UK Nature Blog

What is this white flower?

I'm frankly useless at wild plants, so perhaps the assembled masses can tell me, what is this white flower seen in a grassy field in Norfolk (in the grounds of Felbrigg Hall to be precise)?

Update: Mike sent in a comment that gives an answer - "This unusual white flower is called Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum Umbellatum - Liliacae). There should be a green stripe on the underside of the petal. It is unusual in the way that it has what look like smaller white petals surrounding the yellow Anthers.

Zoom blur tree

Faced with low light and dusky conditions that make for blurry photos? Use it to your advantage and let the long exposure times become a creative asset!

By zooming in whilst taking this shot of a tree I think I've transformed an otherwise dull picture into something quite dramatic. You also wouldn't know that it was actually getting quite gloomy, being 8:42pm a few days ago. I actually set the aperture to f20 to make sure of a long enough exposure to get the effect I was after, which was half a second in this case, at ISO 800. In retrospect I should have knocked the ISO down to 200 and used a larger aperture to get the same result but with less noise.

Greater stitchwort

You might spy this white flower growing in the wild at this time of year, as did a regular correspondent of this blog who wondered what it was, growing in the shady margins of a footpath. Actually she figured out for herself that it is Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) but I thought I'd post her photograph and enlighten the wider populace.

Chris Packham interview - part 1

As part of a current on-pack promotion that Allinson Bread are running, UKNB has had the chance to interview Chris Packham, of Really Wild Show fame (if you grew up when I did) and more recently Springwatch and Autumnwatch amongst many many other endeavours.

Allinson are giving away 8,500 bird feeders in a bid to help bring Britain’s birds back to our gardens. All you need to do is buy four loaves of Allinson Bread, send off the on-pack tokens and you’ll be the proud owner of a brand new bird feeder. This on-pack promotion runs until the end of April and supports their brand new partnership with Conservation Grade, an initiative that works with farmers to encourage ecologically sustainable agriculture. From speaking to Chris it's clear that he's passionate about Conservation Grade and is keen to see more companies supporting it, and to see consumers supporting it with their spending power.

There was a lot to talk about, so I've broken the interview into a few instalments to be posted over the coming days. Follow the link below to continue reading the first part, which deals with the heavyweight issues of conservation today, but don't worry - more whimsical topics will follow!

Update: be sure to read the second and third instalments as well.

Cherry blossom

It's that time of year when cherry trees, many of them lining our streets, come into blossom for a spectacular but fairly short-lived show. Those above are in Chelsea.The trees we see blossoming so freely are ornamental cherries and are not the same as those that provide the edible fruit, sadly.

Ivy - young and old

 

Both of these pictures are of Ivy (Latin name "Hedera"), but the one on the left shows the juvenile leaves and the right shows the adult leaves and berries. They are the same plant and often you'll find both leaf types on the same specimen, but I imagine most people would only instantly recognise the picture on the left.

Nature notes - March

The natural world is springing up around us so it's an exciting time to watch it grow. Here are a few things I have noticed of late.

• Bees are out in force, both bumble and honey.
• Lacewings seem to have been particularly numerous compared to previous years. I've seen loads of them in various buildings in various parts of the country.
• I saw my first butterfly of the year: a Comma, which overwinter as adults to emerge in March.
• The lawn has received its first cut of the year (and it's second today) though my neighbours blinked first :-)
• Daffodils are everywhere, whilst snowdrops are almost completely done.
• Birds are noisily celebrating. Magpies in particular seem to be building nests as I see them flying with twigs, but I imagine many species are doing so.
• Ponds are full of frogspawn (pictured), and presumably other types of spawn.

Aliens in our parks

The BBC reports on the growing threat from non-native plants escaping form our gardens and colonising the British countryside. I shan't go any further in summarising the article here, but I will ask the question over what is and isn't natural and native? Plants that are pretty or have other redeeming qualities are selected by humans for their gardens, and this allows them to take over new territories, which sounds like just another aspect of natural selection, evolution and the way the living world works. Our attempts to stop the progress of nature in its tracks seem doomed to fail and just as unnatural as what it tries to prevent! But that's just my naive devil's advocate position.

Tits eating tree buds?

In the last week I've noticed the yearly phenomenon whereby Blue tits (and some others) can be seen working their along the thin branches of trees and shrubs picking at the newly emerging buds. I assumed they might be eating them, but a bit of research suggests that they are pulling them apart in search of bugs. I wonder how much damage they actually do? Presumably not too much as the small Willow they're particularly fond of in my garden doesn't lack for leaves each year.

Surveying Norfolk (and other) wildlife

Norfolk Wildlife Trust have a great website with resources to help in surveying many different kinds of wildlife, from ponds to fungi. The forms are designed to be sent back to report on wildlife in Norfolk, but there's so much great information and guidance that they should be of interest to anybody.