Oaks Today and Acorns Tomorrow

 Last year I did the Following a Tree posts when I took photos of how the oak  trees up the lane changed each month.

From January 2024

Through the height of summer

and to November 2024.

On the February 2024 post I wrote a bit about the natural history of oaks and this year the huge quantity of acorns made me want to write about them too but then I kept finding more about oaks so thought I'd do an extended oak post...............which sounds like something used for a garden fence! 

Oak trees are one of 500 trees of the Quercus family. The largest and longest-lived of Britain's native trees.

The monarch oak, the patriarch of trees,

Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degree;

Three centuries he grows, and three he stays

Supreme in state, and in three more decays.

John Dryden                             

In the past oaks were often used to mark the boundaries of English parishes and local dignitaries and villagers would "Beat the Bounds" and walk the boundaries once a year reciting passages from the gospels.

In plant lore the oak is a symbol of courage, independence, faith, longevity, fire, stability, honour and reward. The tree was sacred to the sky and thunder gods, particularly Jupiter, the supreme deity of Roman mythology and was known as Jove's tree and could not be struck by lightening in a storm.

Oaks are one of the last trees to lose their leaves. (Walnuts and Horse Chestnuts are usually the first)

If on the trees the leaves still hold

The coming winter will be cold.

The oak is a symbol of England and was on the badge of the Stuarts. A sprig of oak leaves was worn in button holes and caps on 29th May to commemorate the birthday of Charles II who hid in an oak after the battle of Worcester in 1651.

The oak had all sorts of uses in medicine. Culpepper said the bark, leaves and powdered acorn cups 'bind and dry very much'. The inner bark and the thin skin covering covering the acorn was advised for those spitting blood, while the bark and powdered acorn was said to be an antidote to poisonous herbs and medicine.

Oak galls, formed by the larvae of the  gall wasp were used to make ink and dye. Up to the C18 large households would have made their own ink. A recipe from the 11th century, quoted by Dorothy Hartley in her book "Made in England" says   "12lbs of oak galls pounded, 5lb of gum(gum arabic) pounded, 5lb or less of green sulphate of iron, 12 gallons of rainwater boiled each day till sufficiently done, letting it settle over night".

More than you ever wanted to know about Oak trees!

Acorns Tomorrow 

Advent 2024 and The Oaks in December

It was the first sunshine for about two weeks so I walked up the lane to see how the Oak trees were doing.

Hardly a leaf left except for the odd brown one hanging on.

But one of them has a good covering of ivy and rose hips so there is a bit of cover left for small birds and insects to get out of the very chilly wind

The huge field full of sugar beet still hasn't been harvested. The processing campaign runs from September through to February or March although last year the factory carried on until April due to the very wet winter. One large heap of beet were moved from the edge of a field not far away last week. There one day and gone off to Bury St Edmunds the next time I went by.

 I'm not sure where they will heap up this fields beet - I was trying to gauge how big this field is - going by how big our five acres were at the smallholding  - it's well over 300 acres I reckon perhaps nearer 500. 

On the other side of the road the oil-seed rape crop is growing. About 9 inches to a foot tall now. The bird scarer banger goes off regularly during the day, a sort of dull thud in the distance. Country people soon get used to them - unless the timer goes wrong and they 'BANG' at night - that's not so good but doesn't happen often.

Standing underneath, for a photo through the branches to the lovely blue sky

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Thanks and Following a Tree

 Thank you everyone for comments on the re-post  all about Christmas moaners back in 2013. Perhaps after the covid years when Christmas was turned upside down  plus being older and wiser we are all more laid back and don't get so stressed - or that might be just me!

I tell the family that the worst thing that could happen has already happened to me and even being told a few years ago that "there wasn't room for me" for Christmas day didn't  bother me !  (It wasn't one of the children who said this - they were disgusted - a lot more than I was!).

Anyway..............................................

I'd unintentionally picked the coldest morning to walk up the lane for November photos of the Oaks so didn't hang around long. It was before Storm Bert which took all the remaining leaves off many trees in the village.

The leaves that were left were now shades of brown

Without the leaves you can see how gnarly the old trunk is

Still some rosehips for colour in the hedges

Sugar beet is still to be harvested

The view over the village is my header for a couple of weeks until I find something Christmassy.

Back Soon

Sue

Following A Tree

 It was a misty morning last week when I walked up the lane to see what the Oaks were doing. They are losing a few leaves but most are still on the tree and still a lot of green to be seen

with others turning brown and yellow.

There are a couple of Ash trees up the lane that were much yellower and fewer leaves hanging on

 

The huge sugar beet field on one side of the lane is still waiting to be harvested

And now you can definitely see this field below, on the other side of the lane, was sown with oil-seed rape straight into the stubble - I wasn't sure last month.

And in the photo below the wheat ( I assume it's winter sown wheat) is coming through, turning the field from brown to green. The grass on the edge at the bottom of the photo has been sprayed with weed-killer so it doesn't spread into the field.

In the hedgerow the blackberries have gone mouldy and shrivelled

But there are still lots of rose-hips, for a bit of colour

With the dogwood leaves turning purple before they fall

And just one pink campion hanging on on the grass verge

A Robin flew before me all along the hedge as I walked and then this small bird appeared and sat still long enough for me to zoom in although it wouldn't turn for a better photo - I'm not sure but it could be a Meadow Pipit because 10 minutes later a whole flock of them took off and flew across the field climbing, gliding and singing as they went.

My new header photo for Halloween week is a full moon behind clouds with the spooky Olive tree that's out the front of my bungalow

Back Soon

Sue

Following A Tree

 Thank you to everyone for comments on Monday and Tuesday.

Up the lane last Saturday morning - with a fantastic blue sky, the oaks still have all their leaves.

We hadn't had too many windy days so there were still acorns on the trees on Saturday - although with Monday and Tuesday being so awful I expect there are less now.

There were lots on the road too

The oak leaves may be hanging on but they are starting to turn from green to browns and yellows

The ivy on one trunk is now flowering

The view over the village with one brown field, it looks as if it's been sown already but no idea what with

Not sure what's happening with this field. Last month it looked as if it had been drilled straight into the stubble. Now there seems to be a wheat crop coming through but lots of something that has leaves like oil-seed rape but the wrong flowers. 

On the other side of the road, in the huge sugar beet field some of the beet are getting bigger

The rose hips are all bright red now - plenty of them too

I wonder how many leaves will be left when I take the October photos.

Back Soon

Sue

Following A Tree 2024

 My walk up the lane to take photos of the Oaks happened right at the end of August, a beautiful sunny morning, blue skies all round. Things were starting to look Autumnal with acorns now a good size and the barley and  wheat all harvested.

Leaves were beginning to looks old, spotted with brown and some with mildew

In the hedgerow a few blackberries beginning to ripen and the red comes from the poisonous Woody Nightshade. Rose Hips are still mostly orange and very oddly I didn't notice any Hawthorn berries.

A few blackberries - my least favourite fruit so I leave them for the birds

Rose Hips

Pretty but Deadly!

The barley field is just stubble, probably to be ploughed later. Further up the lane the wheat field had been disc harrowed so maybe it's been sown straight in with something as there were bird scarer guns  set up on the other side of the field.

That green field in front of the houses, which is bigger than it looks in this photo,  will have houses  built on it very soon - a 'consultation' evening is being held for villagers to go and look at the plans. Complaints and comments won't make any difference as it's already been agreed by the Council!

Stubble field

The Sugar Beet field is looking well, several more months of growing still to come before it's harvested

I've never seen so many of these Robin's Pincushions on the Dog Roses before, there were so many. It must be a very good year for the gall wasp.

 "The Robin's pincushion is a red, round, hairy growth that can be seen on wild roses. It is caused by the larvae of a tiny gall wasp that feeds on the host plant, but causes little damage."

It really will be proper Autumn next time I go up the lane for photos

Back Soon

Sue

Following A Tree 2024

 The plan was to walk up the lane to photograph the oak trees at the end of each month but I didn't get there in June for some reason - it was probably raining.

Here they are in the middle of July, the leaves are darker than at the end of May and acorns are beginning to form, critters have moved in leaving their mark. Oak trees are host to so many insects.

In the fields each side of the lane the crops are growing and ripening - despite the awful weather.

Won't be long before the barley is ready for harvest

Wheat is always slightly later

And it will be winter before the sugar-beet is reading for lifting and taking to the factory in Bury St Edmunds.

I always take a view over the village from the top of the lane . I thought about, but decided against, a photo of the gypsy travellers who have bought a plot of land and applied for planning permission for 3 static and 4 touring caravans at the bottom of the lane. They've cleared the overgrown plot, levelled it, got tarmac down and moved in with two caravans and several trucks before the planning application has even been to consultation!

The other photos from previous months are HERE

Back Soon

Sue