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Nature chit chat

Out and about in nature
Uncle Frank
Posts: 387
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:49 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#26

Post by Uncle Frank »

Lots of blackberries but how come you don't see raspberries or wild strawberries growing like you used to?
Maybe I am looking in the wrong places?
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#27

Post by 765489 »

Never heard of wild raspberries before :) Keep an eye out also for damsons. That's if the birds haven't got em all already.

Only place I ever got wild strawberries was the side of the road close to my grandfather's place in Galway. Were these once planted by people or are they truly native wild plants ?
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dawg
Posts: 402
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:02 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#28

Post by dawg »

Ncdjd2 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 8:25 pm ....Keep an eye out also for damsons. ....
Debate going on here...how to tell wild plums apart from damsons

( Have damson sized plum like fruit that are not a sour as I remember damsons used to be. )
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dawg
Posts: 402
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:02 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#29

Post by dawg »

Extract from food preservation guide published by HMSO during WW2

Jam
blackberry jam.jpg
blackberry jam.jpg (38.12 KiB) Viewed 5465 times
Jelly
blackberry jellies.jpg
blackberry jellies.jpg (22.96 KiB) Viewed 5465 times
Chutney ( never tried this )
blackberry ch ch chutney.jpg
blackberry ch ch chutney.jpg (7.67 KiB) Viewed 5465 times
kadman
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Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:14 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#30

Post by kadman »

You have to be careful with elderberries, so make sure they are well cooked. The recipe I use for elderberry syrup needs long period of simmering for hours to boil off the cyanide-inducing glycosides that can cause a toxic buildup .
Are elderberries poisonous?
Image result for elderberry is poisonous
It's still gathered and used in folk medicine across many parts of Europe. Today, elderberry is most often taken as a supplement to treat cold and flu symptoms. However, the raw berries, bark, and leaves of the plant are also known to be poisonous and cause stomach problems.
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dawg
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Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:02 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#31

Post by dawg »

Plover1958 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:35 pm Plums tend to be round, while damsons have an oblong-oval, almost olive shape. But a more obvious differentiating feature is plums have a pronounced, grooved longitudinal seam, while the same seam on damsons is far more difficult to see.
Some have the seam and some dont.
wild plumsons.jpg
wild plumsons.jpg (41.41 KiB) Viewed 5459 times
What do you think ?
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#32

Post by 765489 »

I used to have two damson trees called Merry Weather, a cultivated damson. The above are very like them. The blue coating and when rubbed you'll get the more black sort of colour like the top.
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#33

Post by 765489 »

The damsons I think I posted a photo on here somewhere of a damson tree in a hedgerow, the fruit was lightly oblong as what Plover said. I've a damson tree growing in a hedge must see if I can get a photo of some tomorrow.
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dawg
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Re: Nature chit chat

#34

Post by dawg »

Ncdjd2 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 11:03 pm... The blue coating and when rubbed you'll get the more black sort of colour like the top.
Thats exactly it !

Do other types of damson do this ? or is it unique to Merry Weather ?
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#35

Post by 765489 »

Here's two "damsons" if that's what the are growing in different hedgerows locally. To me the look like different varieties. The lighter one looks more like a small plum?

I'm looking for my merry weathers on the phone. Will post them in a minute.
Screenshot_20210903-230915_Gallery.jpg
Screenshot_20210903-230930_Gallery.jpg
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#36

Post by 765489 »

These are the cultivated merry weather variety.
Screenshot_20210903-231738_Gallery.jpg
Screenshot_20210903-231819_Gallery.jpg
Screenshot_20210903-231732_Gallery.jpg
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dawg
Posts: 402
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:02 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#37

Post by dawg »

Almost certain thats ours.

Many thanks

Now the $64,000 question....how to remove the stones from the little divils :lol:
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#38

Post by 765489 »

dawg wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 11:23 pm Almost certain thats ours.

Many thanks

Now the $64,000 question....how to remove the stones from the little divils :lol:
That I don't know. I eat them as I'm going through the fields. Check first for bubbles, then if clear of the bubble/ hole, straight into the gob and spit out the stone.
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#39

Post by 765489 »

From Fruit & Nut .ie

https://fruitandnut.ie/plums.html

"Damsons are a cultivated form of Prunus insititia, thought to have reached Europe from Damascus (Syria) in pre-Christian times. Damsons are smaller and generally less sweet than plums. They are also much hardier and will grow successfully on difficult or exposed sites. They are used more for cooking, though can be very tasty when fully ripe"
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#40

Post by 765489 »

More damsons but too high up to get them plus there was a ginormous wasps nest on the bank below.
Screenshot_20210912-151343_Gallery.jpg
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#41

Post by 765489 »

I sowed about quarter of an acre of sunflowers earlier this year. The bees were busy in late summer pollinating the heads on them. Currently there are flocks of gold finches, green finches, chaffinchs and sparrows on it. There could be other species need to get the binoculars out. Amazed at the numbers of birds tackling the seed heads.

I getting so much enjoyment out of it will be increasing it to half an acre next year.
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#42

Post by 765489 »

There is a shortage of fertiliser this year, globally it seams. Was talking to one of my neighbours and fertiliser and seed prices are through the roof. Aloy are holding back to spring to see if the situation improves. There will be, in my opinion, higher food prices and food shortages in 2022 / 2023 if the likes of the EU don't intervene in some way. All to do with the "energy crisis".

There is a positive thing in all of this on a local front. More grain fields will be left fallow over the winter, none of the fields are even ploughed locally. The cut off locally for sowing winter cereals is fast approaching. What all this means is that seed eating birds will have a food source to tie them over to spring and may help increase their numbers for 2022.
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#43

Post by 765489 »

I happened to bump into a "specialist" out collating information for an EIS impact statement on a project locally. Got talking to her for a while. She had a bag of different tree and plant types and I identified some plants and tree cuttings she collected, including an Ash tree sample. How the fook can someone doing an EIS impact statement not know how to identify one of our most commonest trees in the country ? She said there was loads of Robins around. Probably the same one following her up the hedgerow in the field. Clueless but not unexpected since EIS surveys I've looked at previously locally are not worth the paper they are printed one.
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Scotty
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Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:20 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#44

Post by Scotty »

The world's first TRUE millipede has been discovered. 1036 legs.

The creature is 95mm long. It was discovered 60 meters below ground when a mine bore hole was being drilled in Australia.

I'd love to see a video of a live one but there's none available yet.

The previous record was 750 legs.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02447-0

Image
Last edited by Scotty on Fri Dec 17, 2021 11:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
CelticRambler
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Location: Central France

Re: Nature chit chat

#45

Post by CelticRambler »

Probably just as well it lives underground and is blind - can you imagine how long it'd take to paint all those toenails ? :mrgreen:
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Scotty
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Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:20 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#46

Post by Scotty »

765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#47

Post by 765489 »

Was lying in bed this morning at about 7am. There was a song thrush outside that had an ambulance siren build into his song. It was a perfect rendition of it exactly as the first 20 seconds of the attached video.

I've never heard of a song thrush mimick something like that before at the start of his songs. Will try and get a recording of it if he's still around over the next few days.

Edit: he would do the siren sound for 5 or 6 seconds, then another say 10 or so seconds doing normal song thrush song, the back to the siren. Was surreal.

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isha
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Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 12:15 pm

Re: Nature chit chat

#48

Post by isha »

Happy Imbolc!

Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
765489

Re: Nature chit chat

#49

Post by 765489 »

isha wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:43 am Happy Imbolc!

I'd love to try my hand at making a St Bridget's cross but unfortunately it's hard to find any rushes in any of the fields around NCD :mrgreen:
CelticRambler
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Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2021 6:19 pm
Location: Central France

Re: Nature chit chat

#50

Post by CelticRambler »

Pine martens to be used as ‘bouncers’ to keep grey squirrels out of Highlands

Title says it all! It relates to the Scottish Highlands, but the article cites studies carried out in Ireland too, not all of which have been particularly successful:
recent studies have shown that pine martens won’t colonise urban areas, which remain a stronghold for grey squirrels. If the countryside is constantly topped up with new greys from their urban stronghold, the species is likely to rapidly adapt to survive alongside the marten.

Another recent study in Ireland found that while martens increase red squirrel populations in native, broadleaf woodlands, the effect is reversed in non-native conifer plantations, where the marten reduces red squirrels. This could be due to the lack of alternative prey and the lack of hiding places for red squirrels in highly simplified landscapes.

According to Ventress, the threat to reds from pine martens in conifer plantations may only apply in Ireland, where there are no field voles, the marten’s main prey in Scotland. Irish plantations also tend to be solely sitka spruce, unlike in Scotland where many plantations include native Scots pine and other trees.
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