Up the Lane

 I walked up the lane close to home last Saturday morning, the wind was freezing, blowing across the open fields from the West.

I saw three people walking, one dog, three people cycling - two normal and one in lycra!  and ......... 

Dandelions

Jack -by -the -hedge

                                                                    White dead nettle

                                                                       Red Dead Nettle

An animal track across the field - maybe fox but probably deer

Pink blossom in the distance

Hawthorn just coming into leaf

Blackthorn blossom finishing

 

That dot is a Buzzard circling- need a better camera for something so high. There were skylarks too - no chance of taking their photographs at all

And all the time the sprayer was going up and down the field - probably with weedkiller- luckily the wind was taking the spray away from where I was walking or I would have needed  a mask. The fields  have wheat or possibly barley growing well, no sugar beet or oil seed rape this year.

View over the village. There will soon be 70 more homes in the area that's cleared, in front of the other houses. Who will buy them is the question. 50% of the houses built two years ago at the other end of the village are still empty. You just need £500,000+ to buy one!

Back Soon

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

Last Saturday in April

It's been really cold all week. We had the 'Blackthorn Winter' and now 'The Cowslip Winter'....about time we had some spring.  On some nights the temperature forecast was so low that I brought the greenhouse plants in to stand on the floor just inside the patio doors, other nights I just covered them with fleece. And of course it rained, not all day everyday but sometime on most days. It's really getting me down and I've had several days feeling well under par hibernating on the settee with snooker on TV and book in hand.

Anyway...........when I went up the road for the Following A Tree post last weekend, at a moment when it wasn't raining, I took this photo of the view over the village.. The Barley or Wheat is growing well.

On the other side of the road this huge field is recently drilled - Barley? Wheat?  I looked but couldn't find any seed in the drill lines so it might be a spring sowing of Oil-seed Rape as the seeds of this are tiny.

Buds on the Hawthorn waiting to open.

I've been sorting photos on and off all week and putting them into my new photo storage box, found some very old ones to share on local Facebook Groups. But looking at some of the photos is making me so sad for a life lost that I may have to stop!

Talking about local internet sites - on the Nextdoor website someone was moaning (People moan about the strangest things!) about low flying aircraft over their village and someone else offered this website to see more  https://airplanes.live/ https://airplanes.live/. What fun! Transport plane flying in from China and a Chinese registered huge airbus flying the other way. Ryanair, Tui, and Easy jet holiday planes coming and going across Suffolk from Luton and Stansted airports and lots of little  planes buzzing about over small airfields, Apache helicopters from the Army base at Wattisham going round and round in loops and a plane registered from the USA but coming from the East. Then a massive French registered Hercules coming out of Mildenhall and the East Anglian Air Ambulance took off  and went round in circles near Cambridge and a Coastguard plane came into the area from up north........... I could spend too much time watching this site!

No boot sales this weekend as rain is forecast both mornings - what a surprise!

I've been very bad at reading and commenting on other blogs just lately and answering comments, making me feel very guilty so I'm taking a few days off blogging although the end of the month frugal month  notes is almost done for Tuesday and I'll do the library book photo on Friday or Saturday.

Be back then

Sue

Up the Lane in Mid July

 It's been ages since I walked up the "Quiet Lane" that loops round the village.

. Actually it's been ages since I went for a walk at all. Exercise group and swimming seem to have taken over from walking....except around car boot sales!

It's wheat growing on all the fields up the lane this year - on both sides

But those men and machines working on the field in the distance of that second photo are doing something in preparation for a brand new housing estate on the edge of the village. I think about 75 new homes are planned.

Two close up photos of what exactly is happening

Half a mile further up the lane is well away from any new houses

Zooming in to the edge of the village and the church tower behind the huge lime trees that edge the  grave yard.

It was sunny but windy and not a lot of birds or wildlife to be seen except for a Buzzard soaring and calling. Then finally a Meadow brown (corrected to say it's a Gatekeeper Butterfly! Thank you to Annabeth in the comments, ) sat still long enough for a photo.

And signs of Autumn coming..........on the Hawthorn

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Brief Walk Up The Road

 When the sun shone for a while last Friday I got out for a walk up the lane not far from home.

The fields are green with  wheat (or it could be barley.... I'll know later) growing well everywhere. There's no oil-seed rape anywhere on these fields this year.

Zooming in over the village with the church behind the trees.

Bare oak trees and the hedges have all been cut back with the flail mower this year

Walking means you notice small things like this fox or deer trail across the field, they tend to follow the same routes although so rarely seen.

The whole of Suffolk's small roads have these lovely potholes! they are always worse when we've had a frosty winter. There's a faint mark around it where a road inspector has measured how much repair is needed. Goodness knows when it will be done. 

One Rook on it's own is a Crow and a Crow in a crowd is a Rook!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

A Good Year for Hips, Haws and Sloes

 I walked up the lane in the first week of September to see the changes in the view over the village since last time in early August

A Hawthorn tree absolutely loaded with Haws

And if you like infusing the fruit of the Blackthorn in Gin then this year you'll have no problem finding the sloe berries.

This is the biggest Robin's Pincushion Gall I've ever seen. It was almost the size of a tennis ball.

The sugar beet crop is still looking sad. 

The trees are still green and  hiding the church in the view from the top of the 'hill'

The wheat field has been harvested and the soil turned with a disc harrow or maybe shallow ploughed. 

Along with a good crop of Hawthorn Haws and Blackthorn Sloes, the Rose-Hips of the wild Dog-Rose are also huge and plentiful.

I would really like to have a go at making Rosehip Syrup but the problems with the tiny hairs and seeds inside  and the warnings on all recipes.............

Rosehips contain hairs which cause irritation so it is important to remove these.

.........tends to put me off! 

Back Soon

Sue

Autumn Approaching ?

 A walk up the road this week really showed how Autumn is approaching even though Summer hasn't gone......it's been in the high 20's this week and still no rain.

Zooming into the village from the top of the 'hill'.

 Not sure what the Sugar Beet harvest will be like if we don't get more rain

IF it rains there might be blackberries.

 

A Bridleway goes off this back road but it only goes to the main  A140 road, so no way to do a circular horse or bike ride.

Rose Hips appearing

Lots of small Sloes

Huge crop of Haws turning red already - a bird feast later

 

The wheat has been cut and the bales carted away

The field beans look ready for harvest - a very poor harvest I think

 

This was ahead of me hopping down onto the road and then disappearing into the hedge every time I took a step nearer, and popping out again and  despite the camera zooming in these were the 'best' photos! I think it's just a young  Yellow Hammer?

It's a good year for acorns

There are several clumps of Horseradish on a rough bit of a field entrance but I'm not going to bother to dig up the roots!

 

 I've got some busy days coming up so taking a short blogging break. I'll be back Monday or Tuesday.

Sue