October Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1: Hatfield and Fly Agaric

 

Last week we finally managed to return to Herefordshire for four nights.

We went on the Tuesday and in the evening went for a lovely meal at the Fountain Inn as it was our wedding anniversary.

The Herefordshire Oak - definite signs of autumn tints in the leaves now.

There is not much change in the Constable Tree or the

Octopus Tree although you can see the latter more clearly now than you could a few months ago.

The copse and golden yellow leaves on the aspens.

D's rubeckias are still flowering well.

There are hawthorn berries galore. Hopefully, we will see Redwings feasting on them on a future visit.  Redwings seem to be arriving in the country at the moment.

I brought D's chilli  pepper plant home with us. He will freeze the ripe chillis and try and overwinter the plant for next year.

The garden

These are the first apples (it is a cooking apple that is sweeter than a Bramley) we picked.  Before we left we harvested them all and brought them  home in a large bag.

On the Wednesday we went into Tenbury Wells to buy petrol, bird food and do some shopping at Tesco.

The River Teme

Ivy flowers and some berries forming.

Ash keys

Back at home we have a Fly Agaric in the garden.  We have a lot of silver birch trees and the trees and toadstool have a symbiotic relationship. Fly Agaric have mycorrhizal relationships with silver birches and other trees. Warning! Not to be eaten!

*D

On the Friday I visited nearby St Leonard's church which was holding a Harvest Festival and I will write about that in my next post.

I am sorry for lack of blog posts recently. To be honest I haven't been out much and have had little to blog about and I am still not getting much sleep. In addition B has had a lot of hospital appointments recently. On top of that the shower has decided to pack up!  It is under guarantee as it was bought only 8 months ago. Rather than replacing it we are having to put up with an engineer visit later this week which means tidying the bathroom and clearing out the airing cupboard :(

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and the photo labelled D was taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

This and That

 

Recent Reading

I have a horrid feeling this is the last in the Mitchell and Markby series which is a shame as I have really enjoyed these books.

I am persevering with this series although its not one of my favourites!

Easter

I made a simnel cake for Easter.  B made Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday and E made these chocolate cup cakes which were rather tasty :) 

I always try and pick a little posy of flowers from the garden to put on the table for Easter.

In the Garden

The garlic David planted last Autumn is growing well. It will be harvested later in the year.  We've made just a small start on sowing seeds.  D has planted some tomato and wildflower seeds and B some foxgloves to take to the caravan.

Violets are starting to flower - the plants pop up everywhere in borders, pots and on the patio.

Primroses and snowdrops seem to have finished flowering but now we have Cowslip flowers. Last year they had really spread in the wildflower meadow area and we had dozens.

Some years ago we had the eucalpytus tree in the garden greatly reduced in height as it was getting rather out of control!!  Some of the stumps removed we placed round the garden and they soon attracted fungi including Turkey Tail. Now we have a new species to add to the garden list as this huge fungus has appeared on the main tree. Its about the size of a small washbasin with a smaller one appearing above it.  There are two similar species Artist's Bracket and  Southern Bracket (Ganoderma australe) and I think it is the latter - thanks to Dean on Twitter for confirmation. 

Nesting Activity

The female Blue Tit has nested in the nest box which has a camera and the first egg was laid on 4th April which seems early to me so I have checked my nature diaries and listed, where I can,  the dates Blue Tit eggs have laid the first egg in previous years since we had a camera in the nest box and going back to 2010.  

2010: 28th April
2011: 25th April
2012: 25th April
2013: 27th April
2014: 14th April
2015: 16th May this was a very late attempt and the young failed to reach fledging.
2016: 25th April
2017: No webcam this year as it had stopped working. So not sure when first egg laid. The young fledged week commencing 3rd June. Food seen being taken into nest box 18th May. Suspect eggs laid end of April?
2018: No nesting attempts this year although birds did investigate nest box around the 5th May.
2019: 23rd April
2020: 28th April
2021: 19th April
2022: 13th April
2023: 7th April
2024: 4th April

Unfortunately I do not have dates for all years due to having no working camera in the nest box one year and another year Blue Tits did not nest. In 2015 the birds nested very late although it had been a cool Spring.  Sometimes also it is difficult to be sure of the exact date as the female does not incubate until most of the eggs are laid. She tends to cover the eggs  with feathers in the daytime after she has left the nest so the first egg can be missed for a few days.   Overall, however, it  does appear that the date the first egg has been laid has got earlier since I started recording dates.  

I know there has been  research into how climate change may be affecting the seasons and how this may affect species in Spring.  Nesting of some bird species, the flowering of certain plants and emergence of leaves are occurring earlier. 

Research has suggested that birds such as Blue and Great Tits are overall now nesting around two weeks earlier earlier than they did two decades ago as a result of climate change causing earlier and warmer Springs and seasonal changes.  The concern here of course is that the caterpillars the birds feed their young on will not follow suit and also appear earlier.  I know we have had some years which have been distressing as the chicks have died one after the other which appears to have been due to the lack of food being brought in.  Phenology is a fascinating subject and I am sure there is a great deal more research being put into it. The Woodland Trust's Nature's  Calendar asks people to submit certain first dates of seasonal events in the autumn and winter to use to investigate the way climate and weather affect wildlife.

Coleshill

We popped to Coleshill last week mainly to visit the monthly Farmers' market.

There are some nice independent shops in Coleshill. 

D popped into Books Revisited for a short while as I wandered around taking photos.

The farmers'  market is held at The Croft which is right by the church.  

There were quite a few stalls there selling bread, fish, meat, honey, etc etc - not too many photos as there were too many people milling around!

Plants in Walls/Pavement Plants -

Ivy Leaved Toadflax and Herb Robert.

Its Dandelion Season.  Each year it reminds me of my father's Dandelion Wine - it was delicious!

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 camera (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would appreciate an email first - thanks).

Fly Agaric in the Garden

Last year for the first time we discovered Fly Agaric toadstools in the garden and I was thrilled. This year they have returned :)  Seven in total - 3 on the first lawn and 4 on the second smaller lawn. 

 I think they may have started appearing as they do form mycorrhizal associations with Silver Birches and we have a lot of these trees in the garden.

Please note Fly Agaric are highly toxic despite their pretty appearance!

Two other fungi in the garden. Sadly, no idea of id. I can only confidently  id about 6 species.

Fallen Whitebeam leaves.

D has planted some winter salad leaves and

we are still getting tomatoes :)

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 Bridge Camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one could they please email me first)