I often see blue stained pieces of dead wood when out an about. I’d always heard that this was used locally in the highly decorative Tunbridge Ware woodwork fashionable in the 19th century. When I saw some today I thought it was high time I found out more about this. The fungus which causes the [...]
Yet Another Thing Your Dog Can Teach You
May 29, 2010
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Whenever I open the door the dog goes outside. This has taught me something!
Could it possibly be summer?
May 22, 2010
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This weekend it finally feels like summer’s just about with us! Here’s a short slideshow to prove it!
A ramble round wild food and food ethics
May 17, 2010
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Foraging for wild food has become very fashionable over the last two or three years. Is it a worthy attempt to use food sources which otherwise go to waste or are we just adding to the strain on the planet’s biodiversity already overstretched by our rapidly increasing population? With our increased interest in all things [...]
Hawthorn vs Blackthorn
April 25, 2010
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The hedgerows are white with the flowers of blackthorn (prunus spinosa) now. In many hedges you’ll find green flowerless patches. If you look carefully these patches are of hawthorn (crataegus sp.). The blackthorn flowers before the leaves appear and hawthorn has leaves before flowers. For country people the seasons have never been tied rigidly to [...]
Hemlock water dropwort
April 20, 2010
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An interesting appearance a few weeks ago after some ditch clearance locally is Hemlock water dropwort (oenanthe crocata). Appearing to passers by as just another clump of bright green spring growth this is in fact one of Britain’s most toxic plants (if not the most toxic). Cattle are commonly killed by the plant after it’s [...]
A wheel fell off my wagon…
April 18, 2010
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My dear old Mum passed away on Easter Sunday after another few weeks of illness. Throughout this difficult time I’ve been spending hours wandering the woods and fields around my childhood home on the North Downs in Kent. I’m happy to say that nature has brought much comfort. Standing in a wood surrounded by the [...]
Roadkill
March 1, 2010
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I bet you’re thinking “he’s going to write about eating stuff that’s been scraped up off the road”. Eating not-too-mangled roadkill is a pretty good thing but sorry to disappoint because that’s not what this is about. I hate roadkill. I don’t mean using it after the event, rather the whole idea of it. It’s [...]
Nature’s a forgiving mistress
December 30, 2009
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My posts apologising for not posting for a while seem to get plenty of use! Unfortunately my elderly mother was in hospital for a while before Christmas. What with hospital visiting, then some caring afterwards, and trying to fit the day job in between, something had to give. Stressful periods like this really make you appreciate [...]
Autumn
November 10, 2009
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I’m lucky to live just down the road from the Ashdown Forest. It’s a large (6500 acres – large for the southeast UK!) area of public access land in East Sussex. Around two thirds of this area is heathland – an important habitat. I’ve just spent a few days just wandering about enjoying autumn. It’s [...]