Week 14
I am hopeless at many things in life, but a huge failure has been my inability to interpret birdsong. I can recognise most birds, should I have the chance to see them - not always easy - but their calls of alarm, joy and mating remain a mystery. That was until this week when I discovered a new application. It is called Merlin from The Cornell Lab[i], was free, and now sits on my mobile. It has made me a bird know-all, not always a good thing.
Merlin has shown me that in the mornings my land echoes to the calls of coal tit, blackbird, robin, song thrush, wood pigeon, and pheasant, although it has trouble distinguishing a pheasant from a jackdaw. By evening it is different, with chaffinch, great tit, greenfinch, house martin, jackdaw and wren appearing, while the blackbird, robin and pheasant are still going strong. Add to these blue tit, collared dove, dunnock, and chiffchaff, each of which I have recorded at other times of day, and it appears I am tending an aviary. I cannot say if Merlin is correct, although I do know it is likely to be more correct than I could ever be.
My land appears also to be housing an orgy, as just about all wildlife is making love. The two wood pigeons are still at it, the two male pheasants have now reduced to one thanks to a territorial dispute, the lady pheasant is looking satisfied, while frogspawn has arrived in my pond. Frog[ii] and toad spawn appear at about this time of year[iii], the frogspawn being laid in clusters while the toad spawn is in long ribbons. My frogspawn is filled with tadpoles, although there are also plenty of blackbirds that have started to wash in my pond, immediately beside the frogspawn. To a blackbird, my pond is like breakfast in the bath to a human. The number of tadpoles is slowly declining while the blackbirds are looking pleased, and their tummies are filled. I am beginning to hate blackbirds, not only because they are messy, but the decline in my future frog population appears thanks to blackbird greed.
Frogs have a habit of returning to the same place each year to lay their spawn. That does not mean just the same pond, but precisely the same spot in the exact same pond. Frogs clearly seek predictability. Once a tiny tadpole hatches, and this takes frogspawn a month, the tadpole needs approximately 14 further weeks to become a frog, slightly longer for toads. It is a hard life being a tadpole as only 1 in 50 frog’s eggs will survive into adult life.
Frogs and toads are different, but distinguishing one from the other is not always easy. Frogs are slightly larger and usually green or brown, the male being smaller than the female. Most have irregular dark blotches on their back and behind the eye, the so-called “mask”[iv]. Toads often have a pale belly, but no mask. They are usually green, brown, or grey. Frogs are generally sleek and smooth while toads look warty. Frogs also have legs that are longer than their body, legs that are made for hopping. Toads have shorter legs and prefer to crawl than hop[v].
Thanks to some recent, impressive rainfall, when I appear to have been in waterproofs for most of the past few weeks, land that is often dry is now looking soggy. As the moisture increases, so the plant life can change. A feature of my land is that there are some soggy bits, dry bits, and plenty in between. Plants pick this up instantly, which is why within a few metres the nature of the vegetation on my land changes dramatically. It used to upset and confuse me, but now I see it as a bonus. I have 15 gardens in one.
Common bistort[vi] has appeared. It adores the damp, as does the broad-leaved dock[vii] that is springing up right beside it. If you wish to know how to grow well, just ask a broad-leaved dock. It seems to be everywhere in moments.
My land is a long way from any public sewer, so soakaways are widely used by many. I am down a hill, not the bottom, nor the top, but with repeated Lakeland rainfall, the control of surface water is essential. One nearby soakaway, not mine, appears to be struggling, not helped by construction underway higher up my hill and trees that have been felled to make space for new buildings. Trees are something special. Some have said that a single tree consumes 500,000 gallons (2.25 million litres) of water in its lifetime[viii]. That is almost an Olympic swimming pool, which holds up to 660,000 gallons of water[ix]. The regulations surrounding soakaways have changed in recent times[x], so I suspect there may be work needed to change things. Meanwhile I will treasure the common bistort and broad-leaved dock, that consider soggy soil as being next to Heaven, and specifically designed for them.
Flowers and shoots are popping up all over at the moment. The daffodils in particular have gone over the top, with some appearing where they never featured previously. I certainly have not planted them. There is also a forsythia[xi] that has burst into its bright yellow bloom. Forsythia flowers appear before forsythia leaves, and for medics, a forsythia can treat a raft of diseases. Forsythia is worth preserving, as one never knows when it might be needed[xii].
Lakeland is known for its dry-stone walls. There may have been 520,552 miles (837,750 kms) of them in the British Isles when the calculation was made in 1880, walling that would have taken 1.9 billion man-hours to build[xiii]. This length of wall will now be considerably shorter, but there is still plenty of it and on my own land I have a tiny percentage, perhaps something like 30 metres. Yet wallers think walling and gardeners think gardening. One rarely considers the other. Let me have a go.
I failed my mathematics at school, so must be careful. However, my calculations suggest that the surface area of dry-stone wall in 1880 Great Britain amounted to more than 254 million hectares. This is half the size of the Amazon rainforest[xiv]. The flora of the Amazon rainforest absorbs 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to 4% of emissions from fossil fuels[xv]. That is before one considers oxygen production. Imagine, therefore, that instead of leaving dry-stone walls naked, albeit impeccably constructed and a focus for discussion, that they were planted like some vertical rockery. I call this “dressing” a dry-stone wall and it is what I do on the paltry 30 metres that occupy my land. I have filled the dry-stone crevices with soil and sown them with seed. Amazingly, plants are beginning to grow. To one end I have a vertical herb garden with chives[xvi] already coming through. At the other end I have ferns, while in the middle is a stretch of wall that is speedily turning green. Mostly it is thanks to Geranium lucidum (Shining Cranesbill)[xvii] but there is some Geranium robertianum (Herb-Robert)[xviii], too.
Mind you, they sometimes call Herb-Robert “Stinking Bob”. One whiff and I can smell the reason.
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Acknowledgement
Take it from me - none of this would be possible without the help of RSG Horticulture. Rufus, who runs it, has far more energy than me and is full of ideas and skills.
References [i] https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org. Accessed 1 May 2023 [ii] The UK has two species of frog, the common frog (Rana temporaria) and the pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae). The pool frog is extremely rare. [iii] https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/natures-home-magazine/birds-and-wildlife-articles/features/tadpole-tale/. Accessed 1 April 2023. [iv] https://www.countryfile.com/wildlife/guide-to-frogs-and-toads-when-do-frogs-spawn-and-how-to-care-for-them/. Accessed 1 April 2023. [v] https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/05/what-is-the-difference-between-a-frog-and-a-toad/. Accessed 1 April 2023. [vi] Bistorta officinalis. Also known as dragonwort or Easter giant and loves moist or poorly drained soil. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/54731/persicaria-bistorta/details. Roots are rich in tannic and gallic acids and the leaves have been used to treat wounds. Principal ingredient of dock (Easter-Ledge) pudding. Roots can be used as an astringent. [vii] Rumex obtusifolius. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/16169/rumex-obtusifolius/details. Accessed 1 May 2023 [viii] https://www.quora.com/How-much-water-does-a-tree-absorb-over-its-lifetime. Accessed 1 April 2023. [ix] https://phinizycenter.org/olympic-swimming-pools/. Accessed 1 April 2023. [x] https://www.eden.gov.uk/planning-and-building/building-control/building-control-guidance-notes/rainwater-soakaway-design-guidance/. Accessed 1 April 2023. [xi] Forsythia spp. Tolerant of most soils and very hardy. Do not do well in soil that is too dry or too wet. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/forsythia. Strangely is a member of the olive family and whose flowers appear before its leaves. Named after William Forysth (1737-1804), who was a royal head gardener. Sometimes known as the Easter tree and the flowers as yellow bells. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsythia. Used medicinally for bronchiolitis, tonsillitis, vomiting, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, gonorrhoea, and erysipelas. See https://www.rxlist.com/forsythia/supplements.htm. Accessed 1 April 2023. [xii] Used medicinally for bronchiolitis, tonsillitis, vomiting, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, gonorrhoea, and erysipelas. See https://www.rxlist.com/forsythia/supplements.htm. Accessed 1 April 2023. [xiii] Aitken N. Dry stone walling – materials and techniques. The Crowood Press, Marlboroiugh, Wiltshire, 2023. [xiv] Butler RA. The Amazon rainforest: the world’s largest rainforest. See https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/. Accessed 1 May 2023 [xv] Economist. The Brazilian Amazon has been a net carbon emitter since 2016. https://www.economist.com/interactive/graphic-detail/2022/05/21/the-brazilian-amazon-has-been-a-net-carbon-emitter-since-2016#. Accessed 1 May 2023 [xvi] Allium schoenoprasum. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chives. Accessed 1 May 2023. [xvii] Loves the sun and needs well-drained soil. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/7890/geranium-lucidum/details. Is both an astringent and diuretic. See https://practicalplants.org/wiki/geranium_lucidum/#cite_note-PFAFimport-240-1. Accessed 1 April 2023. [xviii] Flower tips can be used for diarrhoea and diabetes. The plant can be gargled for a sore throat and can be used in a poultice for wounds. It has antibacterial properties. See https://www.nature-and-garden.com/health/geranium-health-benefits.html. Accessed 1 April 2023.
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