Cyclamen hederifolium throws out long ground hugging stems...

 

...from a mass of coils that form after the flowers on the stalks fade.

 Thereby the stretching stems move the seed capsule away from the parent plant. When the capsule ripens up to a dozen seeds are cast from it. And C. hederifolium has another trick to propagate itself round and about. The seeds have a sticky, sugary coating which attracts ants who carry them away.  

On a grey day a look back at some colourful butterflies... 

beginning with the Chalk Hill Blue 

 

Red Admiral

Comma

Peacock

Brown Argus

Adonis Blue

Painted Lady

 The trees opposite the London bound platform of Hitchin station are a useful yardstick where we're at with the seasons. I see this view regularly as I travel back and forth so note the changes from day to day and week to week.

 

 This is the bulb of Erythronium dens-canis which is the European species colloquially known as Dog Tooth Violet. Other members of the genus (mostly North American) share the same common name for the bulbs' resemblance to dogs' teeth.

 E. dens-canis looks to be about the right size to be found in a large dog's jaw. Then again the American cultivar E. Pagoda would be a huge hound indeed for a gnasher like this... 

 

 

 Plants invariably have a social history as well as a natural history. Case in point London Pride (Saxifraga x urbium).

 Botanically speaking it is thought to be the hybrid of S. umbrosa from the Pyrenees and S. spathularis which is found in Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Nonetheless S. x urbium came to be known as London Pride. For several centuries or more it has been referred to as a Londoner. 

 How and when it first arrived in the capital is unclear. It is said to have colonised the rubble of the blitz during and after the Second World War but it was here long before that. 

 Common as it was I hardly ever see it in cultivation and I can't recall ever seeing it growing wild. Iain Sinclair once characterised London as a city of disappearances. I think he meant people but the same could be said of S. x urbium though they did at least name a beer after it.  

 The rosettes have a fractal morphology and the pattern spreads outwards as more rosettes form creating a gently spreading ground cover. Masses of pink flowers are held aloft by slender stems in early summer. 

 I find myself taking more walks in the late afternoon and early evening than I used to. The period when daylight becomes twilight after the tasks of the day are done.

 It has something to do with spending more time in Hitchin than London. I can walk to the edge of town in twenty minutes or catch a bus to one of the villages and amble back. A city ramble has its pleasures but even a short sojourn into the countryside makes the connection with nature.

 Having said that early evening is getting earlier all the time and the clocks go back at the weekend. I'll have to connect with nature in the dark! 

 

Zen

 After a rainy grey morning the sun broke through. I was surprised to glimpse a Red Admiral sunning itself among the leaves of a Fig Tree. 2024 has been a bad summer for butterflies, cool and wet in June particularly.

 I haven't seen many Red Admirals but perhaps they have been helped somewhat by being a comparatively late emerging butterfly? During spring and summer there are migrations from North Africa and continental Europe. The females lay eggs here and the brood emerges from July onwards. They will be on the wing into autumn, sometimes as late as November.

 For the second year running I am seeing Stinking Hellebore (Hellborus foetidus) coming into flower in mid-autumn. I expect H. foetidus to bloom early in the new year; October is placing it more in the category of a late flowering perennial rather than an early one.

 Flowering times for most plants can vary by weeks from year to year according to climatic conditions. That is not unusual but H. foetidus seems to have reset its biological clock. Time will tell whether this is permanent or temporary.   

Blue sky, autumn trees.

 

 I sometimes get a glimpse of deer when walking in the Hertfordshire countryside. There are Fallow Deer as seen here. 

 Also Muntjac Deer, an escapee from Woburn Park in Bedfordshire in the early 20th. century having been bought over from China. Muntjac bred and increased rapidly across southern England and their range continues to expand. They are considered to be an invasive species with a detrimental effect on woodland understory due to their grazing.

 Having said that Fallow Deer were introduced by the Romans, died out then were reintroduced by the Normans. Apparently several thousand deer parks were created at the behest of the aristocracy in England, Wales and Scotland circa 1200-1350. Few remain but the deer have naturalised. 

  Deer occasionally enter urban areas, for example they are apt to chew some choice perennials at the music school. I have never seen them so I don't know whether they would be Muntjac or Fallow. The grounds are large enough that they might even be in residence but deer are very shy of humans. The herd in the photo took flight when they became aware of my presence even though I was a long way away.     

 Common Ivy (Hederae helix) is the last wild flower of the year to flower en masse. And there's a lot of it! Not to mention Atlantic Ivy (Hederae hibernica) in the west and Ireland. Actually Gorse is also autumn flowering but not as ubiquitous as Ivy. 

 As such Ivy is a great source of pollen and nectar for the gamut of pollinators still on the wing: bees, butterflies, wasps, flies, hover flies et al. 

 

 Perfect day for an autumnal walk; a bracing chill in the air, sky blue, bright sunshine. Accordingly I followed one of my favourite routes via three pubs (and three pints). The 1140 bus from Hitchin stops outside the Strathmore Arms in St. Paul's Walden at midday. In other words: opening time. Had a pint of Side Pocket then walked along a stretch of the Chiltern Way.

 Turned left at Hill End Chalk Pit towards Preston.

 Ambled through the silent stillness of Hitch Wood. Leaf litter underfoot, in spring these slopes will be carpeted with Bluebells.

 As Ray Davies and the Kinks once put it: "We are the Village Green Preservation Society". Pint of Citra at the Red Lion in Preston which is owned by the villagers.

On to Wain Wood, another ancient woodland noted for its Bluebells.

 And out into open countryside back to Hitchin. Pint of Landlord at the Half Moon.

 Autumn leaves, none more fiery than Virginia Creeper. The rampant Parthenocissus quinquefolia is the species most usually seen in UK gardens though native to North America. Perhaps better to plant the slightly more restrained P. henryana aka Chinese Virginia Creeper which hails from Asia.  

 

 The bee keepers at Benslow harvest Ivy honey in the autumn. Ivy in flower is the last big hit of nectar for bees (and other insects) to forage on. The honey is noted for its deep, aromatic flavour.

 Cyclamen hederifolium in one of the courtyards at the music school. An invaluable coda for the shade garden by virtue of flowering in early autumn rather than spring. Tolerant of deep shade and drought. 

 Hailing from the southern Mediterranean it will naturalise when it likes the conditions as is the case here. Known as the Ivy-Leaved Cyclamen the leaves do indeed resemble Ivy albeit smaller and variegated.

 When C. hederifolium has spread the leaves make a decent ground cover over winter. The flowers attract bumblebees still on the wing...

 

 

 Here is a curious bulb (or rather tuber) which I haven't planted before: Corydalis cava. Shipton Bulbs describe it as "this old introduction from Europe. It has long been naturalised in woods and hedges where it forms clumps of tubular pink flowers in March with attractive divided foliage".

 Sometimes known as Hollowroot. I wondered why and turning this one over it does indeed look like a section of hollowed out root...

 Among the bulbs I ordered from Shipton Bulbs were ten Erythronium 'Pagoda' which is a hybrid of two American species E. tuolumnese and E. californicum. Their catalogue describes it as "strong growing" and I have found that to be the case.

 Most of the species are American (around twenty five I think) but there is one European relative E. dens-canis. They all seem to share the common name Dog Tooth Violet due to the shape of the bulb. As it happens I bought some E. dens-canis from a market stall recently, I will include a photo in a future entry. The bulbs are smaller but similarly canine.