April Visit to Herefordshire - Part 2: St Leonard's Churchyard

 

As mentioned in the last post on Friday afternoon D and I travelled the short distance to the church of St Leonard's.  I do like visiting this churchyard as in Spring and Summer it is full of wild flowers.

The bank by the church was absolutely full of Lesser Celandine flowers.

Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is a member of the buttercup family and flowers between March and May.  It is one of the first wild flowers to appear in early Spring and is found in woodland, hedgerows and along stream banks.  The flowers close when it is cold or wet and re-open when the sun re-appears.

In the Language of flowers it represents "joys to come".  Local names include Star Flower, Bright Eye, Golden Stars, Golden Guineas, Pilewort and Golden Daisies.  

St Leonard's is the third oldest church in Herefordshire. The Nave is C11th and may even be pre-Conquest.  The church was extended to the West in the C14th when the chancel was probably built.

The churchyard was full of Primroses - one of my favourite flowers.

Primroses (Primula Vulgaris)  flower from March to May although the flowers can appear as early as December. They can be found on grassy banks, in woodland and hedgerows and in churchyards.

In the Middle Ages it was believed eating a primrose flower would give children the power to see fairies.  Primrose tea was made to ease the pain of gout, rheumatism and migraine. In the 17th and 18th centuries candied primrose flowers were often used to decorate cakes and desserts. An infusion of primrose flowers was believed to be good for insomnia - perhaps I should try some!

Primroses are an Ancient Woodland indicator plant and are insect pollinated.  They are the food plant of caterpillars of the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly. 

The 19th of April is Primrose Day.

The timber West Porch is partly C14th and the bell turret may be medieval although the weather boarding dates from 1903.

We wandered round the churchyard at the rear of the church seeing loads more Primroses, Lesser Celandines and Daisies.

This tree had a nesting box for owls and also a bat box.  It really is good to see a churchyard that does so much to encourage wildlife.

The blocked North doorway is early Norman and the lintel has three large stones. The Tympanum above consists of Opus reticulatum  ie square stones set diagonally.

Late C11th herringbone masonry.

It was good to visit the church again. I think the last time was when D and I went in the church to look at the Harvest Festival displays last autumn.  We've talked about visiting at sunset  with the bat detector to look for signs of bats.  It is only about a quarter of mile from the caravan site so easy to get to.

Timothy enjoying being back on his shelf.

*D

On the Saturday D and I popped to Burford House Gardens nurseries and I'll write about that in the next post.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and the last photo was taken by D with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference: "Buildings of England Herefordshire" by A Brookes and N Pevsner, Yale University Press 2017.

"Britain's Wild Flowers" A Treasury of Traditions, Superstitions , Remedies and Literature by Rosamond Richardson.

April Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1: Hatfield and Leominster

 

We returned to Herefordshire last week for four nights as the weather forecast finally seemed a little better!

I remembered Timothy this time!  Here he is on the journey constantly asking "Are we there yet?" !!!!

We arrived on the Wednesday to a power cut! Luckily it didn't last very long.  After unpacking and lunch we did the usual click and collect at Morrisons.

We didn't go anywhere Thursday - to be honest I am still sleeping badly and if I have a particularly bad night I feel too tired to drive. B wanted to spend the day gardening and D was happy to work on his OU studies.

I took a few photos of the 

Herefordshire Oak

The Constable Tree and the

Octopus Tree

Hopefully, next month we shall start seeing leaves appearing.

B has put up the Tree Creeper nest box we bought although it may be too late for this year but I believe they have two broods a year so perhaps we will be lucky.  We often see Tree Creepers in the trees at the rear of the caravan where we have located the nest box.

Rosemary is growing well as are the mini Alliums.

Flowering Currant in the Walled Garden.  I wandered up there to see if they have information on this year's NGS Open Days in the little information room - no brochures to be seen there yet.

I went out with the bat detector most evenings and picked up calls on the detector and saw bats each time.  Some were emerging at sunset much earlier than the ones we saw last year so I suspect there may be several species on site not just the Natterer bats.  I also saw my first Small Tortoiseshell and Orange Tip of the year and there were several sightings of a pair of Red Kites over the caravan site. D could hear a Tawny Owl calling when we were out looking for bats. 

On Friday we popped into Leominster town centre for a few items.

I think I've said this before but whenever I see this shop I think of the Merrily Watkins' books by Phil Rickman. I am sure her daughter Jane would visit this shop :)

There was a market in the square and I quite liked some of these stone items.

B saw this museum featured briefly in a tv programme recently.  I think it is open most days so when we have more time we will visit.

D bought some asparagus to have with tea one night from this market stall.

No visit to Leominster is complete without a quick look in Rossiters bookshop.  I resisted temptation and didn't buy a book for myself but I did buy a signed copy of Crypt by Professor Alice Roberts for D's birthday.

After lunch D and I went to the local churchyard to look for primroses but I will write about that in the next post.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one or mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)

This and That

 

Recent Reading

I have a horrid feeling this is the last in the Mitchell and Markby series which is a shame as I have really enjoyed these books.

I am persevering with this series although its not one of my favourites!

Easter

I made a simnel cake for Easter.  B made Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday and E made these chocolate cup cakes which were rather tasty :) 

I always try and pick a little posy of flowers from the garden to put on the table for Easter.

In the Garden

The garlic David planted last Autumn is growing well. It will be harvested later in the year.  We've made just a small start on sowing seeds.  D has planted some tomato and wildflower seeds and B some foxgloves to take to the caravan.

Violets are starting to flower - the plants pop up everywhere in borders, pots and on the patio.

Primroses and snowdrops seem to have finished flowering but now we have Cowslip flowers. Last year they had really spread in the wildflower meadow area and we had dozens.

Some years ago we had the eucalpytus tree in the garden greatly reduced in height as it was getting rather out of control!!  Some of the stumps removed we placed round the garden and they soon attracted fungi including Turkey Tail. Now we have a new species to add to the garden list as this huge fungus has appeared on the main tree. Its about the size of a small washbasin with a smaller one appearing above it.  There are two similar species Artist's Bracket and  Southern Bracket (Ganoderma australe) and I think it is the latter - thanks to Dean on Twitter for confirmation. 

Nesting Activity

The female Blue Tit has nested in the nest box which has a camera and the first egg was laid on 4th April which seems early to me so I have checked my nature diaries and listed, where I can,  the dates Blue Tit eggs have laid the first egg in previous years since we had a camera in the nest box and going back to 2010.  

2010: 28th April
2011: 25th April
2012: 25th April
2013: 27th April
2014: 14th April
2015: 16th May this was a very late attempt and the young failed to reach fledging.
2016: 25th April
2017: No webcam this year as it had stopped working. So not sure when first egg laid. The young fledged week commencing 3rd June. Food seen being taken into nest box 18th May. Suspect eggs laid end of April?
2018: No nesting attempts this year although birds did investigate nest box around the 5th May.
2019: 23rd April
2020: 28th April
2021: 19th April
2022: 13th April
2023: 7th April
2024: 4th April

Unfortunately I do not have dates for all years due to having no working camera in the nest box one year and another year Blue Tits did not nest. In 2015 the birds nested very late although it had been a cool Spring.  Sometimes also it is difficult to be sure of the exact date as the female does not incubate until most of the eggs are laid. She tends to cover the eggs  with feathers in the daytime after she has left the nest so the first egg can be missed for a few days.   Overall, however, it  does appear that the date the first egg has been laid has got earlier since I started recording dates.  

I know there has been  research into how climate change may be affecting the seasons and how this may affect species in Spring.  Nesting of some bird species, the flowering of certain plants and emergence of leaves are occurring earlier. 

Research has suggested that birds such as Blue and Great Tits are overall now nesting around two weeks earlier earlier than they did two decades ago as a result of climate change causing earlier and warmer Springs and seasonal changes.  The concern here of course is that the caterpillars the birds feed their young on will not follow suit and also appear earlier.  I know we have had some years which have been distressing as the chicks have died one after the other which appears to have been due to the lack of food being brought in.  Phenology is a fascinating subject and I am sure there is a great deal more research being put into it. The Woodland Trust's Nature's  Calendar asks people to submit certain first dates of seasonal events in the autumn and winter to use to investigate the way climate and weather affect wildlife.

Coleshill

We popped to Coleshill last week mainly to visit the monthly Farmers' market.

There are some nice independent shops in Coleshill. 

D popped into Books Revisited for a short while as I wandered around taking photos.

The farmers'  market is held at The Croft which is right by the church.  

There were quite a few stalls there selling bread, fish, meat, honey, etc etc - not too many photos as there were too many people milling around!

Plants in Walls/Pavement Plants -

Ivy Leaved Toadflax and Herb Robert.

Its Dandelion Season.  Each year it reminds me of my father's Dandelion Wine - it was delicious!

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 camera (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would appreciate an email first - thanks).