Robin's pincushion

Isn't it a great name!!!! Robin's pincushion is actually a gall caused by the tiny larvae of a gall wasp - found on wild roses - this is in the hedgerow on our lane

photography by Angela Smith

An Autumn walk - along the hedgerow

Just a few pictures from today's dog walk

speckled wood

sloe

hawthorn

hazel

hazel

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hazel

damsons

Signs of Spring

I was gently reminded yesterday that I should be blogging more, my excuse that I was waiting for something new to photograph, wasn't really that convincing!
It's not that I don't take my camera out with me it's just that most of my pictures are of things I have blogged about before. Our lane is still fairly leafless, and there is only so many ways of showing bare twigs and grass.
But yesterday before my mild telling off, I had been out with the camera. I had actually chosen to use my macro lens with the hope of seeing a butterfly. So please view the below pics with that in mind - macro lens!

 the swallows have arrived

the birds are singing

we have catkins

and the blackthorn is just about to burst into flower

so spring is on its way and more pics of butterflies and bees too I hope!

Sometimes you can miss things when they are right in front of your face

On our walk today we were fascinated by this moss growing on a wild rose in the hedgerow

 

 So I spent a few minutes looking at it and photographing it with the intention of posting the photos on this blog later to ask if anyone had seen this before and what it is. So can anyone help us out with this?

BUT it wasn't until I was looking at the pictures later this evening that I spotted something else - how could I have missed it?

Have you spotted it yet?

just going by what can be seen on the photo, it looks as though it is a common hawker or it could be a migrant hawker dragonfly

Do you think we might have had enough rain now?

Our lane is wet - not as wet as Friday but none-the-less it is still very wet.

... and everything is looking decidedly soggy

Autumn Hedgerow

A half mile walk along a country lane shows just how many berries, fruits and nuts are around at the moment

The lane



Fruit of the blackthorn - Sloes -Prunus spinosa

Other local names for Sloes include  'Bullens' in Shropshire; 'Heg-Peg's in Gloucestershire;'Hedge-Picks' in Hampshire; 'Hedge-Speaks' in Wiltshire; 'Slags' in Oxfordshire; 'Snags' in Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire; 'Winter Kecksies' in Isle of White and 'Winter Picks' in Sussex



Fruit of the Hawthorn - Haws - Crataegus monogyna

Other local names include Agald, Agarve, Aggle, Agog, Bird's, Eggle, Chaw, Cuckoo's Beads, Hag, Hipperthaw, Hegpeg, Hogail, Hoggosse, Pig-Berry, Pixie-Pear



Fruit of the Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum



Holly berries - Ilex aquifolium
These poisonous berries are only found on the female tree

Bittersweet berries - Solanum dulcamara
Also known as woody nightshade - berries are poisonous

Fruit of the Common Elder - Elderberries - Sambucus nigra  

Greengage - Prunus domestica

Fruit of the Wild Rose - Rose-Hips - Rosa
Local names include Buckie Berries, Cankers, Choops,Dog-Jobs, Hagisses, Hedge-Pedgies, Hipsons, Huggans, Itching-Berries, Nippernails, Pig's Noses, Pixie Pears, Soldiers. 



apples



nut of oak Quercus robur- acorn

 

Fruits of our hedgerows

It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to walk our dog along the lane as two of my children have taken on that responsibility between them as they are on their holidays from school and university. Today no-one else was around which gave me a good excuse to take my camera out for a stroll with our dog. I was amazed at how much things had moved on even though I drive up and down the lane every day! We still have the odd dandelion seed head scattered along the verges.

I really love to see teasels the way they stand majestically towering above everything else.

Bindweed seems to be weaving it's path through everything else, of course it is there all the time but not noticed until the stunning white flowers appear.

I guess as we are nearly into August, I should have expected to see signs of late summer fruits, but I really wasn't expecting to see so much. such as the amount of bittersweet berries which are already starting to turn red.

Sloe berries are appearing.

Blackberries are also starting to ripen

Elderberries are promising another good crop here, although they still need time to turn into their deep dark purple, it is always best to wait until their stems of the fruit clusters turn purple or red.

If you look carefully you can also find hazel nuts or cobnuts.

I also saw so many butterflies today, including this Red Admiral,

There really are a lot of  these around this year - Gatekeeper

Small White

Speckled Wood

Comma

This Peacock butterfly had a damaged wing

My first holly blue butterfly of the year, not a great photo as it was raining by the time I took this picture,

A large dragonfly flew past me but unfortunately didn't land, but there were a good number of these. Any ideas anyone?

If this afternoons stroll is anything to go by there could be a good harvest from our hedgerows to be gathered, maybe this year I might be tempted, we will see!