Tag: crop

#365daysofbiking Just nuts

July 27th – A miserable Saturday of work, bad weather and not getting done what I planned to. My health wasn’t great, either. I headed out to Chasewater in the evening but nothing was inspiring in the dull, overbearing grey.

I did note however one thing – we have an excellent hazelnut crop this year; and this tree at Chasewater I’ve never noticed before was absolutely laden with nuts.

Wonder if the squirrels might leave a few to ripen for the humans this year?

That thought, at least, made me smile.

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August 23rd – I don’t know what it is in the season, but the acorns this year are prolific and absolutely huge. With the dry summer I’d have expected the opposite, but they are absolutely huge. 

The fecundity of the crop is, however, being affected by the large amount of knopper galls, that from from acorns attacked by the knopper wasp. Also a peculiar seasonal phenomenon, they are very,. very red this year, whereas it’s usually just tinges of colour. 

Wonder why?

July 23rd – Saddly poor photo of something that caught me by surprise: A wayside pear tree in Clayhanger (I won’t say where) is fruiting very heavily this year, and despite the dry conditions, the fruit look like they’re going to be quite large.

Watching this one carefully, but expecting the crop to be decimated by birds (bless them) as it has been before.

July 15th – Another joy of warm summer rides is the overspray from crop sprinklers. Often placed – sometimes I wonder if somewhat mischievously – so they spray into adjoining lanes, cycling through the cold mist is a delight.

Sometimes, it you can’t get caught by one directly, standing downwind can be just as rewarding.

Or maybe, just maybe, if the sun is shining, you can catch a perfect little rainbow…

November 15th – There seem to be some species of shrub and tree that are unique to commercial and trading estates, in that you only see them in the borders and copses there. These were in Tipton.

One such shrub is this one: laden with a huge quantity of bright red berries that the birds don’t seem to bother with much, I have no idea of it’s name.

Looks like another bumper crop this year, too.

July 25th – In Rushall, a couple of apple trees have fruit growing well on the boughs right now. Some looks better than others, depending I think on if frost caught the blossom or not.

It’s not the largest harvest I’ve ever seen, but it’s big. It’s going to be a decent year for apples and pears, I think.

June 23rd – By the new pond at Clayhanger, the pear tree I found last year seems to have a reasonable crop, but it’s under attack from something bruising or otherwise damaging the fruit.

I’ve not seen anything like this before; the pears grown here last year were small, but well formed and without blemishes. 

My grandfather used to say that a late frost catching the fruit blossom would ruin a crop. I wonder if this is what that looks like – after all, we did have a late and quite heavy frost this year?

September 11th – Bumper update today as I had a lovely Indian summer ride out to Abbots Bromley, Newborough and Dunstall.

Here at Hanney Hay near Hammerwich, just down from Meerash Farm, a field full of strikingly green proso-millet.

I have no idea if the use is as animal or human feed, or even biofuels, but it’s a handsome, beautifully coloured crop.

Cheers to Tony Jakeman for the identification. I’ve never seen it before.

September 4th – And then, there are the oaks I was concerned were lost. All the galls and nasties seem to have appeared long before the acorn crop I thought would not appear – there is now a stunning crop of tiny acorns growing well all along the canal at Clayhanger.

It’s good to see, and when they start to fall, I’ll gather them and spread the acorn love.

Never lose faith.