Naturefile

Galja said:

I have a small yard but in it I have Moso, Japanese temple and Nigra bamboo, grey, black and a new hybrid form of squirrels, a 160 year red oak, a couple of cornelian cherry trees, a couple Russian pomegranates, several wild quinces, poddling radishes, mostly white violets, native dogwoods, a couple barberry with tiny yellow flowers, a number of native ferns, invading vinca, loads of chocomint, gooseberries and blueberries, mossy brick that needs cleaning and other mostly edible stuff that I wait for. We have to spray the bamboo shoots when they emerge for they are immediate fodder for tree rats *our huge squirrel population), and yes, we get tons of different kinds of bird because we are on a flight path rich with them. Some of the favorites are the rare Baltimore Orioles, various hummingbirds looking like giant insects, the resident cardinals, the resident doves and the various barn owls that come at night, make a pitstop and escape after munching on insects. I started with three Zdravec (kind of Bulgarian and Macedonian geranium that has edible leaves and flowers that blooms on Pascha (Eastern Orthodox Easter) which now lines a path to the back of the yard in slate on both sides.

and I have pklants I hate but keep for I do not have the right to bomb them no matter how many of the wrong kind of insect they attract, for other people love them or some beloved insect or animal eats part of them or they attract butterflies or whatever. I even harbor thoughts of arbicide against a couple wild dogwoods I would like gone. So not all my thoughts approach thanatopsis

I have a digital camera that I am to lame to learn how to use but if I get brilliant and do so, I might share pics.

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BooJewels said:

The baby ducks are gorgeous - is that from this year?

I just went out to try and take some photos of my spring flowers whilst the sun was on them and spotted this chap catching some rays. I didn't think they were about this soon, but checking on their life cycle, they do emerge in March and April to start feeding after overwintering somewhere safe, before they breed in May. I was telling my Mum and she said she saw one last week, but it's lower nearer the coast where she is, so generally a bit warmer. I couldn't really get close enough to get a decent shot at a better angle, so this is substantially cropped, so the quality suffers a bit.

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Galja said:

by the way, is that a STONE boletus Edulis in your yard? i.e. porchini mushroom in Italian

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Galja said:

It's also my favoirte edible mushroom, especially when I get it dry, reconstitute it, use it hither and yon dishes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis

Note that the article also has a pic of a highly deady poisonous mushroom of a related shape, an Amanita, a gilled mushroom under the cap wheras all of the Boletus have sort of pinholes under their cap

Although the Amanita has a similar shape, a mushroom that smells somewhat the same but gives you a tummy ache grows here on the east coast of America, the Boletinus. The way you tell whether you have one of these is to press a thumnail under and if is turns blue, avoid it

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Galja said:

In looking for pics, I also foun this guy's blog which ALSO states that his zdravec bloom on Orthodox Pascha

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Welshman1952 said:

Out yesterday birding and managed to capture a host of various birds. I won't bore you with them all, but here was a rather nice photogenic little reed bunting that stayed for a while as I sat in a hide at Tittesworth reservoir.

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