and are well camouflaged. If they are disturbed they are capable of running very fast – 35 mph/56kph – and run with their black-topped tail held downwards. They have large staring eyes, large black-tipped ears and powerful hind legs; they are shy and alert creatures. They typically live in open country, preferring not to live in direct contact with grazing animals and they are unlikely to be found in hayfields. They eat a wide selection of grasses and plants of open country as well as crops of cereal, clover, alfalfa, beets and potatoes. In winter a hare will dig for green plants under the snow and will eat buds and bark from bushes and trees, including fruit trees. They have suffered in areas of intensive farming and where herbicides are regularly used. Pesticides contaminate their food and may kill leverets.

In March and April hares can be seen leaping and chasing about which gives rise to the saying ‘mad, March Hares’. They often stand up on their hind legs and box each other; this may be two males vying for social dominance or, as is now thought more likely, a female (Jill) rebuffing a male (Jack). Leverets are born in the open with a full coat of fur and with their eyes open. They are born in litters of about three and the mother moves them immediately to another safe place which makes it more difficult for predators to find them. Each leveret is placed in a ‘form’ – a depression made in long grass – on its own where it lies low waiting for visits from its mother. This behaviour is very like that of deer.

While watering my green beans the other day I noticed some tiny white eggshells lying on the ground and wondered where they could have come from. Richard looked into the branches of the Laburnum tree above us and saw a tiny nest that I hadn’t been able to see – (I am quite a lot shorter than he is). It was a windy day and the pieces of shell must have been dislodged by the breeze. A week later I found the nest on the ground and here is my photograph of it.

I do not know what bird built this nest.

As you can see from the photo it is only 11 cm long and about 6 cm wide. It is made of tiny twigs, grasses, leaves and moss all woven together and is lined with sheep’s wool and white feathers.

And finally, here is my music selection for this post.

Thanks for visiting!

In My Garden

18 Sun Sep 2016

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

≈ 62 Comments

Tags

Astrantia, Bittersweet, black bryony, Black Spleenwort, blue-tailed damselfly, butterflies, comma, common blue damselfly, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Essex skipper, Field Bindweed, flowers, fruit tree, garden, gatekeeper, Gladiolus, greengage, hedge bindweed, Hyssop, insects, Jacob's Ladder, Lilium longiflorum, peacock butterfly, perennial sow-thistle, Pheasant Berry, plants, rowan, ruddy darter, runner beans, spleenwort, Stargazer Lily, Suffolk, sunset, Swiss Chard, trees, vegetables, wheat, wild flowers, Woody Nightshade

This post is made up of photos of flowers, insects and other things of interest that I saw in my garden during the last couple of weeks of July and the first fortnight in August. We spent that time catching up with jobs around the house and doing a lot of gardening as the weather was quite good.

It has not been a good year for insects here; an extremely bad one for butterflies in fact, possibly due to the cool, wet spring and early summer we had. The flowers and plants had a slow start but once the warm weather arrived in mid July they soon caught up.

A male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)

We still had plenty of these small dragonflies in our garden until recently but in July they had just started flying. They don’t just fly near water but find perches all over the garden from which they ‘dart’ to catch passing prey. In this photo the dragonfly is on the top of a cane in my flower-border and was happy to let me get very close to him. Ruddy Darters are the only red dragonflies with totally black legs – they also have a small patch of yellow at the base of the wings. There are black lines on the upper side of the second- and third-to last segments of the abdomen. The upper half of the eyes are red-brown and the lower half are green. The frons (the front of the ‘face’) is red.

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)

I bought this herb late last summer; it survived the winter very well and has flowered beautifully this year. It is very popular with the bees and smells good too.

Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ (Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla var. flavescens)

I grew Swiss Chard from seed this year for the first time, mainly because my mother likes it and hasn’t been able to get it for a few of years. I gave her a few plants and then put some plants into a couple of gaps in my flower-border. They look beautiful, especially with the sun shining through the colourful stems. I can’t say the vegetable when eaten has been very popular. The leaves are like spinach, quickly reducing in size and becoming soft; the stems which I put into the hot water a minute or so before the leaves, have a lovely texture and a very mild taste. They can be steamed successfully too. I think it is the mildness that doesn’t appeal – or perhaps the spinach-like leaves. We love greens in this family and get through large amounts of cabbage, spring-greens, brussels sprouts and broccoli, all of which have fairly powerful flavours. Perhaps Swiss Chard is too refined for us?

A poor photo of an Essex Skipper butterfly (Thymelicus lineola) sitting on a buttercup flower.

I include this just to prove to myself that we did get a number of skippers in the garden in the summer. The Essex Skipper is very similar to the Small Skipper but the antennal tip instead of being golden is black underneath, which can just be seen in my photo.

A Greengage (Prunus domestica ssp. italica var. Claudiana)

We bought a young Greengage tree nearly three years ago and this year we got two fruits on it. We didn’t manage to eat either of them because one or other of our animal, bird or insect visitors got there first.

A Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)

The name ‘Comma’ refers to a white comma mark on the underside of the wings.

Woody Nightshade/Bittersweet berries (Solanum dulcamara)

This has got everywhere in the garden this year! I have found it growing in amongst the herbs, up through the Pyracantha and it has taken over the two Cotoneasters that grow next to our gas-tank. (We are not on mains gas here so have a large butane gas tank near the house). Bittersweet berries are beautiful and are at their most attractive at this stage when some are still green and they are plump and shiny.

Another poor photograph showing what I believe to be a female Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Another photo that is proof to me that we had these damselflies flying round the pond this summer.

Female Gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus)

Male Gatekeepers are territorial and patrol an area of hedgerow often in corners of fields or near gates trying to deter other insects from entering their domains. The males are smaller and a brighter orange than the females and have a dark patch of scent glands on the fore-wing.

Ripe Wheat (Triticum spp.)

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the wheat in the field behind our house just before it was harvested this year.

Peacock butterfly (Inachis io)

This slightly battered Peacock was sunning itself on the path. They are very hairy-bodied insects and the colours and markings on the wings are beautiful. I noticed for the first time the lovely tiger-stripe yellow and black ‘shoulders’ on the fore-wing.

Perennial Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis) This one I discovered growing next to our compost bin.

Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)

The flowers this year are only lightly marked with pink. They are usually much brighter.

We are lucky (?) to have both Field Bindweed, as in the former photo, and Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) as here, in our garden. This one was being visited by a bumble bee.

Our young Rowan or Mountain Ash tree (Sorbus aucuparia) had many flowers in the early summer and produced some berries this year. The berries in the photo are not quite ripe yet. They were eaten by something very quickly once they were red and ripe.

Pheasant Berry (Leycesteria formosa)

I have a pale-leaved Pheasant Berry bush and it has done very well this year, having had enough rain-water at the beginning of the season. The birds usually enjoy the berries but I’m not sure if the wasps will have left them any!

Lilium longiflorum

The white Longiflorum lilies did a little better this year. I still had some trouble with non-native Red Lily Beetles but the cool wet June meant the flowers were taller and stronger and the beetles didn’t appear until later in the season when the weather improved. I was as vigilant as I could be, going out checking for beetles at least twice a day and squashing them when I found them. Unfortunately, nothing could be done while I was away from home so when I returned I soon discovered the horrible grubs eating the plants. I removed as many as I could and discovered that spraying them regularly with soap was very effective.

Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus) ‘Celebration’

I grew runner beans this year and gave my mother six plants and planted the rest in a gap in my flower border. They grew up through a laburnum tree and did quite well. I started them fairly late so they didn’t begin flowering til after mid-summer but the beans develop very quickly and these ones are so sweet and hardly have any ‘strings’. I love the orange flowers.

The beans with a Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) flower-spike and a bumble bee flying towards the Jacob’s Ladder.

The Astrantia, also known as Masterwort, has done well this year.

A male Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

This photo of my lilies (Lilium ‘Stargazer’) was taken well after sunset and without a flash.

I wanted to see if there was enough ambient light to take a successful photo of these luminous lilies.

I then took this photo of a Gladiolus next to the greenhouse

On a church cleaning visit to our church at Rumburgh I noticed this Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigra) growing on the wall.

This plant is mainly found in the west of the country so I was surprised to see it here, almost as far east as one can get. It loves alkaline soil and here it is growing in the mortar. A month later and it had gone – removed I presume, in case it caused yet more damage to our poor crumbling church building.

Just below the spleenwort was this patch of Black Bryony (Tamus communis)

A sunset seen from the back of the house.

My music selection today is ‘The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ by Handel.

Thanks for visiting!

Art by the Numbers

11 Sun Sep 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Uncategorized

≈ 36 Comments

This is a post written by my nephew.

Recently I read about the upcoming nationwide roll out of the Quality Metrics Framework. For those of you who don’t know, The Quality Metrics are a selection of statements presented to audiences to…

Source: Art by the Numbers

A Walk in the Black Forest

02 Fri Sep 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in holidays, Insects, plants, walking, wild flowers

≈ 46 Comments

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

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!

A Little Sight-seeing in the Black Forest

13 Sat Aug 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, holidays, Rural Diary

≈ 55 Comments

Tags

architecture, Black Forest, Black Forest Museum, cake shops, Furtwanger, Germany, holiday, Maria in der Tanne, Pilgrimage Church, Schonwald

We thought we would go and see what other nearby towns and villages were like so we travelled to Furtwanger on the bus. We took our Visitor Card with us and didn’t have to pay any bus-fare.

View from the bus

View of a typical Black Forest house taken from the bus

The weather was still cloudy and very cool that morning so after a brief wander through the town we found a café and had a hot drink (or in Elinor’s case, an apple juice) and yet more cake.

Richard’s cake

Elinor’s cake

My cake

We admired this beautiful vintage coffee machine

Fortified by our meal we sallied out again and found that the weather had improved and the sun was coming out. We discovered a little more of the town.

The Town Hall

A Guest house and hotel with an ornate sign outside

The sign

Furtwanger : the bus station is just beyond the banners

An attractive house.

The town river

The following day we thought we would visit another village on the bus but before doing so we would look at a couple of places in Triberg. The Black Forest Museum was very interesting and was situated in the old Trade Hall.

There were musical instruments ….

An orchestrion

..and another orchestrion!

There were displays of Black Forest Costumes….

….and lots of clocks!

There was even a rather old and dangerous-looking bob-sleigh!

There were exhibits from the local straw-braiding industry and the local glass industry. A large room was full of information about the Black Forest Railway constructed in the 19th century which has two innovative terminal loops with 39 tunnels that overcame the altitude differences – there is nearly 600 metres difference in height between a couple of the towns. There was a diorama made in the 1950s that shows this double loop in great detail.

Diorama of the Black Forest Railways many tunnels

There were reconstructions of workshops and rooms in houses with authentic furniture and tools.

A beautiful bed!

We had a wonderful time in the museum!

We then visited the Pilgrimage Church of Maria in der Tanne (Mary in the Forest). Many years ago, so legend has it, a girl was cured of an eye disease when she bathed it in the spring water nearby. The following year a man was cured of leprosy by washing in the spring water. He was grateful and placed a figure of the Virgin Mary in a niche in a fir tree. The place was forgotten about for about a hundred years until three soldiers rediscovered it after having heard some beautiful singing and followed the sound to the fir tree. The spring and fir tree became a place of pilgrimage and the church was built in the 18th century.

Maria in der Tanne

The nave leading up to the enormous and ornate altar

The altar

The pulpit

A detail of the ceiling decoration

Looking back down the Nave towards the gallery and the organ

We then caught the bus to Schonwald, a pretty village where we had hoped to have some lunch. Unfortunately, we got there too late. We had some coffee and a short walk instead.

View from the bus

This has symbols of all the trades on it.

We returned to Triberg and to our hotel for a rest before our evening meal.

Thanks for visiting!

Black Forest Holiday – Part 2

08 Mon Aug 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, holidays, walking

≈ 57 Comments

Tags

birds, Black Forest, Ernest Hemingway, fungi, holiday, lichen, memorials, moss, Nutcracker, Otto von Bismarck, red squirrels, Triberg, waterfall, wildflowers

On our second full day on holiday we thought we would go and see the Triberg waterfall which we were informed is the highest waterfall in Germany. (In fact, it isn’t as Rothbach Waterfall in Bavaria is the highest with a single, vertical drop of 470 metres.) We had a short walk through the town to the nature park entrance where we were able to get free entry by using the guest-card that the hotel had given us on our arrival.

Just a few minutes walk brought us to the waterfall.

The waterfall is a series of seven cascades falling 160 metres into the valley.

The waterfall can be heard in the town.

The paths and bridges have been carefully designed to enable everyone to see the falls clearly.

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I didn’t just photograph the waterfall. There were plenty of plants that interested me, some I recognised and others I still cannot put a name to.

Touch-me-not Balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere)

Fungus

Lichen

Unidentified yellow flower

Slime mould

Moss

More moss

Hoof fungus (Fomes fomentarius) ?

Orange-coloured fungus.

Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)

Wood Sage (Teucrium scorodonia)

Wood Sage flower spike

We also saw glimpses of Red Squirrels, which are not rare in Germany, but they were too quick for me and I was unable to photograph one.

I was very pleased that I managed to photograph a Nutcracker, a bird from the crow family. They are one of the smallest crows at 12.5 inches long, even smaller than a Jackdaw, and they were moving about quickly in the undergrowth feeding newly fledged young.

Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) on a tree-stump

This is the above photo which has been cropped

Nutcracker

Only one of those photos was cropped though I had to use the zoom on my camera to its fullest extent for the rest!

There were a few commemorative plaques placed on the rock face; this one is for Otto von Bismarck.

Bismarck commemoration

This one is for Ernest Hemingway

On the right are his dates of birth and death under a note saying that Ernest Hemingway visited Triberg in the Black Forest in August 1922 where he indulged in his passion for fishing. There is a quote from ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ on the left where he talks about a trout-fishing trip to Triberg.

We enjoyed our walk through the forest and before returning to our hotel, indulged in some more coffee and cake!

Thanks for visiting!

A Holiday in the Black Forest

04 Thu Aug 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, holidays, Rural Diary

≈ 51 Comments

Tags

Black Forest railway, Bollenhutte, Brussels, Caffee und Kuchen, cake shops, Cologne, cuckoo-clock shops, Deutsche Bahn, Ebbsfleet, Eurostar, holiday, ICE trains, Liege-Guillemins station, luggage, Luggagemule, Offenburg, packing, Parkhotel Wehrle, River Gutach, trains, travelling, Triberg

We recently had an eight-day holiday in the Black Forest in Germany. Richard organised the whole trip on his own, booking the hotel independently and then contacting Deutsche Bahn who recommended a route for us to take. We enjoy travelling by train! On previous trips we have used couchettes or sleeping cars but Elinor said that she’d rather we didn’t do that again so we managed to get the whole journey done in one day, setting off from home at 4.30 am and getting to the hotel just before 9.00 pm (8.00 pm British time) the same day.

We drove to Ebbsfleet in Kent where we left the car and went through passport control and customs before boarding the Eurostar.

The view from the waiting area at Ebbsfleet

Richard and Elinor eager to board the train!

Modern high-speed trains are usually very pleasant to travel on. The seats are comfortable, there is no jolting or bumping and there is hardly any engine noise. We seem to slide through the countryside at 140 mph almost as though we are hovering above the ground rather than fixed on tracks. The only downside is travelling through tunnels which make my ears pop and not being able to see the scenery at times because of sound barriers built next to the line near towns and villages. The tunnel under the English Channel only takes 20 minutes to go through and the train is travelling at a mere 80 mph. This rate of travel is still very surprising to me; I have always journeyed by train and my first train trip to the Continent when I was 14 years old began at Victoria Station in London. That first leg from London to Dover took about an hour and 40 minutes. We went through customs and then boarded a ferry to Ostend in Belgium. The sea journey took three or four hours and we then caught a large train to Paris. It was very exciting! Everything looked and smelt so different. I remember setting off from London about midday and eventually getting to Paris that evening where we ran from one station to another dodging the crazy traffic and quickly finding something to eat before we boarded the sleeper to Munich.

But back to our recent journey – the Eurostar took just over two hours to get to Brussels where we had a couple of hours wait for our next connection to Cologne.

Here we are having some lunch at a café near the station in Brussels. Richard is just posting a photo of his beer on Facebook……

Jupiler Belgian Pils

….and taking a picture of me and Elinor. I see that I am looking very tired which is not surprising as I had only had two hours sleep the night before!

It was so pleasant to be out in the sunshine and the lunch was exceedingly good. What I found sad was the sight of armoured cars and armed soldiers and police everywhere. With all the terrible attacks all over Europe it is not to be wondered at but I find it very upsetting all the same.

Our next train arrived on time and we were soon on our way to Cologne.

This is the station at Liege-Guillemins – the first stop on the way to Cologne. It is a beautiful building; Richard was able to take this photo through the window while we were there.

The last time we passed through Liege, work had begun recently to up-grade the tracks for high-speed trains. I don’t remember seeing this station then. Catalan architect Santiago Calatrava designed the building and it really is superb.

I think this might be us arriving at Cologne. Richard took this view of the River Rhine through the train window.

We had a 40 minute stop in Cologne where we dashed about looking for food as we would be arriving too late at our hotel for a meal. Our next high-speed train took us to the small town of Offenburg where we needed to buy more water as we had forgotten this in Cologne. Luckily, there was a drinks dispenser on the platform and we bought two bottles of ice-cold mineral water. By this time the fine weather had disappeared and it was raining hard and quite chilly.

Our last train was a double-decker local train to Triberg which travelled through very scenic countryside, though by this time it was very gloomy and wet and after 8.00 in the evening. We had arranged with the hotel for a taxi to pick us up at the station and as soon as we got off the train we were halloo-ed by the driver who was over on the opposite platform.

He drove us quickly to our hotel where we booked in and found that our other suitcases had already arrived and were waiting in our rooms. We had decided to use a company called ‘Luggage Mule’ to help get all our belongings on holiday. Lugging heavy suitcases on and off trains is a back-breaking business and as we usually need a large case for our medication alone we thought having someone else do the lifting was a good idea. The cases were collected six days before our holiday started and I found packing this far in advance quite tricky. Inevitably, there were things I wished I’d included and hadn’t and things I wished I hadn’t included but had! We were amused by the list of things that we were forbidden to pack. As you will see from the list, we had to leave our sink behind! We still managed to find more things we couldn’t do without for eight days to fill two smaller suitcases that we carried with us on the journey (see the second photo above)! Three washbags, cosmetics, medication for three people with chronic illnesses, Elinor’s books and drawing materials, her laptop and my notebook PC, shoes we had forgotten to pack earlier, coats etc made us look like a normal family going away for a week.

Our rooms in the hotel were comfortable and spacious and we slept well after our long day. The following morning we enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast and then had a short wander round Triberg, the town where we were staying.

View from our window

Our hotel. I took this photo the last evening we were there.

Another wing of the hotel is on the left of the photo. Ernest Hemingway stayed in this hotel when he visited the Black Forest.

It wasn’t a warm day and there was a mixture of sunshine and showers but we saw that it was a pretty place though very busy with tourists like us.

This is one of many cuckoo-clock shops in the town – I took the photo near the end of our holiday when the weather had improved.

As you see from the picture we had arrived in the land of large teddy bears. Two worked unceasingly at their clock-making and another abseiled up and down the outside of the shop all day.

The top of the town with the River Gutach in amongst the trees at the bottom of the photo.

This is a little garden in the centre of the town. There are two large carved figures here that look like Easter Island statues with red balls on their heads.

I believe these statues represent Triberger women in their distinctive national costume and their Bollenhutte (hats with pompoms).

Photo taken from Google images

After our walk about the town we returned to the hotel for a few hours to rest and then at about 4 o’clock we went out for ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ (coffee and cakes) Our breakfast had been so satisfying that we hadn’t needed lunch but by mid-afternoon we were in need of a little something to eat. The cake shop opposite the hotel served the most delicious cakes!

Café Adler – the cake shop

In the evening we went out for a meal at a restaurant close to the hotel. For the time we were in Germany we tried to eat local Black Forest food for every meal. It was all very good indeed though I found there weren’t as many vegetables as I am used to in these dishes which were mainly meat with potatoes or arborio rice or noodles.