Our first early Maris Bards, growing in a corner of the patio next to the water butt.
Patio Potatoes
Month: May 2024
Hitchcock’s Yorkshire Period
Hitchcock’s little known Yorkshire Period.
Some great ‘Nottamun’ Folk songs.
Foodie Legends of Scotland. Between us Barbara and I have sampled 5 of the 6 in this line-up.
The World’s Greatest Beetroots.
Happy recent birthdays to Roger, Sofia, Liz and Damian.
Over the Pond
I like to leave overgrown corners for wildlife but it’s time to cut back the nettles, hogweed, blackberry and sorrel behind the pond before they take over.
Nettle Rust Fungus
Orange stipples of rust fungus, Puccinia urticata, have caused a swelling on a stem of stinging nettle. This fungus has an alternate generation which grows on sedges, which doesn’t result in swellings. This nettle was growing next to a pendulous sedge, Carex pendula, behind the pond.
Harlequin Ladybird
When I started my Wild Yorkshire blog, harlequin ladybirds had yet to be recorded in Britain. The first records were in 2004 but now they’re our commonest ladybird.
Dozens of them spend the winter gathered snuggly in the narrow gap between our back bedroom window and its frame. There’s a great variety in their markings. A harlequin might have red spots on black or black spots on red. They can vary from having zero to as many as 21 spots.
Flea Beetle?
I’m going for flea beetle, possibly Altica lythri, as the identity of the small beetle I found on a sorrel leaf.
The UK Beetles website describes it as a common beetle of parks, gardens, wasteground, dunes and salt marsh. The food plants of its larvae include willowherbs, loosestrife, enchanter’s nightshade and evening primrose.
Brown Rat
The rat jawbone may be the remains of a fox kill but the foxes haven’t succeeded in eradicating every last brown rat in the area.
We had one of those sudden drenching showers this afternoon with hailstones falling amongst the heavy rain. As I walked across the back lawn later it was squelching underfoot. The run-off noticeably topped up the pond and it will have refilled the water butts attached to the fall pipes from our roof.
The local rat burrows were probably flooded too as we saw a large brown rat run across the patio, only to change its mind and run back again a minute later. It was the first we’ve seen for months, if not years.
Stoneycliffe Wood
The wild garlic is at its most deliciously pungent this morning at the top, marshier end of Stoneycliffe Wood Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve.
Wild garlic, also known as ransons, Allium ursinum.
A tattered peacock butterfly, Nymphalis io, pauses to feed on the flowers.
Roe Deer Slots
Our neighbours have spotted deer in the valley recently so I was on the look-out for tracks. The size – about 2 inches, 5cm – fits roe deer, the species that is often seen in the area.
Greater Woodrush
Greater woodrush (also known as great wood-rush), Luzula syvatica, is an indicator of dry acid soil.
It has clusters of small rush-like flowers.
It has long white hairs along the edges of its shiny leaves, a feature of woodrushes that you don’t see in grasses, sedges or rushes.
Bluebell
As I walk through a drift of bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, at the top end of the valley I get a waft of hyacinth scent, but nowhere near as pungent as the wild garlic.
Wood Speedwell
Wood speedwell, Veronica montana, straggles over a mossy log by a woodland track. It’s a plant of moist, neutral soils, often found in ancient woodland.
Star Trek Tykes
Which one of these Star Trek characters was played by a Huddersfield Town supporter?
Clue: One of them was a Spurs fan 😮
Clue 2: The actor in question recently wrote an autobiography Making it So, which opens with a vividly written evocation of life, amateur dramatics and local journalism in Mirfield and Dewsbury in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Happy birthday John and hope that Huddersfield continue to boldly go where no team has gone before.
Yorkshire Bird Song
How to Recognise Yorkshire Bird Calls. Happy birthday Olivia for yesterday.