STICKY WILLY

Sticky Willy is one of the many names for Goosegrass or Cleavers (Galium aparine). 

Children enjoy pulling the long stems and sticking them to other people's clothing.  The little hooks on the leaves and stems enable it to clamber up other plants, walls, etc to reach the light.  It's quite a successful strategy as you can see from the photo below.

 The flowers are minute white stars in the axils of the leaves, which form a whorl all round the stem.

  The fruits are also covered in tiny 'velcro' hooks which attach to animal fur and human socks, helping to spread the seeds far and wide.

The plant has various medicinal uses and also makes very good tinder if dried.

MOTH PREJUDICE RANT

Listening to Radio 4's 'Broadcasting House' programme this morning I heard a disappointing example of mothism.  Guest Tony Blackburn tried to make the point that of all the 2000+ species of moth in Britain only two (or maybe three) have larvae that attack clothes and carpets, so we shouldn't kill every moth we see.

This photo from the English Heritage website shows the smaller Webbing Clothes Moth and the darker Pale-backed Clothes Moth against a 1cm grid, so quite small.

Good info also available on the   Natural History Museum  website

Tony's words were treated totally flippantly by the other guests, one of whom actually said she thought it must be all species from the state of her wardrobe.  Even the presenter said he thought they were all living in his house.

So this irresponsible flippancy perpetuates ignorance and anti-moth prejudice across the nation.

Many moths have caterpillars that feed on plants but very few cause serious harm.  Many species of adult moth are important pollinators and several plants flower at night precisely because they are pollinated by night-flying moths.  More info on UCL website

  

Evening primrose 

(Photo:Bank Farm Plants)

On a more sombre note, moths are an important food source for birds and other creatures

And moths are not all grey-brown drab affairs.  There is huge variety and great beauty in the moth world.

  

Privet hawkmoth                                 Cinnabar

  
Sallow                                    Scalloped Oak

  

Elephant hawkmoth                                Garden Tiger

  
Merveille du Jour                          Hebrew Character

Sorry for rant but moths are in steep decline and need our support not mindless slaughter.

SPEEDWELL

A blue haze amongst the grass is probably down to the flowers of the Germander Speedwell or Bird's Eye Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)  which spreads itself into a patch by rooting its trailing stems.

 

All speedwells are blue with two white stamens like drumsticks.  Germander Speedwell has one of the bluest and biggest flowers. 

 Some of the recent arrivals to Britain such as the Persian Speedwell or Common Field Speedwell (Veronica persica), native to Iran, are weeds of disturbed ground.  It's more weedy and has paler flowers.

 Germander Speedwell with its white eye in the centre is the most attractive in my opinion.

SPIDERLINGS

Some observations by Mary Leathwood.  Mary noticed this strange fruit on her hornbeam bonsai.  

When she disturbed it, it exploded into a host of tiny spiders.  

She identified them as baby spiderlings of the Garden Cross Spider which makes those large orb webs in the autumn.

As Mary watched, they gathered together again in a bunch as before, probably a behaviour left over from clustering in the original egg sac.  This behaviour only lasts a short time before they start eating each other.  Then they realise, in their limited spidery way, that dispersing might be a good idea.

 

ALEXANDERS

Alexanders is one of the few native yellow umbellifer flowers. It has stout stems and large glossy leaves.

 It is most frequent by the sea but has colonised some places inland including the A38 near Eastwood Garden Centre and this specimen by Streamleaze Garages.

Also on the corner of Coln Square and Streamleaze.

MAY BLOSSOM

 First signs of the may blossom on hawthorn bushes and trees came in early May. 

As the month progresses it always seems so plentiful and generous whether viewed from close to or afar .

 

On bushes, hedges . . . .

. . . . and trees.

Get a good sniff of the hawthorn fragrance.

RED ADMIRAL

Basking on brambles I snapped this red admiral butterfly

Here's a rather better photo but not mine.  Velvety black with red strips, and white spots at the wing tips.

 

Don't confuse it with the small tortoiseshell, which is mainly orange with black and yellow on the leading edge of the wings and small blue crescent-shaped spots round the rear edges.

WYCH ELM

Walking near the four steps entrance to Filnore Woods   I noticed these wych elm fruits on the ground, blown down by the fresh winds.

Looking up I could see that the tree was covered in them.

Silhouetted against the sky they were hard to make out

But really quite dramatic.

 

BLUEBELLS

We have more bluebells at Filnore Woods this year than ever before.  

There were just a few hanging on in the hedgerows when we founded Filnore Woods.  In those days (1997-8) most of the site was 'improved' grassy fields used for silage and occasional grazing.  But over the last twenty years the bluebells have gradually spread through the woodlands and individual seeded plants have reached maturity and started to flower.  Things can only get better.

Our native English Bluebell (Hyacynthoides non-scripta) is restricted to north-west Europe, mostly Portugal, Britain and the Netherlands so it is one to cherish and protect.  It has distinctive flower spikes that droop over. 

The Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) and the hybrid between the two (Hyacynthoides massartiana) have erect flower spikes, broader leaves and blue anthers - the English anthers are creamy white.  The Hybrid Bluebell is the one usually planted in gardens.

The flowers are shorter and wider than the English bluebells and the ends of the petals don't curl back so much.

It can be quite hard to tell.

 

MEMORIAL LIME TREES

Up at post 3 on the Filnore Woods walk there is a plaque saying why these three memorial limes were planted in 2002: to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee, the life of the Queen Mother, who died in that year, and the 750th anniversary of Thornbury's Town Charter.

In the photograph there look to be only two lime trees but tree number three, which looks dead in the photo, always leafs up later than the other two.  They were all bought as small-leaved limes from the same nursery so it remains a mystery.

 

New life for an old tree

Since the seat has been re-instated on the hill above Thornbury, the moribund red horse chestnut tree beside it is staging a come-back

It's flowering now so pay it a visit if you can.

As I mentioned on my 'Lady's Smock' post on 2nd May, the seat is a memorial to local naturalist Allan Burberry who died in March last year.  Allan's family are kindly donating all the royalties from Allan's book to the Friends of Filnore Woods to further the interests of nature and wildlife in Thornbury.  Another payment came in this week.  Thank you Helen, Diana and all.

CHEWED NUTS

 I found this chewed hazel nut shell left over from last autumn and wondered which lucky rodent had got the kernel.  

This diagram shows the different chewing patterns of four of the likely candidates.  Who gnawed my nut, do you think?

Bank Vole:  tooth marks radiating outward ?

Photo: Gary Cox

Wood Mouse: toothmarks radiating outward AND marks around the hole ?

Photo: PTES

Dormouse: toothmarks parallel to edge of hole - quite rare ?

Photo: focussing on wildlife

Grey Squirrel: nut shell split in half ?

BUTTER IN THE MEADOW

We have at least two of the three most common buttercup species growing in the fields around Thornbury, and my favourite is the Meadow Buttercup. 

It is taller than the common creeping buttercup that invades the lawn in your garden  .  .  .

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris)

. . . but the flowers are hard to tell apart.

Meadow buttercup and creeping buttercup grow in the same field so if you see a buttercup plant that is taller than the rest, check the leaves.

The meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris) has finely divided leaves . . .

. . . quite unlike the trifoliate leaves of the creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

Hold a flower of either species under your friend's chin.  If it shines gold on their skin it proves they like butter.  😊