Agrimony

Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) may sound like some sort of disease but is in fact a common wildflower that grows over most of Great Britain, being found in field margins, hedgerows and on roadsides.

In ancient times this plant was widely used for medicinal purposes, being thought to be a remedy for liver complaints, poor eyesight, memory loss and even snakebite!

The plant was formerly thought to have magical qualities in southwest England, being known as fairy’s wand or fairy’s rod. To counter this trend, the Church renamed it Aaron’s rod.

Another former use of agrimony was as a dye plant for wool, with a strong yellow colour being produced.

The stems of agrimony, which are upright, unbranched and hairy, grow to between 12 and 24 inches high (30-60 cms).

The plant flowers between June and August, producing spikes that bear numerous yellow star-shaped flowers with notched petals. These flowers, which have a scent reminiscent of apricots, attract bees and flies.

The fruits have a ring of hooks around the upper edge that are caught by passing animals which therefore help to distribute the seeds.

© John Welford

Wild strawberry

Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is the plant from which the much-loved domestic strawberry was cultivated in the 18^th century. The so-called Alpine strawberry, which has smaller fruits than those of garden strawberries, is closer to the original wild form.

True wild strawberries grow in Great Britain in woods and on grassland, especially on chalky soil. Some plants that are found growing wild are actually descended from cultivated plants the seeds of which “escaped”.

The name strawberry has nothing to do with any notion of straw being used to provide a bed for the berries and protect them from slug damage. The name goes back to Anglo-Saxon times – before the year 1000 – which was long before the plants were cultivated. In the Anglo-Saxon form of English, one meaning of the word straw referred to small particles of chaff, which could be taken to indicate the scattering of pips on the surface of the fruit. Another meaning is to strew across the ground, which is what the plant does with its creepers.

The upper leaves of the wild strawberry have long stalks and three leaflets that are bright green on top and pale underneath. The lower leaves form a rosette. The plant can grow to anything between 2 and 12 inches in height (5-30 cms). nk!

Flowering is from April to July. The fleshy fruit, which turns red when ripe, is known as an achene. This is equivalent to the central part of a raspberry, to which the seed-containing fruits are attached, but in the case of the strawberry the seeds are on the outside of the fruiting body and not contained within.

Strawberries also reproduce by sending out runners to form new plants.

© John Welford

Tormentil

Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) grows widely in Great Britain, preferring light acid soil.

It grows up to 20 inches high, the upper leaves having three leaflets and two leafy stipules.

The flowering stems grow from a rosette of leaves that often wither before the flowers appear, which is between May and October.

The yellow flowers, which look a bit like those of buttercups, have four sepals and four petals. They produce a nectar that attracts insects, but the plant can also self-pollinate.

Each flower produces up to twenty fruits in a small solid receptacle.

Tormentil was used medicinally in past ages. In a book published in 1616 a powder made from tormentil roots was recommended as a cure for toothache.

The plant was also used as a source of red dye and its highly astringent roots could serve as alternative to oak bark in the tanning of hides.

© John Welford

Silverweed

Silverweed (Potentilla anserine)  is a variety of cinquefoil that has the more usual yellow flowers, and its silvery leaves are divided into up to 12 leaflets.

It was an important crop plant in earlier times before the introduction of potatoes. The starchy roots were eaten raw, baked or boiled, or ground down to make porridge or bread.

Traditional names for silverweed include “bread and butter”, “bread and cheese” and “seventh bread”.

It also had medicinal uses, being used to treat mouth ulcers, sore throats and internal bleeding.

© John Welford

Marsh cinquefoil

Marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris), as the name suggests, grows in wet places such as bogs and peat. It is more common in northern areas of the British Isles than further south. In the Isle of Man it has the name “bog strawberry”.

Cinquefoil is French for “five-leaved”, although this refers to the arrangement of leaflets within a single leaf.

Marsh cinquefoil grows to between 6 and 18 inches high. A creeping underground stem produces upright stems on which grow the largish leaves, divided into five leaflets as mentioned above.

The plant flowers from May to July, the flowers being reddish in colour, which is unusual for cinquefoils in that most varieties have yellow flowers. The flower sepals are much longer than the petals. The fruits are carried in a spongy receptacle.

©John Welford

Ichthyosaurs

Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles that were plentiful in the Triassic and Jurassic periods (252-145 million years ago) but became rarer in the late Jurassic and died out during the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.

The first ichthyosaurus fossil was found in 1811 by the fossil hunter Mary Anning in the cliffs near her home in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. Since then, ichthyosaur remains have been found in many parts of the world including North and South America, Europe, Russia, India and Australia.

Ichthyosaurs (the name means “fish lizard”) looked similar to both modern sharks, which are fish, and dolphins, which are mammals. Some fossils have been found with embryos inside them, showing that they gave birth to live young, like mammals but unlike fish.

They resembled fish by waving their tails from side to side to swim. Their large ear bones suggest that they were able to pick up underwater vibrations caused by their prey.

Ichthyosaurus (a commonly found ichthyosaur) could grow up to two metres (6.6 feet) long and has been estimated to have weighed up to 90 kg (198 pounds). A less common ichthyosaur was Shastasaurus which could grow up to 20 metres (65.6 feet) long and perhaps weighed around 25 tonnes.

© John Welford

Dhole

The dhole (Cuon alpinus), which is also known as the Asian red dog or Indian wild dog, is widespread throughout south, east and southeast Asia, although its overall numbers are in decline. 

It measures up to 90 cm (35 in) in length and weighs 15-20 kg (33-44 lbs). The fur colour is tawny or dark red with a darker tail and lighter underparts. 

Dholes live in packs of 5 to 12 animals, which usually comprise an extended family. The main prey of dholes is medium-sized hoofed mammals, but they will also eat smaller animals, fruit and other plant food. 

© John Welford

Kathiawari horse

The first thing that strikes anyone when seeing a Kathiawari horse is its ears. They point inwards, almost meeting across the top of the head, and with the ability to rotate 180 degrees.

This is a strong, hardy horse breed that is found mainly in the Gujarat region of western India. A typical Kathiawari horse stands 14-15 hands high. It has a fairly long head, a broad forehead and large eyes.

There is a legend that claims that the Kathiawari was introduced to India by Alexander the Great. However, others claim that they are descended from wild horses found in desert regions.

Up to about 100 years ago these were not particularly impressive horses, being small and stunted and narrow in the body. They did, however, possess the attractive qualities of hardiness, stamina and endurance. They could work all day with very little sustenance. They also had tough feet that could deal with hard terrain.

Selective interbreeding with Arab stock has greatly improved the breed in terms of its conformation.

© John Welford

Narrow-leaved everlasting pea

Narrow-leaved everlasting pea (Lathyrus sylvestris) is found in scattered locations throughout the British Isles in hedges, thickets and woods. It is often found on railway embankments. It was originally a cultivated plant that was grown in gardens for its showy flowers, but it ‘escaped’ into the wild and gardeners are now more likely to grow the related sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) which has been developed to display many shades of colour, as well as being scented.

The narrow-leaved everlasting pea is a scrambling plant that climbs up other plants, such as blackberries, by means of the branched tendrils at the ends of its leaves. It grows up to 80 inches (200 cms) high. The stems have prominent broad ‘wings’.

Narrow-leaved everlasting pea flowers from June to August. The stalk bearing the flower-head is usually longer than the leaves and carries anything from three to eight flowers, which are either pink or white.

The smooth pods are 2-3 inches (5-9 cms) long and contain up to 14 seeds each.

The name ‘everlasting’ refers to the fact that the plant is a perennial, as opposed to the true pea which is an annual.

© John Welford

Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) is common throughout the British Isles, being found in damp parts of woods and meadows as well as marshes and fens.

It is an upright plant, growing to between 24 and 48 inches (60-120 cms) high. Its lower leaves have up to five pairs of leaflets, with a lobed leaflet at the tip. The leaves are green above and white and hairy below. Pairs of small leaflets separate the bigger ones.

Meadowsweet flowers between June and August. Each flower has five sepals, bent back, and five petals. The many stamens are clearly noticeable as they project outwards. The fruits form twisted spirals.

Meadowsweet seems to be well named in that it grows in meadows and has a sweet smell. However, the name is a corruption of “medesweet”, so given because in earlier times it was used to flavour mead, an alcoholic drink made from fermented honey.

Queen Elizabeth I was known to appreciate the smell of meadowsweet and instructed that it be used to mask domestic smells, this being done by covering floors with freshly cut blooms.

However, an alternative name in Yorkshire is “courtship and matrimony”, which refers not only to the heady small of the flowers but the sharper scent of the leaves when crushed, which therefore represented the reality of marriage!

Another use of meadowsweet in past times was, as an infusion, to relieve pain and calm fevers. The sap of meadowsweet stems contains chemicals that are of the same group as salicylic acid, which is an ingredient of aspirin.

© John Welford

Meadow vetchling

Meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis) is a common plant that grows throughout the British Isles in grassy place and also in hedges and on banks such as railway embankments, where it forms large clumps.

Meadow vetchling is a nitrogen fixer, so it is a welcome plant on grass meadows. It also contributes to the nutritional value of pastures and hay crops, due to being relatively rich in protein, especially in its seeds.

It is a scrambling plant that produces weak, spindly stems up to 48 inches (120 cms) in length. These gain support from other plants by virtue of tendrils at the leaf tips. Leaf-like stipules grow at the base of the leaf stalks, which are square in cross-section.

Despite having a small, forked tendril on each leaf, meadow vetchling is not a great climber.

Meadow vetchling flowers from May to August, with five to twelve yellow flowers being carried on stalks that are longer than the leaves. The flowers are visited mainly by bumble bees, which have tongues that are long enough to reach the nectar at the bottom of the long flower tubes.

The seed pods look flattened when ripe and sometimes are covered with fine hairs.

The plant also spreads due to its creeping, underground rootstock. These throw up a profusion of sharply angled stems.

Folk names for meadow vetchling include “lady`s slippers” and “old granny’s slipper-sloppers”, these names referring to the shape of the flowers. Another name, “yellow tare-tine”, makes use of an old name for vetch, namely “tare”, although this should not be confused with the word for weed that appears in the Authorised Version of the New Testament.

© John Welford

Klipspringer

The klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus) is a small tiny-hoofed antelope that lives in mountainous areas of eastern and southern Africa. 

It measures up to 4 feet (1.2 metres) in length and weighs up to 40 pounds (18 kg). It has a glossy olive-yellow coat with yellow and brown specks, fading to white on the underparts and legs. Male klipspringers have small, spiky horns.

Klipspringers browse on evergreen shrubs and live in pairs, raising up to two young at a time.

© John Welford

Nilgai

The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), which is also known as the bluebuck or blue bull, is an Asian antelope that is endemic to India.

It measures up to 7 feet (2.1 metres) long and stands up 21 inches (53 cms) high. It weighs up to 660 pounds (300 kg). The front legs are longer than the rear ones. Male nilgai have stout tapering horns up to 8 inches (20 cms) long and also sport a throat tuft.

The male’s coat is bluish grey and the female’s is tawny coloured.

The nilgai prefers open woods to thick forest and is very alert to danger, fleeing at speed from predators, which include tigers.

Nilgai graze on grasses of various types and browse leaves and fruit from bushes, feeding during the early morning and early evening while resting in seclusion during the hot part of the day.

Male nilgai compete for territory and females by kneeling in front of each other and lunging with their horns. Successful males are able to acquire harems of up to 10 females.

Breeding occurs throughout the year, although most calves are born between June and October.

© John Welford

Crane fly

Crane flies belong to the order of Diptera and are related to mosquitoes, although they do not bite. The species usually found in the United Kingdom are commonly known as “daddy long-legs”.

They are readily recognized both from their legs – which are only weakly attached to their bodies and can easily break off – and their long, narrow wings. Some of the larger species, such as the phantom crane fly, have wings that stretch to 2.5 cms in length.

Crane flies are mainly nocturnal and are usually only seen inside a house during the day when they have got in through an open window after dark and become trapped. Campers regularly see them dancing round their lamps and torches in the evening.

Female crane flies lay their eggs in damp soil and these hatch into larvae that are grey or pale brown in colour. Some species feed on dead and decaying matter, some on small insects and some on plant roots.

It is the plant root feeders that cause most trouble to gardeners, horticulturalists and greenkeepers. The larvae, known as leatherjackets, can quite easily kill plants, including grass, leading to bare patches on otherwise pristine golf and bowling greens, for example. Another problem is that leatherjackets are tasty snacks for birds such as crows, which peck annoyingly large holes in the grass to reach their prey.

Despite all the treatments that have been devised for tackling leatherjackets, there still seem to be plenty of adult daddy long-legs surviving to get in the hair of summer-time campers!

© John Welford

Common shrew

The common shrew (Sorex araneus) is correctly named, given that it is one of the commonest mammals found in Great Britain. However, most people have never seen one, because it is a secretive animal that is most active at night. 

The common shrew is about 5-8 centimetres long and it weighs up to 12 grammes. It has silky dark brown fur that is lighter on the underside. 

Its habitat is woodland, hedgerows and grassland, where it spends much of its time hidden beneath vegetation or burrowing underground. When active, the common shrew spends most of its time searching for and eating its food, which consists of worms, insects, spiders and other small animals. It hunts by using its acute sense of smell. It needs to eat up to three times its own bodyweight every day in order to survive. 

The common shrew is too small to hibernate during the winter – it cannot store enough fat in its body to make this possible. However, it has evolved a survival mechanism by which it shrinks in size and reduces its body weight by up to 20%, thus reducing the amount of food it needs to find and eat. This shrinkage involves reductions in size of bones, including the skull, and internal organs. When Spring returns the lost weight is recovered. 

The common shrew breeds during the summer months, and a female can produce up to four litters during that time, each one containing up to seven young. Given that the normal lifespan of the common shrew is only 14 months, a female can only expect one breeding season during its life. 

By being active mainly at night the common shrew is itself prey for other nocturnal wildlife, particularly owls and foxes. However, the species is not endangered.

© John Welford