 Bournmoor Conservation Group | sitemap | log in
|
 |
||
| This is a free Spanglefish 1 website. | ||
July Nature notes 17 September 2007 Nature notes for July and August
Well it looks like we have regained the summer weather; it’s never been this warm since April. I suppose the end of July must have been the equivalent of the April showers that we should have had earlier in the year.
I sampled my first taste of the hedgerow fare at the end of July with a couple of wild gooseberries; they were filled with a delicious fruit, even though the skins were a bit tough. However on my next visit to the bush there was not a single berry to be found, I wonder if the birds were waiting for me to sample the fruits, to give them the go-ahead that they were ok to eat?
The harvesting of the corn crops is well under way as I write, when I think back to my early days working on the farm at Lambton Estate, we would harvest the crops just the same as now, but the straw would be bailed up, transported back to the farm, then before winter approached, the fields would be ploughed up, so that the winter frosts would break down the soil ready for tilling in the spring and then sowing the new crop.
Where as now, the crop is harvested in a day, the straw is chopped up as it is combined, the following day the field is cultivated then ploughed to bury the straw, then cultivated again, and the winter crop sown all in a matter of days! Amazing!
As I mentioned in the last months notes, the blackberries are fruiting extremely well in the woods, so that by the time I write the next notes we should all be enjoying blackberry pies! The apples in the orchard are also swelling up nicely, with the bee hives buzzing like mad. Fingers crossed for a healthy season for the bees.
You might notice the wonderful splash of pink flowers appearing in and around the village, the ones I am referring to have the fantastic name of Rose Bay Willow Herb, what a smashing name for a wild flower, when you get a close look at the plants they are quite remarkable, they seem to like good drainage, as you often see then alongside old railways.
These are not to be confused with the other splash of pink around the waterways which are the invasive plant of the Himalayan Balsam, quite an exotic name to have around Bournmoor, but these do over shadow and kill off any plants trying to grow with them.
Finally a question to ponder, why does my rhubarb always produce loads of stalks, ready for making into one of my favourite sweets, Rhubarb Crumble! (only to be enjoyed piping hot), during the summer heat wave?
I suppose the answer is to freeze it till the winter. Ken.
|  |
|
 | ||