Crosscanonby and Isel

 

The intention was to take Mattie for her first walk along the beach at Flimby, but with a force five gusting up the Solway Firth, she resembled not so much a dog on a lead, but a helium balloon on a string. We headed inland to the village of Crosscanonby to show her the delights of the countryside instead. Pheasants appeared and disappeared into the fields of waving wheat, their raucous cries startling her at every turn. Along the uncut field margins, Carder Bees were busy pollinating the clover.

As you know, I'm always on the hunt for plants to forage, but I was surprised to find this large stand of Fennel in the Cumbrian countryside. Fennel is indigenous to the Mediterranean, and it grew like a weed around my home in Crete. It has spread northwards throughout Europe and is not uncommon down south, here in England. This far north it's a rare find. I helped myself to a fair few fronds. It is also a traditional medicinal plant, good for digestive discomfort and as an eyewash. There were other old medicinals about as well: Herb Robert (liver and gall bladder) and Crosswort (rupture and rheumatism) also Cowslips and Sweet Woodruff, if you prefer your medicine fermented and poured into a glass,

Stinging nettles used to be used to treat rheumatism too (well, it took your mind off it at any rate) and makes good wine. Here though, it is being enjoyed by a whole host of Small Nettle Weevils.

The larvae of these beetles live underground and feed on nettle roots. As adults they come up and eat the leaves. It's not easy being a stinging nettle.

From Crosscanonby we travelled a little further inland to Isel for a walk by the Derwent. The Swifts were feeding above the river which brings me to the age old question: how do you tell the difference between a swift, a swallow and a martin, especially when they're high in the sky? It's all in the wings and tail. Wings first; if the wings are curved, it's a swift – if you lined them up wing tip to wing tip, they'd form a circle. With the other two, it's all in the tail; the swallow has two long tail feathers, streaming out behind and the martin has a short, forked tail.

And what did Mattie think of her first walk in the wild? Find out on Mattie'sPage!

I mentioned my home on Crete earlier. Christina and I spent 16 happy years there, before she succumbed to cancer in 2018. South east Crete is a beautiful place to live and the house is up for sale. Details are with the estate agent in nearby MakryGialos and can be viewed on line at Real Professionals Crete.

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All the best,

Steve

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Spring Flowers and Their Uses - Culinary and Medicinal

 

A couple of miles down river from The Old Corn Mill lies the village of Great Broughton where a footpath leads down to the river. There, you can walk along the banks and then take another footpath back into the village. It's not far, less than a mile, but when I walked it, during the week, I counted no less than 24 different flowers. Here is a sample of them and some notes on their uses.

Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum)

Native to the western USA and Canada, this plant was introduced to the UK in 1826 by the Scottish botanist, David Douglas (he of the Douglas Fir). The berries are edible, and if you like aromatics in your gin, try infusing a handful of flowers in your bog standard supermarket gin.

Wood Anemone (Anemonides nemorosa)

A pretty little European plant with, as far as I am aware, no culinary nor medicinal properties whatsoever. Hoverflies, however, love it.

Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis)

Like other cardamines (see below) the leaves and roots are edible and this particular species was once used as a substitute for watercress. It is also one of the food plants of the Orange Tip butterfly.

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna)

Bulbs and young leaves are edible but MUST BE COOKED, as with all plants in the buttercup family, it contains the toxin protoanemonin which can anything from nausea to hepatitis. Strangely, up here in Cumbria, people used to use it for cleaning their teeth.

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

Not an ivy at all, despite its name, but part of the mint family. The leaves can be used to enliven salads. Traditionally used for eye inflammations, tinnitus and indigestion, it was also used in the brewing of ale before the introduction of hops to make beer, as well as a substitute for rennet in cheese making. Use as a herb in place of mint or thyme.

Green Alkanet (Penteglottis sempervirens)

Part of the borage family and not to be confused with Dyer's Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria), who's roots produce a reddish dye and is used in Indian cookery (Ratan jot) to colour dishes such as Rogan Josh.

Wood Dock (Rumex sanguineus)

Not in flower yet, but the young leaves can be used in salads in place of the stronger tasting, but less attractive, sorrel. They contain oxalic acid and should not be eaten in large quantities.

Bittercresses (Cardamine spp.)

Part of the mustard family, the roots and leaves of most species are edible raw and have been used to treat stomach ailments in years gone by. See also, Cuckooflower, above.

Dog's Mercury (Mercuralis perennis)

Beware of this one – it belongs in the poison cupboard, and it can be lethal if eaten. It looks very similar to edible amaranths and goosefoots.

Grape Hyacinth (Muscari sp.)

A pretty little plant of no culinary or medicinal use as far as I am aware.

Red Campion (Silene dioica)

The leaves can be used in salads, soups and stews and the flowers, along with orange, lemon, barley and sugar, are used to make Red Campion wine.

Common Daisy (Bellis perennis)

One of the most overlooked culinary plants as it is so common. The leaves have a somewhat bitter aftertaste but the flowers are used (frosted) in cake decoration, or to pretty up a salad. You can make tea with them and the young buds can be pickled like capers.

I love Italian food, but for one thing: every mouthful is the same. Half a pizza and a side salad uplifted with wild ingredients is a healthier and cheaper alternative and the lightness of the salad helps the stodgier pizza go down a treat. This salad includes a bed of Wood Dock, a few Rocket leaves from the herb garden and a sprinkling of Daisy buds from the grass outside The Old Corn Mill where I live. A nice glass of Country Wine (see Steve's Wild Kitchen) and you're all set.

This is the point where I usually suggest a few books to add to your nature library. This time I am only going to suggest (and recommend) one: Forage In Spring by Robin Harford. Robin is one of the country's foremost foragers and you can find a lot of free information on his site https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/ . Click on the book cover to look inside.

All of the books featured on my posts are now available to view, by category, on one page: Build Your Own Nature Library

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All the best,

Steve

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Mugwort - The Smokers' Alternative - Silloth West Beach

 

We're off to Silloth West Beach today, in search of a somewhat drab looking plant called Mugwort. Drab it may be, but it is the first of the nine sacred herbs listed in the 10^th century herbal, the Lacnunga. You can stuff your pillow with it for sweet dreams, beer was brewed with it before hops as a medicine, or you can put it in your bath water for an invigorating soak. Personally, I'm going to put it in my pipe and smoke it. I started smoking many years ago when fags were cheap and apparently good for you (according to the adverts). Nowadays, they are ridiculously expensive and, so we are led to believe, can kill you at twenty paces. Mugwort, so I am told by other pipe smokers, can gradually wean one off nicotine by gradually increasing the ratio of mugwort to tobacco in your pipe or roll-up. Worth a go. I'll let you know.

Now that I've collected a bag of young leaves with which to experiment, let's go and see if we can find any Northern Dune Tiger Beetles. In a word, no, but we'll find one some day. We do have a couple of other beetles though. This first one is a Darkling Beetle. There are over 500 species of these, but this one, Phylan gibbus, is a bit of a dune specialist. The other, beautifully shiny metallic green one, is a European Gazelle Beetle, Nebria revilcollis. Lovely over here in Europe, where it belongs, but it has taken to voyaging the Atlantic and is now invading North America.

Behind the dunes, we have a magnificent stand of gorse and small trees which the birds are absolutely loving. There's a resplendent male Chaffinch, singing from a high branch; a Starling foraging for insects and other arthropods around the roots; a camera shy Linnet; and a Song Thrush competing with the Chaffinch for volume, and winning by quite a few decibels.

A tiny flash of blue has just caught my eye in that heather and moss down there. Let's dive in and see if we can find the owner. It's a lady Wolf Spider, carrying her brood in a sac (Wolf Spiders are the only spiders that do this). I'll just see if I can tempt her to come to my hand so that we can see her better. Here she is, sweet little thing. When the spiderlings hatch, they will run up her legs, presumably using those convenient spines, and settle on her back for several weeks, until they are able to fend for themselves. I'll put her back and let her go about her business.

As I am writing this, Jeremy Vine is hosting yet another programme about Covid. I don't know about you, but I think that too much coverage of a subject can create public apathy, even resentment and eventually become counter-productive. I've noticed this with with other things such as antisemitism, racial equality and gay pride. Highlighting issues is one thing; shoving it in people's faces all the time is quite another. Unfortunately, I can see the same thing happening with climate change. If you want to get a message across – do it with a smile, like these guys!

Steve

Steve's Nature Plus Minibeast Monday * Podcast Tuesday * #CumbriaNature Wednesday * Foraging Friday * and other odd bits as they happen throughout the week.

Steve's Gallery If you'd like to see some of the pictures in more detail, you'll find them in the gallery. These are also available for prints or digital downloads for commercial or scientific use.

Steve's Books

The Quick Guide to Creepy-Crawlies All you need to know to identify any type of insect, spider, worm or snail very simply and find out more about it. Yvonne: This was a gift for a family so that the children can understand what they see on days out. The second was for me. Logical and easy to use. If you know anyone who likes nature you can be confident that gifting this book will give years of pleasure.
The Eggs of Saramova You can listen to this book for FREE as it is being serialized on the podcast The Author Reads	£7.50 Paperback edition
Not Just For Twisted Women by Steve Daniels  A light-hearted look at life through the eyes of the fairer sex. Janet: If you are short on time but enjoy reading and are maybe not into long extended novels then Not Just For... Twisted Women provides readers with concise stories that stand alone and most certainly entertain with their ultimate twists. Loved it. Helen: A very good read! Well written and entertaining! Margaret: Each quick tale gives a glimpse into a character's life and has an often humorous twist at the end. I would love to read more. Yvonne: These days many people find it hard to find the time to read a novel, so this book of short stories is ideal to dip into. It is also makes a good gift.	£4.99 Paperback edition

Crete Nature Catch-up
Series 1 - Welcome to Lasithi	Series 2 - The Rhythm Of Life	Series 3 - A Journey Begins
Series 4 - The Milonas Valley	Series 5 - This Is Ferma	Series 6 - Upland Villages
Series 7 - The Forty saints	Series 8 - Sunday Strolls	Series 9 -Stormy Weather

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Steve's Nature Quiz #17

Is Turkey Tangle Frogfruit effective against

a)  suppurating sores

b) stones

c) the common cold

According to Sanskrit literature Turkey Tangle Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) is/was considered by the Hindus to be efficacious against all three. Phytochemical analysis by  the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology at Loyola College in Chennai, India in 2015 showed that "All the extracts from Phyla nodiflora had inhibitory effects in both bacteria and fungi. The results of this study clearly proved that (the) plant is a potential source of natural antimicrobial agents." Good for suppurating sores then and possibly against the common cold if it is bacterial and not viral in origin but not necessarily against stones.

More fascinating facts and photos in this week's #CreteNature blog Ferma's Covert Coves