VIEW OF OLDBURY CHURCH

A wintery view of Oldbury Church from the viewpoint at Filnore Woods, with the River Severn and the Forest of Dean behind.

 

RUSTYBACK FERN

Of the three miniature ferns that grow on walls rustyback is the most tolerant and so the commonest.

It often grows on sunny walls whereas Maidenhair Spleenwort (see post for October 29th) and Wall Rue seem to prefer shady spots.  

It gets its name from the rust coloured hairs on the underside of the fronds.

 

HOLLY BERRIES

Nothing is so Christmassy as holly.

If only the birds would leave the berries until January.

This was what they looked like on 4th November.  

By now they have nearly all been gobbled.

 

MISTLETOE

The familiar Christmas mistletoe is often harvested in apple orchards 

because it is easier to reach.

It favours certain tree species; here it is on common lime trees.  

   

Mature mistletoe plants form green balls of foliage, which hide amongst the leaves of the host trees  in summer but show up well in winter when the tree leaves are off.

Poplars are another favourite mistletoe tree. 

Here it is on some robinia (false acacia) trees.

Several maples get mistletoe balls and especially silver maple.

Rowan trees can be almost overwhelmed by proliferating mistletoe.

These trees were all photographed in Thornbury. 

If you are a resident can you spot the locations?

Scroll down for answers

Apple - my back garden

Lime - St Mary's Church

Poplar St Mary's School

Robinia Castle School field

Silver Maple in front of Castle School

Rowan - Tilting Road play area

 

WINTER BUDS 2: BEECH & HORNBEAM

Beech and Hornbeam trees both have rather fine twigs

Beech buds are long, slim and pointed.  And all except the terminal bud project away from the twig at an angle.

Hornbeam leaf buds lie along the twigs.  And the textured patterning on the bunches of hornbeam catkin buds are quite distinctive at this time of year.

 

WINTER BUDS 1: SYCAMORE AND ASH

Now that leaves are falling you might think tree identification would be hard.  Not a bit of it.  Bark and the shape of the tree are often distinctive and if you can get near some winter buds that is even better.

Here are two easy ones to start with, with distinctive colours: 

Sycamore buds are a yellowish green.  Very few trees have green winter buds:  Hazel and wild service tree do, but hey have alternate buds while sycamore buds are in opposite pairs.  

Remember - if you are feeling sick your face may turn green and you'll be sick a bit more.  Green buds means sycamore.

The buds on ash trees are coal black on grey bark.  The memory jogger here is that black coal burns to  grey ash.

 

FROST AND SNOW

Frost outlines the shapes of leaves living and dead.

Sometimes on the leaf margin and sometimes all over

Sometimes along a vein.  What magic decides it?

It's not just ice crystals on the grass but frozen water droplets.  So maybe it appears as dew at first and then as the temperature falls the droplets freeze. 
OR

Maybe yesterday's frost melted and then re-froze.

OR 

Perhaps these are the frozen droplets of freezing fog.

That was on 9th December; the next two images were on the 10th. 

 The crystals of ice looked more granular

And then on the 11th we had snow - different crystals again

Ranged along tree branches and already beginning to thaw.

I know we hate the cold but it is part of life just as death, decay and darkness are.  

Are we losing the consciousness of all four?

BUMBLING LATE

Up to last weeek there were still a few bumble bees flying around.  Most of the workers are dead by now so it is probably mated queens that were still out.  I hope they found a sheltered spot to hibernate before they were nipped by frost.  We won't see them again until spring, when they start new colonies.

Photos: Alan Watts

 

HTGTF

You'll have to forgive me for using this blog to mention my oh so clever daughter, Marianne.

She and her business partner Camila, who run a flower farm in Wood Green, have published a book which is selling fast in the flower growing world.  Its main aim is to encourage everyone to grow their own cut flowers at home rather than buying flowers imported from all over the world.  Grown not Flown.

In last Sunday's Sunday Times 'Books of the Year' supplement, Rachel de Thame included their book in the ten best gardening books of the year.  

And next Friday in Gardeners' World on BBC2, they will be featuring.

Here is a pic of them giving a demo at the Hampton Court Garden Festival last summer.  Marianne with the straight, fair hair on the right.  Camila's hair is dark and curly.

 

COME HAIL OR HIGH WATER

The stream, which has been dry for most of the time through summer and early autumn, becomes the River Filnore after heavy rainfall.

And we also have the Filnore Falls.

Sometimes the water can't get through the tunnel near post 20 

and the overflowing water sweeps over the top of the track, eroding the bank.

To cap it all, during the latest coppicing work morning on 25th November, a diabolical HAIL STORM drove the volunteers into a huddle under a bush.  But after it stopped they carried on undaunted - or only moderately daunted - by this meteorological fury.

 Photos: Alan Watts

DENIZENS

Hot chocolate and a piece of cake as a reward for re-building one of the dens in Cuckoo Pen.

Although there are leaves on the ground, there is a lot of green in the background.  

This outing occurred a month ago

 

LICHEN AND MOSS

In the centre of the picture below is a bright green clump of moss.  Mosses - and there are over 600 species in Britain - are primitive plants with no vessels to carry water and spores instead of seeds.  They like damp places and are often the first to colonise rocks and even concrete.  Here the moss - probably Fork Moss (Dicranum scoparium) - is growing on a dead ash branch.  

  

The grey-green growths are lichens (pronounced 'liken' rather than 'litchen').  I find mosses difficult to identify but there are over 1800 lichen species in Britain, so no chance.  They are a good indicator of air quality. As a general rule the more complex the formation the cleaner the air.  Crusty ones grow anywhere, leaf lichens need slightly cleaner air and the very whiskery ones require very unpolluted air.

In the picture below you can see fruiting bodies developing.

Lichens are mini-ecosystems that combine two or more organisms: a fungus species combined with either algae or cyanobacteria.  The fungus provides the structure and the other organisms, usually green, provide a food factory via photosynthesis.  The fungus is the benign jailor of the algae or bacteria.

Get yourself a 10x hand lens to discover the beauty of these tiny life forms.

 

DASHING ORANGE SARGENT

Again this is not in Filnore Woods though not far away.  

Standing on the green in front of Thornbury Tesco is this oriental Rowan in full autumn plumage.  It could be Japanese Rowan (Sorbus commixta) or one of its varieties like 'Embley' but I think with its big leaves and startling colour it is a Sargent's Rowan (Sorbus sargentiana) from China.  

If you miss seeing it like this have a look later at the winter buds which are sticky like Horse Chestnut sticky buds but bright red.

As you can see from the little plaque in front of the tree, it was planted by Thornbury Lions to commemorate the Twin Towers massacre.

 

NATURE IN TOWN

Not in Filnore Woods but nature is not confined to nature reserves - nor should it be.

I hadn't noticed this nest all year in the Amelanchier tree outside what used to be Wildings shop in Thornburry High Street.

But as the veil of leaves is discarded, the tree reveals where somebody - probably a pair of wood pigeons - has been looking after their nestlings.  

 

ROSEBAY SKELETONS

Our rosebay willowherb colony's beautiful pink flowers have shed their seeds.

They now stand defiantly against the coming winter with a different kind of beauty.

 

COPPICING HAZEL

Volunteers are coppicing hazel in Cuckoo Pen at Filnore.  This will let more light in to promote ground flora . . . . .

. . . . and as a by-product create poles to be used on site for steps, path edging, etc

The thin twigs are trimmed off with billhooks showing the nascent catkins that grow on the upper branches where the light reaches them.  They would have matured in February but have now been sacrificed on the altar of coppice management.

This less usable brash material is made into a dead hedge surrounding the cut area (coupe).  This is (a) to clear the woodland floor for plants to grow, (b) to create a hedgy habitat for small creatures and (c) to show us in a year's time, where we coppiced.  It is not designed to keep people out.

Stakes are sharpened and inserted into the ground in two parallel rows

Then the brash is laid between the stakes and tidied off with loppers.