Timken and beyond

Yesterday Chris and I visited our daughter Jacqui and her husband Dean, who are currently living in an area of Daventry known as Timken.


The very wet and chilly weather of the last few days is beginning to abate and, following an excellent lunch we decided a constitutional walk was in order. It is not an area I know particularly well and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.


First up, and only ten metres into our walk was a Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus fortunei, also known as the Chusan Palm. It might be assumed that it was introduced into Europe from China by Robert Fortune, but in fact Philip von Siebold introduced it in 1830, beating Fortune by 19 years. If a male and female are grown then fruit may be produced but they are not considered edible.

Chinese Windmill Palm, Rowallen Way, Daventry.

30 August, 2020

A little further on was a patch of Bittersweet, aka Woody Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara. 'Nothing exciting about that,' I hear you mutter. And that is true, but the leaves had been mined by the little moth, Acrolepia autumnitella. This species, known as the Bittersweet Fanner, is quite common in this area but becomes scarce further north and seems to be unknown in Lancashire and Yorkshire - or indeed anywhere in the north of Britain.

Bittersweet leaves mined by the larvae of a tiny moth, the Bittersweet

Fanner. Furnace Drive, Daventry. 30 August, 2020

Although the larvae in their leaf mines are frequently seen the adult is elusive. Certainly I have never found it when I have had a camera handy. Incidentally I found the mines some years ago on Deadly Nightshade in Northampton.




The larvae of Acrolepia autumnitella feed on Woody Nightshade.

Here is the imago. Photo courtesy of British Moths.

Our walk took us to the track bed of the former Daventry to Leamington railway line, now a popular footpath in this area.




Looking west. Leamington only 30 miles away!

A curious fungus was growing on an old tree stump beside the footpath.

What is it? See Postscript

 

It was sprawling across nearby twigs, looking rather like a tatty piece of polystyrene. Perhaps it had been nibbled by slugs. I spent a few moments examining and photographing it and when I turned round Chris and Jacqui were disappearing into the distance towards the site of the old railway station (sadly no longer existing - as far as I know). Bing was trotting alongside, pausing awhile to sniff.



L to R: Bing, Chris, Jacqui.

There were no rarities to be seen. In fact everything was decidedly commonplace, but I always like to see Spindle, Euonymus europaeus, as it is scarce on the acid soils of the Daventry area.

Spindle bears curiously lobed fruit. Waste ground, Daventry.

30 August, 2020



Ropes of Black Bryony, Tamus communis, looking like some sort of liana, hung from wayside trees. It is Britain's only member of the Dioscoreaceae, the Yam Family. All parts of the plants are poisonous. The fruits are tempting to children but cause a severe blistering of the mouth if eaten. (There is a second bryony in Britain. Known as the White Bryony it is completely unrelated to Black Bryony but, despite being in the Cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae, it is also poisonous.)

Tempting but poisonous, the succulent fruits of Black Bryony beside a

disused railway track in Daventry. 30 August, 2020

Finally across Daneholme Park, a feature I had not previously visited. It contains some fine trees including some oaks from North America. Quercus palustris is confusingly known in the U.S.A. as Common Sallow.

The leaves of Quercus palustris are like a deeply jagged version of an

English Oak. Daneholme Park, Daventry. 30 August, 2020

I failed to find any acorns so my identification could be at fault - but it gives me an excuse to go back and take another look.


Postscript  After posting a picture of the fungus on Facebook I received advice that it was an old Laetiporus sulphurous, known as Chicken of the Wood. Edible and tasty I am told - but not in that state!