NUTS ! WHOLE HAZEL NUTS !

Hazel nuts in their papery sheathes are appearing in clusters on the twigs - sometimes three or four in a cluster, sometimes just one

        

The nuts are hidden, to a large extent, under the leaves.

And already you can see next year's catkins beginning to form on the twigs.  They will not lengthen into golden, pollen-bearing male flowers until February.

YORKSHIRE FOG AND COCKSFOOT

One of the easiest grasses to identify is Yorkshire Fog with its pale flower heads tinted pink.

It grows in hedgerows and fields. 

 

Here are four common grasses in a field near you now, left to right:

Cocksfoot, Creeping Bent (or Common Bent - not sure which), Meadow Foxtail and Yorkshire Fog  

I just happened on this late flowering Cocksfoot. doesn't it look different from the old husks of cocksfoot in the photo above.

 

GUARDING THE BABIES

I posted about the nursery web spider on 5th May.  I keep coming across the webs at knee height in long grass but this one was special because mummy spider was sitting right on top.  Unfortunately as I leant in to take her photo she took fright and ran downstairs.  You can just see her at 7 0'clock from the dark cluster of spiderlings.  

And in this picture she is immediately below the nursery web.

 

PROMISE OF FUTURE HARVEST

The nectar-rich white or pink flowers of Bramble provide a feast for insects of all sorts.  

They are beginning to produce hard green berries that will turn red and then black and provide a feast for birds and mice and US if we're quick enough.

 

GRASS CUTTING STYLES

In some areas at Filnore Woods we have the grass cut short by South Glos Council mowers: at the viewpoint, by the memorial lime trees and at the main entrance.  

Short mown grass at the viewpoint

In other places we are losing the battle to retain areas as wildflower-rich grassland.  Thistles and Willowherb and Hogweed are taking over so we ask SGC to come in and cut it all down.  We lose some of the flowers in the short term but by removing these vigorous thugs of plants before they seed we hope to favour the less robust variety of plants.

Hogweed taking over

Remote controlled grass cutter, bramble basher and general vegetation mulcher

Ideally we would do a hay cut in June/July using scythes so that it is easier to rake up and remove the cut grass.  

This reduces the fertility and gives the smaller plants a chance to compete.  Currently we only have enough volunteer hours to scythe the top meadow between posts 3,4 & 5 above the New Plantation.

A swathe of cut grass to be raked up and stacked

Scythe, rake and pitchfork

WILLOW HERBS

The most beautiful of the Willowherbs is the Rosebay (Chamerion angustifolium).  Also known as fireweed it has covered a large area in Filnore Woods between posts 13 and 14.

The flowers open in succession up the stem. 

You can see the dark anthers on white stalks and the white stigma divided into 4 lobes.

We also have more than enough clumps of the Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) growing out in the grassland.  Quite a handsome plant but, like its cousins, a bit invasive.  Again you can see the stigmas with 4 lobes.

The four-lobed stigma is also a distinguishing feature of the Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum).  

But this plant is much smaller and the pale flowers are tiny.  It is very versatile and seeds quickly so that it can become quite a pest in the garden.

You can see the long green seedpods in the photo below and the curly brown remains of seed pods that have shed their fluff-covered seeds. 

All the willowherbs produce lots of fluff, which annoyingly often lands on ripening blackberries.

 

BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL

Birdsfoot Trefoil grows in groups in grassland and on hedgebanks  and roadsides.

The yellow flowers are often tinged red which gave it the alternative name of Bacon and Eggs.  My mum used to call it Tom Thumb, from the shape of the flower. 

In the photos below you can see the pinkish seed pods spread out like a bird's foot.

FROG HOPPER

There seems to be less 'cuckoo spit' about this year.  I found this on some grass.

Of course it's not from a cuckoo but it appears about the same time that cuckoos arrive from Africa.

In fact it is the hiding place of a little bug, a froghopper nymph.  At first it is pale green with two black eyes but by now the nymphs are beginning to turn brown.  Here is one on my jeans, still blowing bubbles out of its rear end.

And eventually they become an adult froghopper, brown and crusty with a needle like proboscis to suck juice out of plants, as it did when a nymph.  But now it is out and about with an ability to jump like a frog if disturbed.

Photo: Andrew Smith

LINDEN FLOWERS

Tempting the bees to feast, the flowers on lime trees or lindens can actually intoxicate them.  

The flowers hang in bunches amid the heart-shaped leaves, attached to to pale green strap-like bracts, which will help them fly when the flowers become hard little berryish fruits.

 

THIS'LL BE A THISTLE

The Scotch or Spear Thistle is the emblem of Scotland with its big, prickly heads of flowers. 

Here you can see how the flowers go brown and then explode into puffs of thistledown to float off in the wind and spread the seeds around.  Goldfinches love the seeds if they get to the plant before the seeds have blown away.

The creeping thistle (see below) doesn't just spread by seed but, as its name suggests, has long creeping  roots which can quickly invade pastures and meadows.   The leaves are quite different from the spear thistle and the flower heads are not spiny.   The flowers are a paler pink but more fragrant. 

 

 As well as the black aphids, which you can see on the stems, the flowers attract butterflies and especially the Painted Lady which lays its eggs on the leaves and is one of the best controllers of this invasive plant.

Photo: Alan Watts

Painted ladies also lay eggs on mallow.

 

PINK POWER

Re-cap of my 4th July post about field bindweed sometimes being pink.

This pretty assemblage was in the field behind Castle Court.

Yellow centre with white rays spreading across a pink background.

 

EXTRA: Got this snap on 20th July showing the pink and white patterning.

 

Don't forget the BIG BUTTERFLY COUNT from now till  7th August.  Don't put it off.