Fungi at Fingeringhoe

Went exploring at Fingeringhoe Wick nature reserve last weekend, run by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Amazing views across the flats ..

Further inland we explored a wonderful wooded walk area, full of fallen leaves and secret paths and .. fungi! I didn't get to go on a guided fungi walk this autumn as I'd hoped, so I just snapped anything I could find to look up in books later.

Wild Herbs

Amazing, amazing experience at the weekend... a 'Wild Herbs for Food and Medicine' walk with no less than Roger Tabor, chairman of British Naturalists Association and former chairman of the Herb Society, who just happens to live in Brightlingsea! Couldn't believe my luck when I saw a poster up in a shop window in the High Street.. the walk was across the countryside and down to the saltmarsh at the tip of Flag Creek out the back of where I live. Down at the very tip of the creek we tasted Marsh Samphire and Sea Purslane and also saw Sea Beet, Sea Aster and Sea Lavender.

Apart from scribbling down a few notes on cooking Sea Purslane, I failed spectacularly to take any notes or photographs during the walk. I just wanted to be in the moment and give it all my fullest attention.. such opportunities do not come along every day of the week!

But the very next morning I went out on my own for a little countryside ramble near home while it was all fresh in my mind to see if I could find any of the new plants I'd been introduced to..

Mugwort

Can't believe this great Anglo-Saxon favourite is just growing everywhere around and I never knew it!

Wild Carrot

Can you see the purple-ish dot in the middle of the flower-head? This is in imitation of an insect feeding, which encourages other insects to land.

It folds up into this distinctive 'birds nest' shape when it forms its seeds.

Woody Nightshade















None of these pictures would win any prizes, but you get the idea! Very inspiring and feel greatly encouraged about going out and about and learning more plants.

April Blooms

Everything's flowering! Really feels like Eastertime .. went for a little nature ramble today, just a little footpath near our house. Am slowly learning. Love the process of finding out! Interesting to see the difference in the plants growing in full sun and on the other side of the footpath in full shade.

Examined the blackthorn closely .. pure white buds opening directly onto dark twigs, no greenery or leaf in sight. And those really are big old thorns! See how it gets its name.

On the other side, in the sunshine, a full hedge with leaves unfurling too, much further ahead. (Those are the boys, hand-in-hand in the sunshine!)

No, darling, that's not buttercups, its ... aconite? no, celandine! Leaves look wrong, the dark heart-shaped leaves must have been buried low down with just the flowers peeping through.

Got this one right... love speedwell, its so tiny that I'd have missed it if I hadn't been walking with purpose and looking. Could really imagine fairies living in speedwell (and, as a rule, I'm not one for fairies!)

Also seen today white deadnettle, though not much, not enough to collect. And masses of nettles, of course, though all in the dog-pee zone either side of the path, so not gathered. Ladybirds everywhere.

Seeing the baby leaves bursting out on all the brambles helped show me that they are members of the rose family (which I have been reading about here) because they look a lot like new strawberry leaves. When everything is new and fresh things are somehow easier to see.

Lots and lots of vibrant highly scented something we hadn't come across before (no photo, sorry folks!).. very distinctive, looked it up when we got back and delighted to find that its Alexanders:

widespread and locally common near coasts.. yellowish flowers seen March to June

[Collins Complete Guide to British Wildlife]

Masses of it and its in its prime now, so shall look into uses.. please share your knowledge and recipes here, if you know Alexanders?

Update:

OK, great starting place here

All that Glitters

Beautiful day (albeit hovering just above freezing!) and a morning expedition to Wrabness, near Manningtree and Mistley on the estuary of the River Stour. A little nature reserve there, you can walk down to the beautifully wild beach which was a glorious mixture of mud, sand, pebbles, corroded cliff and marshiness. As we walked down, all the little rivulets of water had frozen at the edges and were sparkling in the blazing winter sun .. fantastic! And well-worth the ten to fifteen minutes it took getting everyone dressed up for the expedition (nobody was allowed out of the car without 2pairs of gloves and socks, hat, hood and wellies etc).

As we walked round onto the beach the tide had pushed up piles of diamond-like ice crystals into drifts of frozen foam which made beautiful patterns and the sand was decorated all the way along the shoreline with wading bird footprints. I don't know whether there's some scientific explanation to do with the precise mix of salt and non-salt water here in the estuary that made this frosty wondrousness .. I don't need to know, it just was and we were there to see it and it was beautiful!

Definitely having a lucky day today - on the way back I was treated to a kingisher flypast.. so fast I thought I had imagined it, a flash of brilliant turquoise, then as it turned a glimpse of crimson underbelly. It can't be, I thought.. but when I looked it up in the books back at home, it could be nothing else and this was just the type of habitat they like and apparently in Britain in the winter migration season they often head for coastal areas. I am letting nature herself be my teacher .. and slowly, I'm learning!

Sea Finds

Beachcoming on Monday .. a wonderful new way to get a bit of fresh air, tramping along the beach in Brightlingsea where I live. First day wearing anorak and wellies rather than vest and sandals! I love the sound and the smell and feel of the wind and the waves obliterating everything else and transporting you away from your thoughts and troubles to a different place with a wonderful soothing tidal rhythm. And then there's the treasures! I'm officially out collecting sea glass to make pendants (see my craft blog) but the thing that intrigues me most is the sea pottery. Pieces of discarded man-made pot which the forces of nature have broken and tumbled and smoothed to create new treasures. And while my nose is firmly pointed at the floor I'm starting to notice all the little seaside creatures and goings on which are all new to me.

Orchid

A wonderful weekend! And an especially wonderful Saturday, which I couldn't wait to share with you all. Beautiful weather - endless sunshine and picture postcard blue skies. We were on the Pembrokeshire coast in the very south-west of Wales, in the national park and on the coastal path. We discovered a very special place at St Govan's Head, which is a rugged headland teeming with wildlife and has spectacular views. It is also the site of St Govan's chapel, which seems to just grow out of a cleft in the cliffs.





I won't go into the history and importance of St Govan and the site, but I found this brief outline which gives an idea of the wealth of folklore which has grown up around both saint and site. I was particularly interested in the healing well (now dried up), of course.







The whole headland felt disconnected from the modern world .. it is owned by the military and used as a firing range so access is limited, but this has meant that wildlife can flourish there undisturbed and the site remains isolated from modern encroachment. We chose a good time to visit: the headland and rocks were alive with blooms, the wildflowers out in abundance to dance in the late May sunshine, and I was delighted to see my very first orchids growing wild.