Category: Nature

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Dandelion

The dandelion is one of those wild flowers that everybody thinks they know, but it can easily be confused with one of the other plants in the family with yellow ‘dandelion’ flowers. The dandelion itself can be divided into over 200 micro species each based on the leaf shape.

If you play the video it will show the opening and closing of the flower head. This happens at dawn and dusk every day the flower blooms. It is often missed as it happens so slowly.

I.D. – The solitary flower grows on top of a weak, hollow and reddish stalk. It is salt tolerant so will grow in abundance along roadside verges.

According to Nicholas Culpeper in the 17th Century*  ‘It is known to the vulgar as Piss-a-beds’, which is due no doubt to its diuretic property. The root grows down exceedingly deep and will grow again if broken off in the ground.

Dandelion Flower & Seed

Dandelion can be found all over the UK in meadows, pastures & gardens.

Historically, according to Mr Culpeper, dandelion has opening and cleansing qualities and, therefore, very effectual for removing obstructions of the liver, gallbladder and spleen and diseases arising from them, such as jaundice. ‘It openeth the passages of the urine both in young and old and will cleanse ulcers in the urinary tract. for this purpose the decoction of the roots or leaves in white wine or the leaves used as pot herbs are very effectual’.

Personally I think anything mixed with wine is good…

In modern medicine the bile production and urinary output from the kidneys is increased with this herb. As a diuretic, it is superior to many produced synthetically by pharmaceutical companies.

The diuretic effect of dandelion is helpful in the treatment of a number of other conditions, particualary chronic disorders like rheumatism, gout and eczema.

A dandelion coffee made from the roasted roots is available from health stores The fresh clean leaves can be added to salad in the spring.

The dandelion is a good plant to leave as long as possible in your gardens as it is one of the earliest to flower, meaning any emerging insects will have an early source of food. Simply pick the heads when they start to fade and it will not produce any seeds or spread.

Enjoy,

Tom

*(An English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer who was born Ockley, Surrey, 18 October 1616; died at Spitalfields, London, 10 January 1654).

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Bats

Greater horseshoe – 13-34g

Test yourself, how many of the following statements are true?

  • Bats are very clean animals and spend hours grooming.
  • Bats often choose to hang up in modern buildings, houses and bungalows.
  • Droppings are crumbly, consisting of insect remains which are neither unpleasant nor unhealthy.
  • Bats are not likely to attack people or pets. Of nearly 1000 species of bat in the world, only three living in south and central America, feed on blood.
Noctule – 18-40g

Answer = All four are TRUE

Bats are night creatures, seen only dimly at dusk. Their large wings make them look bigger than they really are, and as they swoop down after insects people may sometimes feel uneasy.

What are bats?

Bats are mammals. Like all mammals including ourselves they have fur on their bodies and are warm blooded. A baby bat feeds on its mother’s milk for a few weeks after it is born. Bats are the only mammal that can fly.

The bat you are most likely to see is a pipistrelle. We now know there are two similar species of pipistrelle living in Britain, sometimes called the ‘brown’ and the ‘bandit’.

Types of bat found in Britain

There are 16 species of bat living in Britain

Baby bat (known as a ‘pup’)
  1. Greater horseshoe
  2. Lesser horseshoe
  3. Daubenton’s
  4. Whiskered
  5. Pipistrelle brown
  6. Pipistrelle bandit
  7. Nathusius’s pipistrelle
  8. Noctule
  9. Brown long-eared
  10. Grey long-eared
  11. Serotine
  12. Natterer’s
  13. Leisler’s
  14. Brandt’s
  15. Bechstein’s
  16. Barbastelle

Food

All British bats eat insects. Each species has its favorite insects, hunting them in its own special way. Most are caught and eaten in mid air, though it is sometimes easier to hang up to eat larger prey. All bats have big appetites, flying uses up lots of energy. The tiny pipistrelle can eat over 300 insects in an hour.

Roosts

Pipistrelle – 4-7g

Bats do not make nests, they choose various places to hang up (roost). Some prefer hollow trees, others caves and some use both. Buildings and roof spaces are very similar to hollow trees or caves and make a suitable substiute.

Female bats gather in a maternity roost during the summer. they have their babies here and stay with them until they are able to feed themselves.

Winter

During winter there are very few insects to be found so British bats hibernate. they find a cool place and tuck themselves away. Their temperature drops and their heartbeat slows. They do occasionally wake up and look for food or water.

If you want to do your bit to look after our declining bat population you can’t go wrong with the Bat Conservation Trust you can find their website here. You can also find out a lot more information on bats.

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Full Flower Super Moon

Thursday 7th May at 10:45 will be the third and final Supermoon of 2020 and it is known as the full flower moon. It is also known as the May full moon, full milk moon, full corn planting moon. Whatever name you give it is always present near the constellation of Libra.

To find the constellation of Libra use a star map or a night sky app and search for one of the stars in the constellation like Beta Librae.

The moonrise will be around 8.45pm BST later this evening.

The moon will be at its fullest at 11.45am this morning, but it will not be visible in the UK at this time. 

However, the moon will be at its most impressive before it sets this morning at around 5.42am and also after moonrise around 8.45pm later this evening. The supermoon will be 6% larger than normal and a whole 14% bigger than a micromoon (when the moon is farthest away from the earth).

Constellation Libra

Full moons are always opposite the sun, rising in the east as the sun sets, equally setting in the west at sunrise.

Just before sunrise for six mornings this week the moon’s orbital motion from west to east will carry it past three bright planets; Jupiter, Saturn and Mars (also Neptune, but you can’t see this with the naked eye). To help you tell the difference Jupiter will be bright white. To the left of Jupiter Saturn will be yellowish and Mars reddish.

Halley’s Comet 1986

You may even get the pleasure of seeing some of the Eta-Aquariids meteor shower which will be close to the Horizon. These meteors are appearing as the earth passes through the stream of debris leftover from Halley’s Comet (Halley’s comet is not visible and will not be until 2061). The shower runs from 19th April to 26th May and has it’s peak on the 6th May.

Looking at a full moon with the naked eye, binoculars or telescope can damage your eye and should be done with moon filters or similar.

Enjoy

Tom

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A walk in the woods

So, we are all stuck indoors and only allowed out for our one form of exercise a day.

Today, for my one form of exercise, I thought I would take you on a short 15 minute journey through a small wooded area that is local to me. Warren Farm, which although separate, is part of Nonsuch park in Cheam.

So this is for you, the person who can’t go out on their usual walk in the park or woods, or would like to know more about what our local parks have to offer.

It’s important that we observe the rules of lockdown so I have filmed this as one continuous shot only pausing to look at the plants and trees we come across during our journey.

Below is the information for the photos that I have added to the end of the video.

Enjoy, and best wishes,

Tom

Link to post on nettles – Nettles, misunderstood.

Link to post on ancient trees – Six ancient trees of Britain

Peacock butterfly – I mention this when we look at nettles Click the link for a look at my video and post of a peacock butterfly.

Silver washed fritillary – Unusually for a butterfly, the female does not lay her eggs on the leaves or stem of the caterpillar’s food source (in this case violets), but instead one or two meters above the woodland floor in the crevices of tree bark close to clumps of violets. When the egg hatches in August, the caterpillar immediately goes into hibernation until spring. Upon awakening, it will drop to the ground, and feed on violets close to the base of the tree. The caterpillar usually feeds at night, and usually conceals itself during the day away from its food source, but during cool weather will bask in the sunny spots on the forest floor on dry, dead leaves.*

Orange tip butterfly – The first butterflies to be seen each year are ones that survive the winter by hibernating in adult form, such species as the brimstone and peacock can even be seen on mild winter days.  Not many butterflies are born from pupae as early as April but the orange-tip usually manages this feat.*

Small blue butterfly – Britain’s smallest butterfly is easily overlooked. Its sole food source is the plant kidney vetch. Males perch on tall grass or scrub. From late afternoon onwards they can be found in communal roosts, facing head down in long grass. The butterflies live in small colonies which are declining in most areas. Found throughout Britain and Ireland but rare and localised.

Common blue butterfly – Measuring 35mm it is one of the most widespread butterflies in the UK. The common blue caterpillars like to feed on birds-foot trefoil.

Cinnabar moth – Day and night flying moth with a black body and red hindwings, it is commonly found on ragwort where it feeds and pupates.

Ferns and the Fibonacci sequence – Ferns are a good example of how the Fibonacci sequence is found within nature. Plant growth is governed by this sequence and is known as the ‘law of acclimation’ the sequence is created by adding the last two numbers in a sequence to find the subsequent
number. 0-1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55-89… 89 would be added to 55
to get the next number = 144 and so on. This sequence describes
how things grow, how trees branch out, how flowers form and how
ferns, like bracken, unfurl.

Mossy rose gall – Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall (that mossy growth)  known as Robin’s pincushion, or moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf or bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose. Up to 60 eggs are laid within each leaf bud. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring 99% of which are female.

Lichen – 1800 varieties in the uk and 17000 globally. Lichens cover approximately 6% of the earth’s surface. Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between and algae and a fungus. Simply these fantastic lichens can be split into three broad categories;

  1. Crustose – firmly attached to surface and cannot be easily
    detached with a fingernail
  2. Foliose – leafy lichens and can be easily lifted away with a
    fingernail. They may also appear to have fine roots.
  3. Fruticose – Bushy lichens attached at one point and look more
    like plants.

Six spotted burnet moth – A daytime moth that has 6 distinctive red (occasionally yellow) spots set against a black body on each wing. Commonly found on grassland and meadows feeding on thistles, and scabious.

Speckled wood butterfly – Prefers the dappled light of woodland and likes to feed on honeydew which is produced by aphids when they feed on the sap.

This photo was taken in Nonsuch park

Silver washed & Orange tip – credit*