View from Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve
One of the most striking things here is the sound. The M40 snakes along the countryside, to the right of the photo, and gives a constant brown noise to the scenery. Without it, there would really only be the sound of animals and the elements. I might just go back and record a soundscape of it.
Herb Robert
Herb Robert or [Geranium robertianum] family Geraniaceae.
It is a native annual and very common throughout the British Isles, liking to grow in woodland, hedge-banks, walls and stony places, and can grow up to 50cm. Herb Robert flowers from late April into October and produces small pink five-petalled flowers, approximately 1-2cm long, containing red anthers and wrinkled carpels. The leaves are deeply dissected, ternate to palmate, and the hairy stems are usually a reddish colour. At the end of the flowering season, the leaves also turn from green to red. Folk names include: Herb Boonoo (this is our own folk name for it), Red Robin, Dragonsblood, Red Shanks, Stinky Bob (due to the musky odour it may give off if the leaves are crushed or if it is dug up).
The entire Herb Robert plant is actually edible, containing tannins, essential oils and geraniin. It can be eaten raw, or made into a tea, used as a pulstice for cuts, bruises, or other skin conditions, is mildly diuretic, astringent, and helps to stop diarrhoea.
It is a native annual and very common throughout the British Isles, liking to grow in woodland, hedge-banks, walls and stony places, and can grow up to 50cm. Herb Robert flowers from late April into October and produces small pink five-petalled flowers, approximately 1-2cm long, containing red anthers and wrinkled carpels. The leaves are deeply dissected, ternate to palmate, and the hairy stems are usually a reddish colour. At the end of the flowering season, the leaves also turn from green to red. Folk names include: Herb Boonoo (this is our own folk name for it), Red Robin, Dragonsblood, Red Shanks, Stinky Bob (due to the musky odour it may give off if the leaves are crushed or if it is dug up).
The entire Herb Robert plant is actually edible, containing tannins, essential oils and geraniin. It can be eaten raw, or made into a tea, used as a pulstice for cuts, bruises, or other skin conditions, is mildly diuretic, astringent, and helps to stop diarrhoea.
Lemon Tree
Last month (June) Ian (my other half) decided to plant four lemon seeds from the lemon I was currently using for dinner. We'd not tried this with a lemon before, and given the temperamental climate we can have in England we only had a minor hope. One month on, and these are the two saplings so far, with a third just trying to shoot up.
I've been considering taking a photo of them every day, and then eventually putting it together as a time-lapse, but I'm still undecided as they will need re-potting, and moving indoors in around three months time, but who knows, it could be interesting to see :)
I've been considering taking a photo of them every day, and then eventually putting it together as a time-lapse, but I'm still undecided as they will need re-potting, and moving indoors in around three months time, but who knows, it could be interesting to see :)
Great Willowherb
I can find it quite hard to remember all the names of wild flowers, let alone properly identify some of them, so I thought I would start with the Great Willowherb or [Epilobium hirsutum] family Onagraceae.
It is a native perennial common throughout Britain, but somewhat rarer to find in the north of Scotland. It likes to grow in damp hedgerows, ditches, stream sides or marshes, and can grow as tall as 1.5 to 2 metres. Distinguished by its long and rather thin hairy leaves, which have sharply toothed edges and no stalk. The pink (pink to purple) flowers have four notched petals, with a white four lobed stigma, and green sepals. Flowers from late June into September. Folk names include: Codlins and Cream, Apple Pie, Cherry Pie. View my other posting about the seeds of the Great Willowherb.
It is a native perennial common throughout Britain, but somewhat rarer to find in the north of Scotland. It likes to grow in damp hedgerows, ditches, stream sides or marshes, and can grow as tall as 1.5 to 2 metres. Distinguished by its long and rather thin hairy leaves, which have sharply toothed edges and no stalk. The pink (pink to purple) flowers have four notched petals, with a white four lobed stigma, and green sepals. Flowers from late June into September. Folk names include: Codlins and Cream, Apple Pie, Cherry Pie. View my other posting about the seeds of the Great Willowherb.
Linseed
This is the first year that we've decided to actually harvest our linseed, and the small crop is continuing to do really well. Oh, if you're not sure, linseed is the blue flowering crop and the seeds are contained in the bulb once the flower has gone and the bulb has turned a brown colour.
Feather Harvest
The original roof covering for the bird table had almost disappeared over the years, but after collecting hundreds of feathers during our feather harvest, it is now covered once more. Hopefully this should protect the wood underneath for a while, during the rain.
Rapeseed
You see this - rapeseed or canola, well I've just discovered something fundamental, rats don't seem to go anywhere near it. For the first time this year, I decided to let some of it grow around the bird feeding area, previously I've always salted the area, and presto! None of our countryside rats will go near it :D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)