GREENWOOD
Nature and the neighbourhood
Beside the Path 5
Posted on May 23, 2022
The bright yellow flower heads of Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris) make a bright splash of colour now the Dandelions are ending their first blooming. The day I went for the walk they had attracted dozens of flying insects that were competing for mates among the petals – all small Ichneumon wasps (Amblyteles armatorius) which are solitary parasites that inject their eggs in other species to develop. Online close-up image below.
Beside the Path 4
Posted on May 22, 2022
Flowering white dead-nettle amongst the leaves of cleavers, common nettles, and hogweed by the side of the path as I walked around the village (17th May 2022).
Beside the Path 3
Posted on May 21, 2022
The new unblemished horse chestnut leaves reach down low towards the waist-high white cow parsley flowers beside the path. Later in the year, the leaves will develop the brown blemishes caused by the larvae of the chestnut leaf miner moth, which is a species that has been accidentally introduced to Britain from Spain.
Beside the Path 2
Posted on May 20, 2022
Flowering grasses and cow parsley by the side of the path as I walked around the village (17th May 2022).
The main grass in the foreground above is Cock’s-foot. The flowers are not yet open and all is still green. – see image below. It’s appearance will change delightfully as the flowers open in a few weeks’ time
Beside the Path 1
Posted on May 19, 2022
Luxuriant foliage and White Dead-nettle by the side of the path as I walked around the village (17th May 2022).
Click on image or expand to see the detail.
Flowers at the Cricket Ground
Posted on April 7, 2021
Have you noticed the splendid flower planters just outside the cricket pavilion? They are absolutely beautiful. Such lovely colourful arrangements of early flowering plants. They complement the new wooden benches that have been constructed around the pitch. Its looking good for the new season at the Cricket Club just a few yards from Greenwood House.
Horse Chestnut leaves
Posted on April 6, 2021
This year, the overwintering sticky buds on the many horse chestnut trees in the grounds around Greenwood House and the village seem to have burst open all of a sudden. I really like to watch new leaves unfurl from the buds: the way the leaves are folded up and pleated inside the bud and then gradually extend and fan out – like hands unclenching and fingers stretching in glorious bright, almost lime, green.
Blackthorn blossoms
Posted on April 4, 2021
The numerous small blossoms of the blackthorn shrubs are flowering in profusion – clouds of soft, hazy white adorn many of the hedgerows around Charlton Down. They belie the spikiness of the twigs which bear them, and, come the autumn, will have produced the dusty dark blue fruits known as sloes that people sometimes flavour gin with.
Bluebell time
Posted on April 3, 2021
It’s that time of year again. The weather is warming up and spring flowers are evident in the grounds around Greenwood House and the wilder parts of the village. The first isolated clumps of bluebells have flowered. I think most of these are hybrids with the Spanish garden variety. There are quite a few pink or white ones among the pale blue. The native truly wild ones are forming layers of glossy leaves among the clumps of trees in various places but the flower buds are not yet visible.
GREENWOOD 