Black and White

A quick walk around the lakes of Straw's Bridge this morning, while the sun shone. We needed our jackets on this morning as the temperature has started to plunge.
The sun had the effect of bringing the berries into sharp and colourful focus and as I have mentioned the red berries several times, I thought I would concentrate on the less colourful ones. Black berries are everywhere (and I don't just mean Blackberries), among the most numerous of which belong to the Dogwoods (Cornus sanguinea).

Native to most of Europe, Dogwood is one of the most useful hedgerow shrubs, providing food for numerous insects and birds. The wood of the Dogwood has been used by man for making arrows, for thousands of years. The 5300 year old, mummified body of a man found in 1991, on the Alpine border between Austria and Italy, was carrying a quiver full of arrows made from Dogwood. Dogwoods also provide wonderful Autumn and Winter colour as their leaves begin to turn golden and red, then drop, revealing the red stems during the Winter months.

Another Black berry, known to all, belongs to the Elder (Sambucus nigra). These are very common in the hedgerows too - although not so common as usual this year for some reason. The plant contains poisonous compounds, as do the berries (especially when unripe). They are edible when cooked however, and are well-known constituents of Elderberry wine, jams and chutneys. Another great favourite (in their raw state) of the birds too...

Leaving the black berries, we found a shrub with white ones. Another Dogwood, this time White Dogwood (Cornus alba). This, like it's black berried cousin, has beautiful, red stems which add a much needed splash of colour to the Winter hedgerow.

Back home and another black and white reference was to be found in our garden. Softer and more instantly charming than the shrubs of the countryside, the monochrome influence this time, came in the shape of our neighbours' cat 'Oscar'. The little minx!

Eastbourne part 2

The seafront of Eastbourne is dominated by it's pier. Opened in 1870, it is 1000ft long and has a theatre at the end with a camera obscura on top.

Turning back to look at the land from along the pier, the white cliffs leading up to Beachy Head look inviting for a walk in the sunshine. We will have to return one day to have a good trudge around the cliff-tops.

Leaving Eastbourne behind, we struck out to make our way towards the Channel Tunnel. We stopped on the way to have a walk at Rye Harbour. Situated at the mouth of the River Rother, it sits at the western extreme of the Dungeness peninsula.

The area is a nature reserve and a marvelous spot for migrating birds, wildfowl and many species of wild flowers. The shingle is dotted with Sea Kale (Crambe maritima), an edible, seaside plant of the cabbage family, with a flavour similar to asparagus apparently.

It was windy walk from the harbour to the seafront, but it certainly 'blew the cobwebs away' before our long journey.

Eastbourne

Malcolm and I got back home again last night at around 11 O'clock after our short trip to the Cité Europe to do a little wine shopping. Usually, when we go on these short shopping trips, we stay at Medway in Kent for a couple of nights. This time, we decided to spend just one night in Eastbourne before setting off for an afternoon/evening tunnel journey to France, then travelling straight back home after dark. This way we avoided the worst of the traffic on the M25 and M1.
We got to Eastbourne on Tuesday afternoon and found some free parking - quite a feat anywhere these days, but especially at the seaside. The weather wasn't very good, but we did have a nice sea view at the the Travelodge. This, from our window...

After dark, the pier was illuminated and made the view even more appealing, despite the gale-force wind and rain.

Wednesday morning was much brighter. The sun was shining and the wind had dropped. So, not having to check out of our room until 12 noon, we had a walk along the front and around the pier before setting off for the Channel Tunnel. Walking westwards, the views looking back to the pier were lovely...

As were the views looking westward, toward Beachy Head...

From the pier (of which, more tomorrow) we looked back onto the seafront, the hotels and a broad, shingle beach.

Then, it was time to check out and get into the car for a leisurely drive along the coast towards our appointment with the tunnel, France and a car-load of wine. Life's hard sometimes!

"Ribbit"

Going to put out the bin last night, I was ready for the sight of a large toad in the bin store and equally ready to make sure I didn't squash the poor thing under the bin's wheels. I wasn't prepared for the sight of, not a toad, but a Common Frog (Rana temporaria) sitting under the bin. It's rare to see an adult frog around these parts, and even rarer to see one of this size. At first, it stubbornly refused to turn around, so the only view I got was from behind.

It was also rather dark on the ground, in the bin store so the pictures are not as sharp as I would have liked and I didn't want to startle the poor thing with the flash.
Common Frogs are known to be able to slightly alter the shade of their colouration to assist with blending in with their surroundings. The chevron-shaped dark patch on the frog's neck is also characteristic of the species. I couldn't tell if this was a male or female frog as I couldn't see it's 'fingers'. Males have a swelling on their first finger to help them to hang on to the females. No doubt this little creature will shortly be looking for somewhere to hibernate. They usually start to find somewhere to hibernate around October.
Then, as I was thinking of leaving the frog to it's own devices, it turned to present a side-on view. What little charmer!

Showers

Yesterday afternoon, Malcolm and I had a short walk around the lakes with one eye on the clouds. Typically, as we got within a few steps of our front door, the heavens opened and we got soaked in no time. Today, it was a walk in the other direction, around the old theme park lake, but still with one eye on the clouds.  As in the past few days, signs of Autumn are everywhere, not least of which were these colourful fruits... Rose Hips.  Can you spot the Common Green Shield Bug nymph (Palomena prasina) in the picture?  I didn't know it was there until I downloaded the photos from my camera.

Our garden is also a scene of the impending cooler days and as always, at this time of year, you can't step out of the door without getting spiders' webs all over your face. Spider silk is well known for being very strong. In fact, it is about as strong as high-grade steel. It is also very light-weight and 'stretchy', able to stretch by about 140% its length. It can also keep its properties of strength and 'stretchiness' down to temperatures of below −40°C.
This particular web belonged to a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) which seems to have claimed our grape vine as its own. The web was rather beautiful as it caught the late evening sun.

Rarity

While walking around 'Swan Lake' at Straw's Bridge the other day, there was a plant, growing in the drying mud at the margins of the lake, which was unfamiliar to me. As always with me, this couldn't go by, so I took some photo's and tried to identify it. It has taken a bit of detective work and now I know why. The plant is called Niger (Guizotia abyssinica) and is a native to East Africa.

This alien species is a fast-spreading one which has been introduced to Britain by those of us who feed the birds. Niger seed is quite common in wild bird seed and that's where these plants come from. Very handsome and welcome addition to the British flora (until it starts to take over and dominate all our native species!).
Far more common and another sign of the approaching autumn, is this attractive (?) insect which was on our patio doors yesterday. Daddy Long Legs' are everywhere at this time of year as the leatherjackets which have been living in the ground all year, eating our plants' roots, emerge as adults and head for our homes. Correctly known as Crane Flies, this (I think) is one of our Common Crane Fly species (Tipula paludosa)

Odds and Ends

A bit of a 'mish-mash' of things this morning. With our kitchen watching duties and the wet weather over the last week, we haven't been able to get out much. Yesterday however, the sun shone and we were able to grab a short walk around the lakes of Straw's Bridge. It was beautiful and bright yesterday afternoon and the views from the top of the bank which separates two of the lakes, was well worth waiting for...

Despite the sunshine and warm temperatures, we were surrounded by signs of the fast-approaching Autumn. No clearer sign can be had, than the reddening of the Maple leaves. A welcome addition to the colours of the countryside, but a sad reminder of the Summer's demise.

After the nice day, last evening saw a weather front coming in from the South-West which gave us a great deal of rain again during the night. But, the approaching weather gave us some wonderful cloudscapes as the sun went down. A colourful end to the day.