GREENWOOD
Nature and the neighbourhood
Great Willowherb
Posted on August 9, 2021
There are 13 different types of Willowherb in the British Isles, mostly looking very similar, so I may not have identified this correctly, but I think it is Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum). Like the more familiar Rosebay Willowherb, it is common around the village in unmanaged areas.
Poppies 2
Posted on August 4, 2021
Poppies 2 – Growing on the uncultivated margins of a field of maize near the village of Charlton Down in Dorset.
Ragwort
Posted on August 3, 2021
Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) is common around the village of Charlton Down. Its bright yellow flowers make a great splash of colour on the waysides, grazing land and uncultivated ground where it grows. It’s a plant that attracts insects for its nectar and pollen, and some of them like the Cinnabar moth caterpillars like to eat it, but there is a problem. It can be poisonous for grazing animals such as cattle and horses.
Cinnabar Caterpillar
Posted on July 31, 2021
If you look carefully at the bright yellow flowers of Ragwort at this time of year, you might be lucky enough to find the orange and black banded caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth (Tyria jacobaeae). The adult moth has a different colour scheme but none the less striking with its black and red patterned wings.
Stinking Iris
Posted on July 27, 2021
The Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima) doesn’t have the flashy bright flowers of the wild Yellow Flag or colourful garden varieties. In fact its colouration does not make it stand out at all. I often think that the pale brown and faded purple of its petals make it look as if it is dead or dying when in fact it is in full bloom. It tends to conceal itself in dampish places and hides among other vegetation. The long sword-like leaves are characteristic, and these are sometimes crinkled or almost pleated in a characteristic way. The showy bit of the Stinking Iris is the bright orange berries that it produces in the autumn inside the large green pods that develop after the flowers are fertilised. The common and the Latin name of the plant refer to the unpleasant smell the leaves give off which attracts insects that like to visit dead things.
CD Countryside Views 3
Posted on July 15, 2021
It was a lovely July morning and I thought I would venture across the main road at the top of the village to admire views from the slopes of Charlton Higher Down now that the crops are all ripening and the colours so different since my last visit. When I arrived at the place I was aiming to explore, I was disappointed to find that the farmer was spraying a field, and it seemed unwise to be too close. I ventured a short distance in the opposite direction but the path petered out and I could still smell the spray. So I walked back the way I came.
Bladder Campion
Posted on July 11, 2021
Here is another member of the Campion family. I have already shown the Red Campion and the White Campion, and this is the Bladder Campion (Silene vulgaris). These specimens were photographed at various times this summer and last, and were growing at the base of the hedgerow that lines the lane by the allotments in Charlton Down.
Hoverflies
Posted on July 10, 2021
There were loads of Hoverflies swarming around and settling on the Hogweed flowers in the hedgerows the other day when it was mild and the sun was trying to shine. They look a lot like bees (Hymenoptera) but they are flies (Diptera) so they do not sting. I think at least some of these hoverflies are Episyrphus balteatus known as Marmalade Hoverflies and many of them migrate to Britain each year from the continent.
Hover-flies and other insects on hogweed flowers
Poppies 1
Posted on July 8, 2021
Just two poppy flowers actually. Standing out as bright red jewels beside two tall thistles in a field of ripening rape seeds. Rather battered poppies flapping this way and that in the wind. Somehow, minute beetles still managing to cling on tight, and hoverflies quickly darting within whenever they could. The petals looked like crumpled tissue paper, sometimes with angular folds reflecting light like the fragmented patterns of a kaleidoscope.
White Bryony
Posted on July 7, 2021
White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) climbs with long spiralling tendrils through hedges and woodland margins and can reach a height of about 4 metres. The creamy petals of the small flowers with their green veins and hair-like structures look rather alien. The leaves are from 4 – 7 cm across and divided into 5 lobes. In the autumn the plant can be seen more readily because of the strings of bright red berries.
White Bryony is flowering right now in the hedgerow along the lane by the allotments; entwined amongst the branches of an Elder on the field boundary of the CD Community Orchard; and in hedges of the fields surrounding the village of Charlton Down where there are footpaths that people often follow on their walks. The flowers attract a wide variety of flies, bees, and other pollinating insects. I was pleased to see a foraging red-tailed bumble bee although it buzzed off rather quickly so the shot is a bit of a blur, but you can see what it is nonetheless.
Bryonia is an emetic. That means that taking it orally can induce vomiting. It’s also a diuretic, meaning it can increase urination. This is why some people take Bryonia for relief of constipation, an upset stomach, or fluid retention. Bryonia root may also have anti-inflammatory effects.
Bryonia: Purported Benefits and Potential Side Effects (healthline.com)
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