Tag: sweet chestnut

#365daysofbiking Community chestnut

September 12h – Also on my way back from Shenstone, at the bottom of Main Street in Stonnall, a different type of chestnut is absolutely profuse this year.

Sweet chestnuts in their spiny shells don’t really grow edible fruit in this country due to the climate, but they are beautiful ornamental trees with their shiny leaves and fascinating, almost prehistoric looking fruit.

This tree is always impressive.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2QoVr5K
via IFTTT

August 30th – This time of year is mostly about fruits, and this year, there are no shortage. Another fine crop of walnuts in Wall, possibly the best yet. Conkers were growing big and fat at Weeford village hall, and reships glisten orange by the waysides. At the Bourne Brook near Thickbroom, the Himalayan basal is beautiful, but chocking out the other pants, notably purple loosestrife. In Shenstone churchyard, prickly sweet chestnuts fascinate.

Painful as autumn is, heralding the oncoming darkness, it is such a beautiful season.

September 16th – I headed back to Brownhills down the canal, and crossed Clayhanger Common for a change. I noticed at the old access driveway, near where the ranger’s hut used to stand a row of sweet chestnuts, with a glorious crop of nuts. I’ve never clocked these before, but they’re in rude health and look beautiful. Considering the history of the land upon which they’re growing, I’d not eat the fruit, but it’s a great thing to see, for sure.

August 31st – Horse chestnuts (conkers) and sweet chestnuts are completely different, but both are growing all around right now. Neither are yet ripe, but there seem to be handsome crops of both. The horse chestnuts here are showing the effect of the leaf miner moth, whose larvae hatch inside the leaf structure and kill it from the inside, turning the leaves patchy brown very early in the summer. The fruit, however, is unaffected and well familiar to blokes everywhere who are genetically programmed to pick up fallen conkers, whatever their age or status. The hard spiky shells are a stark contrast to the ferocious-looking sweet chestnuts, which are actually relatively soft. The Sweet chestnuts have leathery, shiny dark green foliage, too, giving them a slightly continental appearance. Both trees were spotted in Stonnall – the sweet chestnut on the verge at the junction of Main Street and Church Lane.