STICKING ONE'S FOOT AND CHASING BUTTERFLIES

For the last few years, every so often, I've planted my foot somewhere, refused to move it, and looked about me to see what I could see. A 'Stuck Foot Post'. And I've encouraged you to do the same. You might begin by thinking 'bother, there's nothing here'. Then bits and bobs emerge from the general blur. A blade of grass. A fallen feather. A stranded worm. A bottle top. A daisy. The original Loose and Leafy practice - which seems very long ago now - was to alternate between Stuck Foot Posts and Street Plant ones; and April should have been for Street Plants. But I'll do a Stuck Foot post today as a way of inviting you to join in next month and stick your foot somewhere - sometime between the 21st and 25th - and tell us about it. What do you think? You can choose your foot-hold randomly (often the best because it's a challenge) or somewhere familiar (and see it through new eyes) and, mostly you will do it according to the rules (not moving that foot) or you might find yourself chasing butterflies. (Which is what happened to me this time.)

Spring seems late this year. And erratic. I was hoping to show you Blackthorn (which produces sloes). The blossom is fantastic. It's light and airy and early. But for all that it's currently frothing up many Dorset hedgerows it's almost over round where I live. And once it's gone, and it's replaced its flowers with leaves, it's hardly visible again till autumn - when it suddenly shows up with sloes.

Time for confession. I only thought of reviving the 'Stuck Foot' idea because I was left on a limb. There I was, vaguely in the presence of Blackthorn but too late for its flowers. So I asked myself 'right, now I'm here, what shall I do? I know! Move along a little (away from disappointment) and stick my foot somewhere.

This bramble can have a spotlight of its own.

I decided I should probably show hawthorn instead so I plonked myself in front of a hawthorn tree and settle in to see what I could see. Hawthorn flowers are very different from blackthorn. Readers from previous years will know I don't like it much. It's too dense. But hawthorn has stolen blackthorn's place. Prominent. (Along with suddenly enthusiastic brambles.)

The Woodland Trust is having a campaign this year to record the places where native bluebells grow and where there are Spanish ones. By my hawthorn - I take these to be Spanish bluebells. (Their heads don't hang down as meekly as the native kind, and their petals don't have such turny-uppy frills.) Bluebells are not among my favourite flowers either. They look brilliant en-masse - famous as woodland carpets - but up close they aren't that inspiring. Native bluebells are a bit limp and thin, with flowers on only down one side. Spanish ones are bulkier and have flowers all the way round. A few too many. A bit of a jam. I don't like grape hyacinths for the same reason. As long term readers may now be remembering, Spring brings out the worst in me - I'm a total grump until the early flowers are gone. In my calendar, Blackthorn belongs to late winter.

(Do you have personal categories where you knowingly put plants or birds or insects between the wrong brackets?)

Dandelions are one of my big-deal favourites. In some areas they are almost as plentiful as the grass they grow in. Here, though, the first burst is over and there are more clocks than pennies . . . 

. . . And Goose Grass (Cleavers) is still young enough to be upright and pretty. Before long it will topple over and stretch along the ground and its leaves will catch hold of you in a slightly sticky way . . . and it will grow little white flowers, then little velcro balls which you'll have to pick off your socks when you get home.

And the butterfly . . . Right. Along comes a Speckled Wood.

Away flies the Speckled Wood.

For a while I stayed steadfast to my intent; stood resolutely facing into the hedge and waited for it to come back again. If it didn't return a bee might arrive and pose for a portrait instead. Nothing.

(I think there are fewer insects this year. Do you?)

There's a limit to the time one can remain staring into a hedgerow on a path that's busy with families out walking on a sunny Sunday afternoon. One can end up feeling a little . .  er . . . self-conscious. Could people think I'm dangerous? What if someone stops and asks what I'm doing?

I will say 'I'm waiting for that butterfly (I point) to come back here so I can takes it's picture on that leaf. (I point to the leaf.) Or perhaps another leaf. I wave my hand vaguely. There are many leaves but not all of them in easy reach when you have to keep that foot stuck.

I brazened it out till I had no braze left and set off to run after the butterfly. (Uncomfortably aware that the touch-screen controls on my new camera were bleeping happily and randomly re-setting themselves.)

Inspired?

If I can still work out how to do it after all this time, I'll put a link box here on 21st of May and close it late on the 25th. Then you can stick your foot somewhere if you like - and tell us all about it. You might manage not to cheat . .  or you too may find yourselves chasing butterflies!

Speckled Wood on the UK Butterflies Site.

Woodland Trust 'Big Bluebell Watch'

Another view of the Speckled Wood on Loose and Leafy - 'The Speckled Wood's Bottom'.

P.S. The Speckled Wood on the right is the same individual only with its wings open. This Alexanders flower next to it very small - this isn't a giant butterfly! See the Bindweed?

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A WALK AT THE END OF WINTER

Peeping between trees in annoying rain.

For all that we are trying to celebrate spring, for all that blogs are full of hellebores and hopes of blossom, I feel we are straining at the leash. We aren't there yet. Daffodils may be nearly over but they flowered in late winter rather than in spring. There may be primroses on the hedgerow banks but they are like little beacons of what's to come. Birds may be noisier than they have been over winter but they aren't in full voice yet. Not here they aren't. Indeed, the mornings seem to be getting darker. Perhaps we will be skipping summer this year. The trees won't properly open their leaves or bother with autumn.

Plants, trees and creatures may have been knocked back by unusually strong winds and wet weather. I don't think it's the same all over the country. 

Horsetails - Equisetum arvens

Even only a few miles away from the sea I came across a bank of horsetails more advanced than I've ever found them here. And it's bound to be subjective too. Even if everyone else smells spring in the air - I don't. To me, it's still late winter. The light is almost consistently dull. Rain un-refreshing. The ground cold.

The pictures in this post are from last week - when beetles unexpectedly took over the blog. Nature can move fast at this time of year and has moved on a little since then. But I wouldn't want those of you who live in cities or in other parts of the world to miss out on this last fling of cold weather in the English countryside. But I do hope it will be the last of the dull-light posts. Or second to last! I've been to visit my tree-following tree - and, guess what? The sky was overcast. You'll see pictures of it on the 7th - which is the day after tomorrow - Monday

Are you too ready with your tree-following posts? I'm hoping the link box will come up of its own accord at 7 in the morning UK time. Scheduling can sometimes go wrong so, if it doesn't appear straight away, don't worry. I'll be hot on its heels to put it in manually.

March 25th 2014

Snails in this tree, partially protected by thick ivy stems, still seem to think it's winter.

Posts about Horsetails closer to the sea. You can tell by the dates they grow later here.

April 25th 2013

May 2nd 2011

AND REMEMBER!

I'm a Tree Follower

ARE YOU?

It's not too late to join us in following the progress of individual trees through the year - garden trees, park trees, hedgerow trees, wild trees.

Let me know if you'd like to be added to the list of tree-followers and put a link to your tree following posts in the link box here on Loose and Leafy on the 7th of every month. (Nobody is obliged to post about their tree every month but the more you post, the more we know - it's in your hands.)

SEE YOU ON THE 7TH!

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SPRING AND MOTHS WHEN YOU ARE EIGHT YEARS OLD

"Nice bush," said the boy, slowing his bike.

"Elderberry," I called.

He looked back, surprised. Then he pedaled faster to catch his fast moving flock of friends.

I don't know whether he was surprised because the tree has a name or because I spoke.

Either way, he was wrong about the tree. It is not a 'nice bush'. It's lost its shape. It's flat faced. Shaved back. But . . . BUT . . . little leaves are sprouting and tiny flower buds less than a centimeter across are clearly visible. (Clearly visible, that is, if you are prepared to stick your eyes up close to the surprise of passing boys.)

* * *

There's one boy I know who wouldn't be surprised in the least - naturalist Sonny Riddell who lives and observes in Dumfries-shire, Scotland. Last year, Sonny (who is eight) presented a short documentary called 'Signs of Spring'.

Sonny (whose birthday is next Wednesday!) is enthusiastically interested in the natural world - especially in moths. Of his presentations, my favourite is about Moths and Moth Traps.

* * *

NEXT
On the Loose and Leafy Tree Following Page, I've offered to publish observations on behalf of Tree Followers who have no other way of posting them to the internet. Tree Watcher is the first to have emailed me material. (Magnolia.) It's quite substantial so I've set up a companion blog called 'Other People's Pictures'. If you are a reader without a blog who would like to post about your tree - please send your material by 1st April at the latest. I know this is a bit early but I'll need a bit of time to get it ready in time for the Tree Following Link Box on the 7th of the month.

Three topics. Three pigeons. One tree.

What tree?

Sycamore?

* * *

LINKS

Sonny Riddell - Signs of Spring

Sonny Riddell - Moths and Moth Traps
'Tree Watcher's' first Tree Following Post - Tree Following By Mail

For links to Tree Following posts in the March Link Box - CLICK HERE.

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COMMENT SETTINGS, LINK BOXES AND TREE FOLLOWING

Turkey Oak - Feb. 16th 2014

Gearing up for the full-scale start of Tree Following on 7th March. The list of participants is growing. Several bloggers have already introduced their trees. Some of us (like me!) are still looking around, trying to decide which tree to chose. It's like doing warm up exercises as we approach the blocks.

This slow beginning is good. It gives us time to think about our trees, how much attention we will give them. Will it be an occasional photograph? An in depth focus on the insects which live on them through the year? The development of their fruit from blossom to drop? (Maybe there will be recipes?)

It also gives us time to iron out some wrinkles.

One of the trials of blogging is that the anti-spam settings on Loose and Leafy make it difficult for some to leave comments.

Turkey Oak. Feb. 16th 2014

So why do I not change the settings? - Because nearly all the 'anonymous' comments coming into my email box from other blogs are spam and I don't want to impose this on you. I really have thought about it.

So - this post is to say taking part in Tree Following through Loose and Leafy does not depend on you being able to leave comments.

To let me know you are taking part, you can leave a comment - but you can also email me at

looseandleafy@googlemail.com

and I'll add you to the list.

When the linky box goes up for posts on 7th March it will suggest you leave a comment. This is because it's a free box and that's part of the text included. Ignore it. If the box accepts the URL to your tree following post - well, you're away. We'll be able to find you and read about your tree - and that's what matters.

What if you don't have a blog but would like to take part? That's fine. Email me and, if we can, we'll make space on Loose and Leafy for a photograph of your tree and a paragraph about it every so often.

You might want to follow a tree by posting photos on Twitter. Twitter isn't perfect for pictures but there's no reason why we shouldn't have a list of Tree Tweeters along with the list of Tree Following bloggers.

The pictures on this page are all of a Turkey Oak, taken on 16th February 2014.
This is one of the plants beneath it - taken on the same day.

Have you thought of following a tree by using YouTube? I've experimented a little with this. Here's the link to my YouTube page. It's not very developed - seaweed being brought onto the shore, leaves rustling. Here are birds singing as the sun comes up over one of the trees I've followed. Think about it - how about doing a sound picture of your tree over the year? If you decide to follow your tree that way - let me know and we'll have a list for Tree Following on Film.

I'm Following a Tree

Carole at La Fosse - The House on the Hill - has introduced her magnificent Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) 

And Gill at On the Edge Gardening has chosen a Medlar tree.

Any questions, any suggestions - ask them, make them!

(Incidentally, for those of you new to Loose and Leafy - it's not soley about trees but all sorts of hedgerow plants. Sometimes we look at urban wild plants too - here's the most recent urban plant post - Out on the Town.)

And remember - first Linky Box for full scale Tree Following start up this year will be - 7th March 2014.

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* * *

If you'd like to use the Tree Following motif

on your blog

this is its url

http://tinyurl.com/qaesqpb

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE MY PICTURES - AND A RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY

Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) on gorse flowers.
May 13th 2013

I belong to a Google Circle for garden bloggers. This isn't a garden blog so I count it a privilege to have been invited to join. Over the last week, there's been an interesting and extended discussion about copyright, watermarking, meta-data etc. . . . and always in the background is the question of whether or not we are happy for our photographs to be used by others.

I've found this very helpful in re-crystallising how I feel about my own pictures and as I think it is different from many (possibly most) other bloggers, Diana Studer (of Elephant's Eye) suggested I write a post to make this clear. Good idea!

Without waffle - I will be delighted if anyone wishes to use any of the pictures on this blog as long as they are not of plants taken in an urban setting* and as long as they are not to be used for commercial purposes. (If anyone has a commercial use for any - contact me at looseandleafy@googlemail.com)

Red Admiral Butterfuly (Vanessa atalanta)

on gorse flowers May 13th 2013

If you use one of my photos on your site and let me know, I will be pleased. If you link back to Loose and Leafy, I'd appreciate it but it isn't necessary and I won't be offended if you don't. However, I would definitely like you to mention it was me - Lucy Corrander - who took the photo.

Nearly all the recent photographs have been reduced in quality to help the page load quickly. If you would like me to send you a jpeg version of a picture with it's original quality maintained (so there's better detail) - I can do that. If you have a commercial purpose in mind and we agree terms of use, photos in RAW are available for most pictures from early 2012.

Red Admiral Butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) with its wings closed.

On gorse flowers. May 13th 2013

BUT . . . and this is a really, really, really important 'but'. You must bear in mind I am not a naturalist. I try to ensure my identifications are accurate but mistakes will, inevitably, creep in from time to time. If you use any of my pictures, you must either make sure to your own satisfaction that the ID is correct, or say you can't guarantee it. AND because I have sometimes realised a mistake after uploading it to the blog, the incorrect ID may still be attached to some pictures, even if corrections have been made in the blog itself. SO it would be a good idea to check this before you use an image. If you put your cursor on a picture and right click and chose 'Inspect Element' from the drop down list, you will see details of the picture highlighted. This will generally include the date the picture was taken as well as the ID. If you have doubts - download the picture onto your computer and remove the ID, leaving the other information - image number, date, my name etc. in place. Is that ok?

None of this applies to the text on this blog - only the pictures. If you'd like to paraphrase the information, please feel free to do so - remembering to check I'm right! - but don't simply copy and paste what I've written about anything.

I suspect I will want to change the way I've said this from time to time, phrase it better. Some of you may also see that I've missed things out or been unclear . . . (mention it, please!) I'll put all this under a tab at the top of the page soon so if ever you want to refer to it - you can.

*Urban setting - those pictures which include human made things like cars, buildings, pavements, drains, street lamps, trains . . . those kinds of things.

* * *

(Hope you like the Red Admiral Butterfly! The three views are of the same individual.)

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THE TREE IN THE DRAIN REACHES ITS SECOND SPRING

You may remember that as well as observing trees and bushes and plants in hedgerows and seeing what there is to see along the shore, I'm also interested in the trees and bushes and plants which grow and thrive in towns - and that one of them which fascinates me specially is the sycamore tree in a drain.

I first noticed it a year ago and wrote a post about it HERE.

This is how the tree was on April 16th 2012.

Its leaves were already quite large.

To see what it was like in  May 2012 - Go to the post

Tree in a Drain.

You will see it was already reasonably tall and healthy so talking about its second spring is not quite accurate - more, it's the second spring I've noticed it.

This post is a catch up. We'll leap from May 2012 to August - then see what's happened since. 

August 8th 2012

The tree grew so well, the space available to it became a little congested. At the top of the tree (which, I would guess, is about two feet high) leaves would rise above road level, only to be sheered off by the tyres of cars running over it. It isn't a busy street so leaves would have time to grow and poke up - but they never lasted. It wasn't an entirely healthy situation but . . . 

November 15th 2012

. . . it survived - and in November 2012 this little tree hit Autumn.

April 11th 2013

Like its larger brothers, sisters and cousins, it stayed dormant over winter. I wondered if it would grow again - indeed, for a while I mourned it, certain it wouldn't but - here it is on April 11th 2013 - leaf buds beginning to turn green. (Compare with last April - at the top of the page!)

April 23rd 2013

Towards the end of the month, the leaves are opening. Compared with last year, they are small - but the tree is older and taller so its leaves are emerging from the top of the drain sooner.

April 26th 2013

Very soon, the leaves are growing fast. The drain is filling with greenery - but above ground - little hope of rising tall. Already the leaves at its crown are squashed and torn. (See bare stalks sticking up in the middle and the flattened leaf above them in the picture?)

Pretty amazing, no?

I'm a Tree Follower - Are You?

For the same tree April/May 2012

- click HERE.

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Posts from Around the
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EQUISETUM ARVENSE - HORSETAILS

April 23rd 2013

Of all the plants which spring up or open at this time of year, horse tails bring me the most pleasure. They are odd, inconsistent looking things, soaked in the history of the world.

It would be daft to repeat everything I've said of them before so I'll re-direct you to

The Most Exciting Post Ever on Loose and Leafy

Having named it that at the beginning of May 2011, I'll find it hard to top!

On the other hand . . . it's not exactly informative. I'll have to read up on Equisetum arvense properly and get to grips with its life cycle before the next post.

Meanwhile, enjoy the oddity!

(These are about four inches high.)

* * *

(This is a flit-through post. Haven't forgotten tree following. Just busy. Hurray for life. I'd much rather be inefficient than bored!)

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OH ALRIGHT - THERE ARE FLOWERS TOO!

While bemoaning grey days and bleak economics, one can't pretend that green plants and bright flowers aren't great lifters-of-spirits-ers.

There are the obvious ones for the time of year.

Like blackthorn blossoms that open before their leaves arrive.

And I am specially encouraged by flowers which spring open in city streets. Ones which live there despite the odds. (Or, perhaps it's odd that we don't expect them and sometimes don't see them there.)

March 26th 2013

This flower is growing at the top of a flight of underpass steps in Bournemouth city centre. (A city with a population of around 168,000.) It's a Speedwell. Maybe a Common Field-Speedwell (Veronica persica) (which can also be called 'Persian Speedwell' - pretty exotic name as well as pretty flower!).  Or it might be a Green Field-Speedwell (Veronica agrestis). Maybe I'll get a definite ID from iSpot?

March 26th 2013

This is the plant the flower is growing from. As you can see, there are quite a few buds waiting to open.

And between the cobbles of speed bumps in a Weymouth housing estate.

March 31st 2013

Common Whitlowgrass (Erophila verna). Each flower takes up about two square millimeters. These are not growing in a busy road - but dustcarts and cars do drive over them. I doubt (though I haven't stood there to check) that anyone (except me and people who've stopped to ask why I'm crawling around in the road) have noticed they are there.

Oh, and why not

March 31st 2013

notice the daisies? These are growing in an un-trampled area of a park. Unsurprisingly un-trampled because there is one basket ball hoop and one five aside goal. Not entirely inspiring when both are for team sports!

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IVY AND ELDER - MID APRIL

It's surprising how many old leaves and dessicated berries there still are in the bushes.

Some of the ivy flowers and berries which were like firework balls in the autumn have turned into woody, spiky, fascinating things in which texture and structure are more prominent than colour.

They are mixed in with glossy, established leaves.

(Flies like ivy.)

And, because it's spring - there are new leaf buds.

And new leaves!

* * *

THE ELDER SECTION

Clusters of buds for elderberry flowers are beginning to form. More on some trees than on others.

And, beneath them, the scented flowers of alexanders.

Here's our elderberry shoot - it's the smallest one in the middle. Before long we will not be able to see it for other leaves. I chose it because it's in the crook of a branch and, therefore, easily identifiable but it's rather annoying that it's the slowest on the tree to grow!

THE SOUND ROUND A TREE

Pictures are important. In them, we can see all sorts of things which we'd probably not notice if we weren't taking time to examine a static image. However, a tree is more than a picture. Below are a couple of short video clips of 'our' elderberry clump. Nothing happens. That's the point. It's a little pause to listen. I've not yet managed to upload anything of a satisfying length so they stop almost as soon as they start. Apologies for that. My intention was to offer a moment in which to stand (or sit!) and stare and to be aware. Hopefully, I'll work out how to load longer clips without destroying the quality as time goes by. Meanwhile . . . oh, and if you click the YouTube option you can see them larger.

Looking up the bank to the Elderberry Clump and listening to the birds at dawn.

April 15th 2012.

The Elderberry Shoot framed by the stems of Alexanders.

Around 3:30 pm in the afternoon of April 20th 2012.

* * *

NEWS FROM TREE FOLLOWERS

The Latest Posts

from

Tree Followers

From Lichfield Lore - Tree Following . . . bring May Flowers
From On the Edge Gardening - Lime by Name
From Down by the Sea - Tree Following 4

From Gardening Ways - Plane Tree on the Move

From Walsall Wildlife - A Rotten Place to Live

From Tree Care Tips - Horse Chestnut and Red Maple

From Patio Patch - Wych Elm Cousins

For a list of the Tree Followers
And - don't forget Treeblogging which aggregates posts about trees from a wide range of blogs.

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