Before the Eclipse

20 Fri Mar 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, weather, wild birds

Tags

daffodils, dotted border moth, ducks, early dog-violet, gardening, geese, greylags, hellebores, house sparrow, mallards, Mothering Sunday, Rip van Winkle daffodils, silver-lace primula, simnel cake, solar eclipse, Suffolk, viburnum bodnantense

Such a busy week I have had!

Some pretty, delicate daffodils growing at the top of the ditch-bank at the front of the house.

After a couple of problems were sorted out, Elinor’s week last week ended well. She spent Friday in London with her Art class visiting The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Natural History Museum and the Saatchi Gallery and had a wonderful time. She was able to rest as often as she needed to (she has scoliosis) and so therefore had hardly any back pain. She travelled by coach and, as many of her colleagues had never been to London before, the driver took them on a route that passed by many of the sights – they drove along the Embankment so they saw the Thames, Cleopatra’s Needle with the two Sphinx, then the Tower of London and the 2012 Olympic Stadium among others. I left her at the college at about 8.15 am and Richard collected her at 8.00 pm – so about twelve hours away from family – the longest time ever. I spent the day ironing.

Silver-lace Primula

Some more of my new Hellebores have begun flowering.

I was able to do a little gardening on Saturday. It was quite chilly but dry and I progressed quite well with the weeding I had started earlier in the week. Richard gave the lawn another mow and over the weekend he was able to finish cutting the leylandii hedge.

The Viburnum Bodnantense is just coming into leaf.

IMG_4235Rip van Winkle daffodils (640x480)

I love these little Rip-van-Winkle daffodils.

IMG_4237Rip van Winkle daffodil (640x480)

It looks more like a miniature Chrysanthemum from this angle.

Sunday was Mothering Sunday and I had told Mum I would be taking her to church. I collected her and helped her put the Simnel Cake she had made carefully into the car. She had received a phone call from one of the ladies at church asking if she would be bringing a cake as usual and fortunately she had the ingredients ready in case they asked her. I took an elderly retired priest back home after the service then took Mum home too. I arranged with her that Richard would collect her at 6.00 pm as she was coming for a meal at our house. It had to be an evening meal as I hadn’t time to cook lunch and drive to church. I spent most of the afternoon preparing the food. Mum provided an apple pie and another Simnel Cake for us.

This is the Simnel Cake Mum made for us last year. This year’s one looked the same so I’m reposting the photo

The temperature at the weekend was about 10 degrees C lower than the weekend before. The easterly wind dragged such a lot of cloud and mist in off the North Sea but not very much rain. I have had to water the pots and tubs as they are all drying out very quickly. Today the wind was veering round to the North, so a change – but not necessarily for the better!

This is an Early Dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana). We have them growing on the grass path round the big pond. They are very small and the flower here was only just over an inch tall.

Here’s another one.

Richard travelled to Lancaster in Lancashire on Monday for work and continued there until Wednesday. He is now staying with his brother in Manchester as he wanted to see him and his mother. She has been assessed at last and to our complete surprise she has been told that she is fit to leave the respite home she has been in for three months and go home. We know that she is not at all able to look after herself – she cannot stand up on her own anymore, let alone walk. She would need 24 hour care and she would need her home adapting even more than it is at the moment. Richard and his brother needed to discuss this new challenge together and with Mum-in-law. They are also going to visit a couple of nursing homes to see if they are suitable for their mother to live in. They have spent the day at York, visiting the National Railway Museum.

This is the goose on a visit to her nest on the very brambly island on our pond. She has been laying eggs but hasn’t started sitting yet.

IMG_1972Greylag goose and gander (640x427)

Here is the goose and gander up close to the house. They come to have a look to see what food they can find under the bird-tables. I am sure the goose, if not the gander, is one of the goslings from two years ago. She follows me round the garden as I fill the feeders so of course I give her and the gander some special duck and goose mixture I have .

The Mallards also come up close to the house looking for food.

They are enthusiastic eaters and rip up a lot of grass too.

I had an appointment at the opticians on Tuesday and yet again failed to do well enough in one of the tests and have to go back again next week. Mum had another appointment at the eye clinic at Norwich hospital on Wednesday afternoon so I took her. Her appointment went well and we go back again in six weeks. I have done Mum’s shopping for her but it took three different trips.

A male House Sparrow in the crabapple tree.

Tomorrow morning we have a solar eclipse. We will be lucky to see anything of it because of the cloud cover. It may be possible to see it if the cloud thins early enough. I remember the last total solar eclipse 16 years ago. It was a bright, warm, sunny day and we all went out into the garden to witness it. What I remember most about it were the strange shadows – each leaf had two shadows and as it got darker it was such a strange twilight with the dimming sun above us and not on the horizon. As it got dark the birds stopped singing and the silence was eerie. I wonder what I will see tomorrow at 9.30 am? I will be just arriving home from taking Elinor to college.

This is a Dotted Border Moth (Agriopis marginaria) that I saw on the outside of my kitchen window. The strange white light is a reflection of my flash in the double-glazing.

Elinor has been invited to a party. One of her old school friends is holding an 18th birthday party tomorrow and Elinor thinks she would like to go. She may need collecting early but it will be so good for her even to go for a short time.

Thank-you for visiting!

A Quiet Week

14 Sat Mar 2015

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

≈ 38 Comments

Tags

barn owl, bracket fungus, cut flowers, daffodils, garden, geese, greylags, liquid manure, primroses, snowdrops, Suffolk, tulips, winter aconites

We haven’t done anything special this week – just kept quite busy doing ordinary things. This post will be made up of a few photos of some of the things I have seen in the past few days.

I bought these tulips on Monday. I love the mixture of bright colours. They are also scented.

I hardly ever buy flowers for the house and the only flowers I bring indoors from the garden are poor damaged blooms that have been knocked over by wind, rain or visiting wildlife.

I love flowers so I am not sure why I don’t have them in the house often. I know I can’t arrange flowers so that may have something to do with it. I also feel sorry for them – I love to see them outside where they belong and think it’s a shame to cut them. Amusingly, whenever Alice sees a vase of flowers she thinks Richard and I have had an argument. Sometimes we have and sometimes we haven’t.

IMG_1939Bracket fungus on willow log (640x427)

I saw this bracket fungus on a willow log in the garden.

My Hellebores have just begun to flower.

A tub full of Tete-a-tete daffodils.

These tiny little daffodils are only about 4″ high and grow under the Winter-flowering Honeysuckle.

I found a few more aconites in a gravelly area. Gravel must be where they like to grow. I must pull those weeds up!

IMG_1934Liquid manure spraying (640x427)

The joys of living in the country! Fortunately the wind was blowing the heady aroma away from me. I had a line of washing hanging out on Tuesday as it was warm and sunny and a breeze was blowing. I had to take it indoors quickly once I saw what was happening.

The Greylags are back in our garden and the field behind the house. This is the gander.

And this is the goose. You can only just see her.

Fifteen geese turned up on Thursday morning. Here are most of them. The geese return each year at the end of February and often there is a day or so of arguments as to who should nest on the little island on our pond. I didn’t notice anything this year but that may be because I am away from the house a lot more.

I got closer to these few. Once the goose starts sitting on her eggs the extended family call in to visit now and then. Her gander stays with her all the time and I am sure gets very bored wandering about on his own. He is very protective of his goose. For the last two years there have been no goslings which I find very sad. They may be laying infertile eggs or ‘something ‘ may be taking the young when first hatched. We have grass snakes and I have seen an otter on the pond, but not recently. Last year I witnessed a Moorhen chick being dragged underwater by something. My brother suggests that it could be a turtle. Someone unscrupulous may have disposed of it into our pond. I haven’t seen any other evidence of a turtle so far. Neighbours say they have seen a mink which they believe has taken all their ducklings. That seems more likely as a culprit.

I have a film I shot of the former pair of geese with their goslings swimming on the pond. When I work out how to put it on U-Tube and then transfer it back to WordPress you will see how lovely they are. I have also recorded a short film at dusk with the song of a Song Thrush and a Tawny Owl hooting. I will try to post that too one day.

This is one of the two Barn Owls we see regularly.

They are also known as screech owls as their call is not a hoot but a screech.

They look like giant moths when they fly. Their heads are very large.

IMG_4098Primroses and snowdrops (640x480)

Primroses and Snowdrops in the ditch between us and the old schoolhouse.

Thank-you for visiting!

A Mild Weekend

10 Tue Mar 2015

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

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

chaffinches, Coffee morning, daffodils, euonymus, gardening, goldfinches, grass-cutting, green woodpecker, hedge-cutting, honey bees, honeysuckle, ladybird, primulas, Robin, rosemary, weather

These daffodils are only about 8″ tall – I like their delicate yellow colour. The clay soil in the flowerbed had already formed a hard crust when I took this photo.

We had hardly any rain last week and as a strong breeze was blowing most of the time, the ground at last started to dry out and we weren’t sinking into the lawn at every step. We had a few frosts that disappeared very quickly and the temperature rose progressively through the week until at the weekend we had temperatures in the mid teens (Centigrade).

A honey bee on honeysuckle. We have some new neighbours living near us who have bee hives. On Thursday I saw that their bees had ventured out and were enjoying our honeysuckle flowers.

Both Richard and I worked quite hard in the garden this weekend, trying to catch up with the tidying chores that should have been done in the autumn and make a start on the jobs that need to be done in the spring.

Rosemary in flower against the front wall of our house.

Rosemary flowers. Whilst weeding on Sunday I found a number of rosemary seedlings.

The job that Richard was most pleased about was getting the grass cut at last. He has cut it long to start with and next weekend (weather permitting) he will cut it shorter. He had also not been able to finish cutting the Leylandii hedge last autumn and on Sunday he worked on that too. There is only the top to cut now and if the ground continues to dry out he will be able to get on the stepladder without it sinking in a couple of feet and finish that next weekend as well. Hopefully, before the birds start to nest in the hedge! Richard wondered if gardening counts as exercise. The nurse always looks at me in a sceptical way when I suggest that gardening should be classed as exercise. I expect she imagines I wander about doing a little pruning and weeding – no raised heart-rate there, she thinks. However, as most gardeners know, gardening can be very strenuous at times and I do my fair share of digging, raking and other heavy work. Richard worked out that he had walked almost a mile and a half yesterday taking six barrow-loads of hedge clippings to the bonfire heap. We have a large garden.

Richard mowing the grass. The building on the far side of the hedge is the old school house. It is now a private dwelling.

IMG_1925Garden with fruit trees (640x427)

This is where we have planted our fruit trees at the front of the house. The school house beyond the hedge, the corner pond to the right and you can see our grey septic tank cover to the left. You can see from the tracks in the grass, Richard must have been practising his slalom driving.

Elinor didn’t have a good day on Friday and wasn’t able to get out of the car when I took her to college. I brought her home again and she slept for a few hours and felt a little better when she woke. She has had three out of four results for her mock GCSE exams so far. Psychology A, English A and Maths E. An E is only just a pass but we are pleased that she did as well as she did with only having attended half a dozen classes at college. She is determined to do better and really wants to get at least a C grade.

Richard and I went to the church coffee morning on Saturday which was held at the Rector’s house. The Rector is still recovering from heart surgery and was pale and thin but gamely hosted the gathering. We won a picture frame in the raffle and I bought a delicious sticky tea bread and some more of the Rector’s home-made marmalade. We indulged in the usual chat and gossip. There are a few events coming up soon. Cordelia is holding her annual Daffodil Day (on Palm Sunday this year), when we admire her beautiful garden and buy food and goods from stalls in aid of church funds. Our other friends, Pam and Ian are holding an Open Garden on Easter Monday also in aid of church funds and their garden is always a joy to visit too.

Ladybird on Euonymus

I had a migraine on Saturday so wasn’t able to take advantage of the fine weather. Sunday started very fair but by the time we left church it was starting to cloud over and we had a little drizzle then rain showers during the afternoon. The weather didn’t stop us working outside as it was so mild.

The churchyard at Flixton where we attended the service on Sunday.

Green Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker. I am glad we have these visiting our garden because they enjoy ants eggs and our garden seems to be one enormous anthill!

I think the woodpecker is a female as the males have a crimson centre to their moustachial stripe.

IMG_1914Chaffinches and Goldfinches (640x460)

Chaffinches and Goldfinches feeding under the crabapple tree.

House Sparrows on fat feeder

Chaffinches

Robin

Just a few of the birds in our garden.

Thank-you for visiting!

Minsmere – Summer 2014

05 Thu Mar 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in domestic animals, plants, Rural Diary, trees, Uncategorized, walking, wild animals, wild birds

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Avocet, beach, Blackthorn sloes, chickweed, Common Reed, common restharrow, Common Sandpiper, Highland Cattle, Konik pony, Lesser Burdock, Lesser Centaury, Marsh Sow-thistle, Marsh-mallow, Michaelmas Daisy, Minsmere, Red Deer, Rosebay Willowherb, RSPB, Sea Kale, silverweed, Spoonbill, Stonecrop, Tansy, Wild Teasel

The beach at Minsmere. I never tire of photographing waves rolling in to the shore.

This is another catch-up post featuring some photos I took last year. Richard, Elinor and I visited the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve at Minsmere on the Suffolk coast last August on Richard’s birthday. We are fairly frequent visitors as it is only a few miles drive from our home. It is a large reserve and has many different types of habitat – woodland, heathland, shoreline, lagoons and creeks. Not only does it have many, many species of bird there but it is home to all sorts of other wildlife – insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plants. Quite often we hardly see any birds at all depending on the time of year and where we decide to walk. We don’t often go into the hides but on this occasion we did go into one briefly.

Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium), a common enough plant, but at the time this was the first one I’d seen that year.

Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). This photograph is not cropped and was taken from the causeway path through the wetland going in the direction of the sea. The deer, though wild, was oblivious to the group of admiring humans taking pictures of it while it ate some tasty vegetation. The deer know they are safe here and feel free to go wherever they want.

I love the dark edges to their ears and the dark line down their necks.

She has such a lovely face! The females are much smaller than the males and are 160 – 210 cm / 63 – 83″ long (not including the tail) and weigh about 120 -170 kg / 260 – 370 lbs.

Driftwood on the beach

Don’t be fooled! They were enjoying themselves really!

Sea Kale (Crambe maritima)

A variety of plants grow on the sand dunes or shingle dunes as they should be called here!

Lesser Centaury (Centaurium pulchellum). Unfortunately I didn’t manage to find any with the flowers open.

I’m afraid you’ll have to take my word for it that this is a Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) My camera wouldn’t zoom any closer.

An unidentified duck and an Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

A Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

Common Reed (Phragmites australis)

Common Restharrow (Ononis repens) The sticky leaves are covered in grains of sand.

Stonecrop (Sedum). I am not sure which Stonecrop this one is.

Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) seedheads

I managed to find a Teasel still in flower – just!

Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus)

Lesser Burdock flowers – the pink-purple florets grow out from between the spiny bracts.

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

Little yellow buttons!

Konik ponies – primitive ponies from Poland – are used by the RSPB as they are very hardy, thrive on rough grazing and tolerate wet conditions.

I couldn’t get a shot of the pony’s face –

– no matter how I tried!

I am always getting left behind!

And this is what happens when I catch up!

Marsh Sow-thistle (Sonchus palustris)

I believe this is Michaelmas Daisy rather than Sea Aster, unfortunately

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Marsh-mallow (Althaea officinalis)

Ripening sloes on the Blackthorn trees (Prunus spinosa)

Silverweed (Potentilla anserina) so called because the leaves are covered in silvery, silky hairs that catch the light and shine like silver.

The RSPB also use black Highland cattle to graze the marshes

We will no doubt be visiting the reserve again very soon. I read that they have discovered some Common Bird’s-nest fungi there recently and I would like to see it.

February’s End

03 Tue Mar 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, weather

≈ 35 Comments

Tags

bluebell, clematis montana, crocus, ditches, Elder, gardening, herb garden, herbs, hyacinth, mole hill, ponds, snowdrops, stinging nettles, viburnum bodnantense, vole hole, winter aconite, witch-hazel

Part of our garden as seen from near the house. This photo was taken on Sunday afternoon when it was still quite breezy. We had great plans for our garden when we first moved in nine years ago but because of a number of reasons we have had to delay doing most of the work. Maybe, once Richard is retired and not travelling away from home so much, we can get on with it!

I am surprised at how quickly this year is speeding past. Christmas was a bit of a non-event – I can’t remember much about it at all – and since then the days and weeks have merged together into a bit of a blur and here we are at the beginning of March!

We seem to have been alternating between days of sun and days of gloom and/or rain recently. Friday began with frost and continued with bright sunshine and white clouds all day. Elinor has yet another streaming, heavy cold and took the day off college. Richard has started taking every Friday off work as he has been given extra pre-retirement leave. I went with him to Bungay where he called in at the barber’s shop for a haircut while I went to the bank and then to the post office. We then drove to Harleston which is just over the border into Norfolk, where we bought an enormous 25 litre container of de-ionised water for my iron, steam mop and steam cleaner.

My Witch-hazel in a pot by the front-door. Cynthia Reyes asked me to describe the scent of the flowers. I have had great difficulty trying to think of an adjective to describe the scent. It isn’t a floral smell at all and only smells slightly like the smell of the astringent made from the leaves and bark. I then remembered a book I loved reading as a girl and also read to both my daughters when they were small – ‘The Children of Green Knowe’ by Lucy M Boston. In it someone says Witch-hazel flowers smell like something to eat and I think that is a good description. I would say that the scent is like that of warm, spicy yeast buns or bread.

After lunch I went into the garden and stayed out there until just after 5.30 pm! Heaven! I have been doing a little garden tidying whenever I have had a moment and so far I have reduced the size of a few perennial herbs and taken out completely a lot of tired and woody plants from my herb garden. When the chance of all frost has gone I will replace them with new ones. I took some cuttings from my elderly thyme last year so those will go in and there are some little seedling chive plants coming up in the wrong places which will be transplanted to the right places. Other herbs will be replaced when I get the opportunity. I tend not to grow perennial herbs from seed (in fact I haven’t grown anything from seed for a long time – lack of time mainly). I only usually need one plant of each herb so I buy them from the garden centre – I find taking cuttings from perennials easy if I need more. I love basil and one day will grow some more from seed along with parsley and other annuals. Meanwhile, supermarkets sell pots of annual herbs for cooking which can be re-potted and grown on and garden centres sell them quite cheaply too. I hope to get a drying cabinet to dry my herbs one day. Herbs attract so many lovely insects so I let them flower. Birds visit the herbs to eat the insects and the seeds too.

My rather sad-looking herb garden at the front of the house. I am hoping that by the summer it will be full of lush, green growth with mauve and cream and yellow flowers visited by bees and butterflies.

More recently I have been clearing weeds and moss from the paths and trimming the lawn edges back away from the paths. A tiring, back-breaking job but very satisfying because all looks so neat and tidy when it is done. I finished the job on Friday!

Stepping stones through the grass that we haven’t been able to cut since early autumn. The grass hasn’t stopped growing but the ground is too sodden to put a lawnmower on!

Path at the side of the house

I also cut right back an enormous Clematis Montana ‘Rubens’ which was not only growing well along its trellis but had spread across to the shed and was trying to smother it and was also growing in the other direction towards the greenhouse. I realise that this is the wrong time of year to prune Clematis Montana but I had attempted it last summer and failed miserably. It grew so fast because of all the rain we had had and any attempt at pruning seemed to encourage it to grow faster. It won’t flower this year I know, but Richard will be able to re-paint the shed and we have regained about 3′ x 10′ of garden!

The bald and diminished Clematis. Not a very professional job but I didn’t want to take any more away in case I killed it!

My mother got a lift to her church yesterday! I spoke to a lady about it a month ago and had almost given up on her remembering or doing anything about it. However, we have a result at last! I had begun to find that I was being expected to give other people lifts home as well. I don’t like to think of elderly people being stranded but it was adding quite a bit to my mileage and driving time and, well, who was taking them there? Couldn’t they take their passenger home again?

Snowdrops at the top of the bank of the front ditch.

Richard went back to see the clinician at the hospital two weeks ago and was given the bad news that he has osteoporosis. He should have been told before Christmas but the doctor in charge forgot and had also forgotten to arrange a meeting with the surgeon at Addenbrooke’s hospital. (Addenbrookes is a hospital in Cambridge affiliated with Cambridge University. It specialises in neurosurgery, transplants and cancer treatments among others). Richard was a little disappointed. His GP (General Practitioner/local doctor) has been comforting and supportive however, and Richard feels a little more positive about it all.

A vole hole – we have lots of these.

A mole hill – we have lots of these too!

Prosaically, I have had a sore and bleeding nose for the past month and I had it cauterized on Thursday with silver nitrate. I have also a dry patch in my throat which may be connected to the nose infection and may be something else. The GP thinks it may be burning from reflux acid and has doubled my prescription of gastro-inhibitor which I take against the side effects of ibruprofen etc! I know that I don’t get heartburn and told the GP so but he wants to rule it out as a cause of the throat problem so I have to take the tablets which have caused upset stomach! Life (and doctors) can be extremely tedious sometimes.

Bluebell leaves just emerging.

My sister, who is a paramedic and has recently got a degree from university which makes her a practitioner (she can now prescribe drugs and treatment), has been presented an award at work for leadership skills. I am very proud of her and the award is well deserved.

A single solitary Winter Aconite flower

My brother stayed the night with us on Wednesday and visited Mum on Thursday. He has obtained a transfer at work and starts his new job in three weeks time but still hasn’t got a buyer for his house. He has seen a new house he would love but is afraid he won’t be able to have it if he can’t sell his old house very soon.

Viburnum bodnantense flowers

Alice, my eldest daughter, still hasn’t got a full-time job, not through want of trying. She has the date of her Viva – the spoken part of her PhD – which will be on the 23rd April. She is nervous about it but it will be such a relief to get it all over and done with. She is very poor at the moment and I know is not eating enough. I sent her some money the other day but I realise it won’t go very far.

Rather stunted pink Hyacinths

Saturday was very gloomy and windy with occasional drizzle during the day which developed into rain by evening with very strong gusts of wind. I ironed for most of the day.

The corner pond

The front ditch that flows into the corner pond. We have ditches circling most of our garden – almost like a moat!

Sunday was very bright and sunny again but the wind was still strong. We went to our church at Rumburgh for Morning Prayer. Unfortunately, there were only five of us there including Maurice who took the service. We discussed everyone’s ill health – as one does! Our Rector has had his heart operation but there have been complications and he is still quite unwell; we pray for his speedy return to full health.

The big pond with its little island on which greylag geese nest each year.

The big pond – looking towards the house

I did some more tidying in the garden during Sunday afternoon. I had discovered some daffodil bulbs a couple of days ago that I had removed from a flowerbed last autumn because of over-crowding and then forgotten about. The poor things were trying to grow so I have planted them alongside one of our hedges. Fortunately they are late flowering bulbs and as tough as old boots so they should do well. I also tidied up lots of pots and tubs full of spring and summer bulbs that I had stored behind the greenhouse. They were a bit weed-covered and the voles/mice and birds had been having fun with some of them. Stinging nettles were starting to invade the area where the pots had been so I pulled quite a few out and will keep my eye on any new shoots appearing in the next few weeks. Nettles are easy to pull out at this time of year especially with our saturated soil – thick gloves are necessary though!

Elder leaves coming out

Today started with frost and clear skies but by mid-morning we had had a couple of showers of rain and the wind had picked up again so much that the top of my bird-table was blown off. It flew through the air and embedded itself in the lawn. I am glad no-one was in its path! Elinor went back to college today but only has classes during the morning on a Monday. I shopped in Bungay and just had time to put the groceries away and put some laundry in the washing machine before I had to return to Norwich to collect her. This afternoon we had hail, sleet and wet snow showers and then more sunshine. March has come in like a lion – will it go out like a lamb? The forecast is for cold nights and windy weather for the next few days and then warmer weather with the winds coming up from the Azores instead of from Canada for the weekend. We shall see!

Bread

27 Fri Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in cooking, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 53 Comments

Tags

baking, bread, flour, mill pond, mute swans, Pakenham Water Mill, tea shop

IMG_4064Pecan and maple syrup loaf (640x480)

Pecan and maple-syrup loaf made in the breadmaker

For the past couple of years I have been making almost all the bread we eat using a bread-maker. If I had the time and strength in my hands I wouldn’t use the bread-maker as much as I do but would knead my own dough. However, needs must and so I use the machine. Bread-makers don’t make perfect loaves but the bread is so much nicer than most shop-bought loaves; the texture and the taste especially. We know what goes into the loaves – there are no hidden ingredients – and I try to use the best flour available to me. For white flour I use Marriage’s Strong Organic and until November I used Pakenham Water Mill Flour for my wholemeal flour. Since November I have not been able to buy Pakenham’s flour as the farm shop I used had to close down. The mill itself isn’t open at weekends during the winter and I can’t get there on Thursday mornings when it is open. I have been using Marriage’s Strong Wholemeal flour instead. The results are not the same. The bread is heavier in texture and the loaves don’t rise so well as when I use Pakenham’s flour. I am looking forward to Easter when the mill re-opens for the summer.

This is Pakenham Water Mill (on the right) and the former miller’s house.

We have visited the mill a couple of times for a tour and these photographs were taken last summer.

001Scones at watermill tearoom (640x480)

They have a little tea shop in the miller’s house and Richard and I partook of scones and tea. Richard had cheese and chutney with his scone and I had clotted cream and jam with mine.

They make all their cakes, bread and scones using their own flour. The flour is made from locally grown wheat and is milled twice to make it as smooth as silk.

This is the view I had of the little kitchen where two ladies prepared all the meals for the visitors.

The view of the river across the road in front of the mill

The river at the back of the mill. They have a bird-feeder hanging from the ancient plough.

The Mute Swans that live on the mill pond

The mill pond. The pond never dries up as there are a number of springs feeding it all year round.

The miller’s house

Pakenham also has a windmill and it can be seen from the bottom of the watermill’s garden

Elderberries ripening in the garden

Heartsease growing in the grass

House Martin’s nests under the eaves

The boat on the mill pond

A photograph of the mill I took in 2013 during a previous visit.

Please try to click on the link to the watermill if you have the time. It describes the working of the mill and its history (briefly!) better than I could ever do.

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I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the watermill!

Yet More Garden Visitors.

20 Fri Feb 2015

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

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

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

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

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

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

Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grey Dagger moth caterpillar (Acronicta psi)

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

Common Darter Dragonfly (Sympetrum striolatum)

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) in Spindle tree

And again

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

White doves sitting on the shed roof

Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

Spider silhouette

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

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

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

More Garden Visitors

19 Thu Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Insects, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

crane fly, digger wasp, Dragonfly, Flesh Fly, garden, Grove snail, harvestman, hawthorn shield bug, ichneumen wasp, insects, moth, ruddy darter, Suffolk, The Suspected

Another collection of photos I took last year in my garden.

A Grove Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) also known as Dark-lipped Banded Snail. I saw this one on the leaves of a cherry tree sapling.

This is a digger wasp, probably (Ectemnius continuus) or one of several similar species! This insect nests in rotten wood and stocks its burrow with flies.

The Digger Wasp on the right and another unidentified wasp on the left

Another image of the large ichneumon wasp that visited the fennel flowers regularly

005The Suspected Parastichtis suspecta (640x480)

This moth came into the house one evening and landed on my notebook. I think it is called The Suspected (Parastichtis suspecta)

Looking at it from another angle

Flesh Fly (Sarcopharga carnaria)

Harvestman (Leiobunum rotundum)

These creatures are closely related to spiders. The second pair of legs, which are longer than the others, are used to feel its way about. Unlike spiders, the harvestman has the head and thorax attached to the abdomen without a dividing waist. There are about 26 species of harvestmen in Britain and their food ranges from small insects to decaying plant material and even bird droppings. They don’t use webs to trap their food but a few of the species use sticky hairs on their mouthparts to ensnare prey.

Another insect that came indoors was the Hawthorn Shield Bug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

This shield bug feeds on the fruits and leaves of the hawthorn and many other trees and shrubs. It is a ‘stinkbug’ too, because of the stinky fluid it exudes when it is alarmed.

Here it is again.

A Crane Fly – may be Tipula oleracea the Common Cranefly. This is a male.

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)

Ruddy darter again.

I believe this may be a female Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Hawthorn Shield bug nymph – 5th instar (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

That’s it for now. I have enough photos for just one more post.

A Trip to the Seaside

16 Mon Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, walking, weather, wild birds

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

architecture, beach huts, coast, lighthouse, pier, Punch and Judy, Sailor's Reading Room, seaside, Southwold, Suffolk

Southwold beach

Maybe this wasn’t a good day for a frolic in the sea!

I have had a heavy head cold since last Wednesday and on Sunday Richard thought a trip to the sea was in order. We had mist first thing in the morning and on the way to church with my mother the sun was trying to break through. We thought it would be fine when we got out of church but sadly it wasn’t. The mist had risen slightly but cloud had descended and the rest of the day was very gloomy indeed. The temperature was about 7 degrees centigrade but when we got to the coast the strong on-shore breeze made us feel very cold and our ears started to ache.

IMG_4031Beach huts in the car park (640x453)

The car-park by the pier

During the winter months, owners of these beach huts get them lifted up from down by the beach to here, in the car-park, where there is less chance they will get battered by storms. Those that can’t afford to move their huts have to hope that we don’t have too many high tides and gale force winds. You may wonder why the owners would want to pay to have what looks like a shed moved to the car-park. You may be surprised to hear that last year one of these huts went on the market for £100,000 and it was thought that it might have sold for more than that. For this price you get a painted hut with no electricity or running water but in a ‘prime location’. You also get a 30 year lease from the council but you have to pay non-domestic annual rates and other charges. Last year the rates were £720.

The view looking inland from the car-park. Buss Creek.

The boating lake

The seagulls appreciate the calm waters here. Seaside resorts are a little sad in the winter-time I think. I like the sadness.

There is only one road in and out of Southwold which is almost an island, bordered by the North Sea to the east, the River Blyth and Southwold harbour to the south-west and Buss Creek to the north.

A Punch and Judy performance on the sea front

A few views of the sea. I expect you wish you had been with us!

Southwold pier

The pier was built right at the end of the 19th century and was approximately 810 feet long with a T junction at the end to make a landing stage for ‘Belle’, the steamer bringing holiday makers to the town. The T junction was swept away in a great storm in 1934 and was only replaced in 2001. The pier was further damaged in 1955 and 1979 and had to be closed to the public in 1998. Restoration started in 1999 and it is now an award-winning pier with a pavillion, restaurant, bar and amusements. When we were in Southwold on Sunday we could hear a saxophonist playing from the pier. We didn’t venture onto it because of the wind-chill.

Southwold lighthouse

The whitewashed tower of the lighthouse can be seen from afar but is very difficult to find when you walk round the town with its narrow winding streets. It is 101 feet tall and commenced operation in 1890. It was originally illuminated by paraffin but was converted to electricity in 1938.

A couple of small cannon near the sea front.

Southwold does in fact own six 18 pound cannons which were given to the town by the Royal Armouries as protection for the town and to shipping from pirate raids in the 18th century. We didn’t get as far as Gun Hill on Sunday.

Southwold cottages

There are many second homes and holiday cottages in the town which most of the year stand empty. Local people can’t afford to live in these tiny cottages.

A couple of grander houses.

Richard and Elinor walking in Southwold

IMG_4047Southwold architecture (640x480)

Richard and Elinor in the shelter and behind it some examples of the interesting architecture to be found in the town.

I am often reminded of ‘Mary Poppins’ by P L Travers looking at the platform above the shelter and think that Admiral Boom would find it ideal for firing his cannon from. ‘The Ghost and Mrs Muir’ comes to mind when I look at one of those grander houses I showed above.

More Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) with some new leaves of Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) in front

I joined Richard and Elinor in the shelter for a while and just in front of us on the grass slope that descended to the beach was this large patch of Heliotrope. It really shouldn’t be there and shows how invasive it is. Since seeing the Heliotrope last Sunday that I included in my post ‘Weekend’ I have seen this plant everywhere. It does have a wonderful scent though and in spite of my cold I could smell the vanilla perfume very well.

A chilly little Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) was walking about near our feet.

The Sailor’s Reading Room

This was built in 1864 in memory of Captain Charles Rayley RN a naval officer who served at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar and who died in 1863. Its purpose was as a refuge for fishermen and mariners when not out at sea and it was hoped it would keep them out of the pubs and would encourage them in Christian ideals. The Reading Room still provides daily papers and a place to read them and continues to be a social base for local fishermen, lifeboatmen and coastguards. It is now a Registered Charity and contains a museum with exhibits showing the town’s seafaring past.

East Green

In 1659 there was a devastating fire in the town and most of the buildings were lost and many people were made homeless and destitute. In the rebuilding of the town, it was decided to incorporate a number of greens as fire breaks. This is East Green.

Some of you may remember a film made for TV in 1987 by Michael Palin called ‘East of Ipswich’ which was based on his own memories of seaside holidays in the 50’s. It was filmed in Southwold.

Best wishes to you all!

In My Garden

14 Sat Feb 2015

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

≈ 31 Comments

Tags

Ash, birds, blackthorn, catkins, Christmas box, crocus, flying mallards, garden plants, goldfinch, hazel, hazel gall, horse chestnut, ice, iris reticulata, lichen, Mahonia, moon, pond, reflections, silver birch, song thrush, Suffolk, trees, winter-flowering honeysuckle, witch-hazel

This is a post featuring a few of the things I have noticed in our garden recently. A large part of the garden is exposed to the prevailing south-westerly wind and we find plants here are slower to grow and flower than those in other gardens near us. I have seen large carpets of Winter Aconites in other peoples gardens but there is no sign of them here at all. The beds around the house and near the hedge are more sheltered and this is where we see the first signs of spring.

Buds on the Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior)

I like the Ash’s black, conical buds – they look a little like deer hooves. So far, we haven’t found any sign of ‘Ash die-back’ in our garden yet. This is caused by the Hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus. East Anglia is badly affected and has lost many of its Ash trees already.

IMG_1849Horse Chestnut leaf buds (640x427)

Horse-chestnut sticky buds (Aesculus hippocastanum)

IMG_1854Buds on Blackthorn in hedge (640x427)

Little red buds on the Blackthorn in the hedge (Prunus spinosa)

While I was photographing these I looked up and found a Barn Owl was flying straight towards me. I don’t know who was more surprised, the owl or me! I tried to photograph it before it veered away from me but I couldn’t focus in time.

Lichen in the hedge

Hazel male catkins (Corylus avellana)

IMG_1848Female flowers of Hazel (640x427)

Hazel female catkins with their tiny red petals

Hazel bud

IMG_1864Catkin starting to emerge (640x427)

Hazel buds.

I wondered what these were on our hazel trees as I had never noticed them before. None of my books mentioned buds looking like this so I googled for information and discovered a photograph that looked like mine on ramblingsofanaturalist.blogspot.com. The author says that these are bud galls made by the mite Phytoptus avellanae. He also talks about unopened brown catkins which have been attacked by either the mite Phyllocoptes coryli or the Cedidomyid midge Contarinia coryli. I had also seen distorted brown catkins and had wondered about them too but had been unable to get a clear photo of them.

Reflection of sky and cloud in our big pond

Flying ducks

Our Silver Birch tree (Betula pendula) is also growing its catkins.

Thin ice on the pond. Hail has got frozen onto the ice that was already there.

The icy pond

The Witch-hazel (Hamamelis) is flowering in its large pot next to the front door and on mild days fills the porch with scent.

The Christmas Box (Sarcococca) is also scenting the garden.

IMG_3956Winter-flowering Honeysuckle (640x480)

Another scented shrub – the Winter-flowering Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)

This shrub Honeysuckle is a real favourite of mine. Its small flowers are powerfully scented and it flowers from mid-winter until well into spring hardly stopping except in the harshest of weathers. It is virtually evergreen and the flowers are followed by bright red heart-shaped berries loved by Blackbirds.