Summer on the Southwell Trail - Part 4

I continued documenting the wildflowers into the summer months and captured the tree fruits as they started to mature. There was nothing scientific in my approach, I just captured what interested me at the time. I made many of the identifications from the photographs which has the potential for error particularly for the flowers where there are many varieties - I try hard to be as accurate as possible though:

Horse Chestnut Tree

The wonderful flowers of the horse chestnut tree have now developed into the characteristic spiky green husks which encases the conker seeds. The leaves, however, are not looking too good and suffering from, what I believe to be, leaf blotch; caused by the fungus Phyllosticta sphaeropsoidea which is unsightly but not seriously damaging to the tree.

Lime Tree

I spotted some small white/creamy yellow flowers on one of the trees and was intrigued to know what they were. The flowers then developed into small fruits which I now believe to be common lime tree fruit (not to be confused with citrus limes which are unrelated to the common lime):

Wild Cherries

Nicely ripened wild cherries:

Common Knapweed

St John's Wort

Rosebay Willowherb or Fireweed

Broad Leaved Everlasting Pea

I think this is broad leaved everlasting pea:

Harebells

Lovely flowers but I have not seen as many this year:

Field Scabious with Six Spot Burnet Moth 

Mayweed

Hogweed Seeds

Yellowing Ferns

Bit early for yellowing ferns but it has been very dry and hot:

Field Bindweed

Spring on the Southwell Trail - Part 17 (June 2018)

The theme for this selection from the Southwell Trail is a combination of leaves, the colour green, and tree identification. As I stated in my previous post it was becoming more difficult to photograph the trail itself due to the dense foliage and some bright highlights. The constrasty nature of the results didn't appeal too much and, unlike the winter shots where I thought there was still some variety in the photographs, the late spring compositions started to look very similar.

The alternative to the wide landscapes, was close-up work and the details of the trail at this time of the year, starting with compositions of hawthorn, oak, and possibly hornbeam leaves. I am still not sure about the hornbeam and I am basing my identification on the serrated edges of the leaves. Earlier in the season I photographed a catkin which I thought was hornbeam and now I am waiting to see if I can spot its winged fruit known as samaras.

I did spot a variety of winged fruit or helicopter seeds during June and I started to investigate the differences between them. In doing so I came across a great guide on the Woodland Trust website. They use the shapes of famous people's moustaches as fun way to identify the different seeds. For example:

1) The field maple or the Clark Gable:

2) Sycamore or Frank Zappa

3) And one that made me laugh - the ash tree or ? as "no one's quite sure who the ash seedling looks like"

Other tree fruit I spotted included:

Horse chestnut:

Blackthorn sloes:

Wild cherries:

Wild pear:

Some insects:

Red soldier beetle

Scorpion fly (I think)

Finally, there was lots of sunny weather during the early part of June and only enough rain to dampen the leaves on one particular day: