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A walk in the wood.

saxonaxe

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After a rather dull start to the day the weather improved and by mid morning was warm and sunny. Tomorrow is Motorbike day, so today was walkies....:D

A feeling of High Summer, warm and very green with only the sound of insects. I was always told the Birds were too exhausted from rearing young some weeks earlier, to sing much in Summer. That may well be the case I think, except for the Dawn Chorus of course..
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Water Lillies are still blooming in some parts of the lakes.
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The turning of the season has it's Hall marks though, the 'Lords and Ladies' (Arum Maculatum) show in the shadey woods like little orange beacons.
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And the Blackberries in the sunnier spots are starting to turn colour.
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This particular patch of Blackberries made me think how important it is to have even a little knowledge of nature. Growing in amongst the Blackberries was (Atropa bella-donna ) or Deadly Nightshade...
It would be good to be able to recognise the fact if out Blackberrying with kids, as to tell them " Only eat the Berries that are black" would not be good advice, because soon the shiney black harmful berries of the Nightshade will appear amongst the Blackberries.
I always think of Nicolas Culpeper the Herbalist of the mid 1600's when I see Bella-donna. He wrote..
"The Nightshade bears a very bad character as being of a poisonous nature"
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"A very bad character "...... That was probably quite strong language in the time of Good queen Bess..:D

The margins of the lake are tinged with colour by patches of Purple Loosetrife which grows well in the damp soul.
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And I'm told, but never tried it, that the roots of the Great Reed Mace are full of Carbohydrates...
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The Foresters make good use of their chain saw skills and any trees which fall in convenient places...A nice resting place on a warm sunny day..
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Some of the stone work from the 1700 and 1800's is still quite obvious and put to good use, like the rock Grotto shelter,
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But I often find on my wanderings deep in the woods, stone walls and structures from Medieval times and possibly the boundary markings that were placed by the first Norman land owners.
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This almost indistinguishable wall, is as far as I can tell, in the correct position as a boundary wall on a map of the 1200's
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If it is a Norman wall it failed to keep a Saxon out today.....:lol:

And home past the sunlit Reed Beds...:thumbsup:
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