Nature Diary #13

Well, I’ve left it for two weeks in the hope that I actually spot some Nature worth noting! As I have spent my weeks driving between gardening jobs and my cottage, I have not seen much to write about. 

Cranesbill

However, I have noticed that all of the wild flowers that I associate with summer have been stealthily coming into bloom, and taking over from the spring flowers, although the lovely pink Campion is still holding on in the damper hedge bottoms. It has been joined by the headily honey-scented Meadowsweet with its frothy heads of white blooms, whilst above them in the hedges the honeysuckle is blooming and perfuming the air. As I drive across the top of the Mendips, on my way to and fro, I realise that the wild blue geranium or Cranesbill is flowering everywhere and the magenta spires of Rosebay Willowherb  (don’t you just love the way that name rolls off the tongue! My other favourite is Hemp Agrimony!) have pushed above everything else on the grass verges. There are still lots of white umbelliferous flowers (Cow Parsley, Hogweed, Yarrow??) but they are definitely eclipsed by the new kids on the block. 

Aaron's Rod/Mullein

The plant that I have been calling a Mullein is also known by the name, Aaron’s Rod, a Biblical reference to the stave carried by Moses’s brother Aaron that, once stuck in the ground, grew and bore flowers and fruit! It is a member of the large Verbascum family and has been used, historically, in herbal remedies for the treatment of various afflictions from earache to eczema and even tuberculosis!  

Creeping Cinquefoil

Another, very invasive (or successful!), plant that I have come across recently is Creeping Cinquefoil which grows prolifically in one of the gardens that I tend. It sends out runners that root wherever they touch the ground and soon form a mat of interlocking roots and stems that are a challenge to remove effectively. It also grows well on the track to the lake where it is far less of a nuisance! This plant, too, had healing properties, as it has a high tannic acid content that was used to disinfect wounds, amongst many other things. Allegedly, it also makes a red dye, which I shall have to investigate as very few native plants give a red colour!  

Back in my garden, and the fight against Nature continues! I’m pretty sure that the heap of partially-eaten gooseberries was the work of a small rodent – mouse or vole. Despite being netted, I think the blackbirds had quite a few of my blackcurrants and redcurrants and Cyril the Squirrel seems to have taken most of the strawberries! To add insult to injury, I now appear to have a mole in the vegetable plot! Bearing in mind that he had to cross, overground, the concrete yard, some 75 yards from the nearest field, then shimmy under the fence or gate, before squeezing himself between the concrete and the sleeper retaining the soil, and you can see how determined he was!! Once into the veg patch, of course, he probably thinks he is in heaven, as the soil is nice and friable, so easily dug through and, because I use well-rotted manure and compost, there are lots of lovely worms to eat! Whether any of my veg survive is a matter for conjecture. I was offered a mole trap, but I don’t want to kill him, as I think they are quite beautiful, but I may have to try and capture him somehow and return him to a field soon, before he eats all of my soil processors! For those of you who have followed my blog for years, you will already have heard this story: when I was WWOOFing in mid-Wales, I was weeding a small, raised flower bed when I noticed a patch of soil, to my right, move very slightly. Intrigued, I sat back on my heels and waited to see if it would happen again. When it did I plunged my (gloved) hand into the earth and pulled out a mole! I don't know who was more startled, but I had the presence of mind to drop him into the weed bucket, so that I could show my host, before releasing him about half-a-mile away in a field! Perhaps I can do the same thing again?

As I am currently doing a farm sit at the farm near Bristol that has Alpacas, amongst other things, I am hopeful that I will have more to write about next week.