Walking the dog
by Suzanne Humphries
Under the present lockdown rules, walking the dog is a permitted activity so Dog and I, armed with a camera, set off to check on the park.
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Fritillaries
The header picture was taken by Chris Seymour, the others by Clive Knight, Ian Bushell and Suzanne Humphries.
Disease resistant elms
The Covid-19 lockdown has interrupted our plans for the five disease resistant elms donated to the park by Butterfly Conservation as part of their rescue plan for the white letter hairstreak butterfly.
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A walk in the Park
by Ian Bushell
I took my permitted exercise at the park over lunchtime. There were just eight cars when I arrived at noon and only fifteen when I left an hour later. People were well spaced all around the park; everybody seems to be taking the new regulations seriously.
Continue readingDouble flowers
If you are planting your flower beds and hanging baskets, keep our dwindling population of pollinators in mind and please don’t plant double flowers.
Continue reading “Double flowers”Native daffodils
Battered by the storms and drenched in rain, the one thousand native daffodils we planted around Village Green in 2017 are flying the flag.
Click here for a gallery of picturesA Stroll in the Park
Mail from Ian Bushell:
Continue reading “A Stroll in the Park”Trees
The Woodland Trust has given us 420 sapling trees: rowan, dogwood, silver birch, hawthorn, hazel and wild cherry.
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Crocus vernus
Ian Bushell has sent in a picture of Crocus vernus doing its best in heavy rain, with this message:
“. . . this is the small clump of Spring Crocus (Crocus vernus) on the edge of the copse by the pond. Naturalised as a result of escape from cultivation/or possibly introduced to SCP.”
Continue readingWhat happened here?
Somebody has stripped bark from the whole length of the trunk of tree number 5477. Why would anybody do that?
Continue reading “What happened here?”Dog’s mercury
Dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis) is one of those mysterious, usually nameless, plants that is hardly ever noticed. It forms dense carpets on the woodland floor and beneath old hedgerows but appears to most passers-by as just background for the bluebells and primroses.
Continue reading “Dog’s mercury”Lesser Celandine
The lesser celandines (Ficaria verna) are in flower. Celandines are the floral equivalent of the swallow, they appear around the same time and mark the coming of spring. In fact the word celandine comes from the Greek name for swallow: chelidon. One of its local names is spring messenger; others are brighteye, butter and cheese, frog’s foot, golden guineas and, less romantically, pilewort because it was once used to treat haemorrhoids.
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Blackthorn
Despite being battered by the weekend’s storm, the blackthorn is just beginning to flower; you’ll find it at the top of the hill as you leave Simpson’s Field.
Early daffodils
These are not the daffodils we planted in the autumn of 2017; these are a rapidly spreading clump at the bottom of Kestrel Field on the edge of the copse.
Continue readingPrimroses
by Sarah Marsh
The Friends have recently planted 150 primrose plug plants in one of the wooded copses in the Village Green area.
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Changing temperatures are initiating plant growth earlier and earlier every year. In the park, there are already primroses in flower.
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The snowdrops are opening
The snowdrops in the copse in the southern corner of Village Green are beginning to open.
Video by Neil Bromhall
Header picture taken in the park by DKG
Here’s one of last year’s posts from snowdrop time:
Hazel
As always, the first flowers of the year are the hazel catkins: a familiar and friendly sign that spring is on its way.
Continue readingStaghorn Lichen
Staghorn lichen (Evernia prunastri), also called oakmoss, is common and widespread in deciduous woodlands. This example was found in the park by Ian, on low growing oak branches. It is very sensitive to air pollution and is an indicator of good air quality.
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2019 review – part 2
We only added four new flowering plants to our species lists in 2019. . .
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 