a red hawthorn tree

A red hawthorn tree in the bottom of The Field.
The tree looks like it is covered in a thousand tiny rosebuds.
Unlike the native hawthorn, the red hawthorn has double flowers.

 

And there are plenty of the traditional white blossomed variety nearby.

the field in december

 

 

 

 

Everything sparkled in the field with frost and the grass crunched underfoot as I walked. The sky was clear, woodpeckers were drumming on the trees and robins flitted from bush to bush looking for food. Even when the trees and wildflowers are dormant the field is glorious on a day like this.

the field in november

 

 

The first frosts of the season highlighting the pattern and structure of leaves, flowers and leaves. The low misty cloud making silhouettes of the bare trees. The hawthorns are getting stripped of their berries, only the red stalks remain. Any remaining leaves along with mosses and lichens are the sources of colour now (...and some of my favourite colour shades too).

the field in october

 

Before going to The Field to photograph this post, I expected that autumn leaves would be the main feature of this month, but it was the fungi that caught my attention.

 

This tree was a magnificent Copper Beech, before it started dying a couple of years ago. This autumn, it is covered in clusters of white fungi.

Different coloured fungi are sprouting up in the grassland too. 

 

And finally, the trees that I expected to photograph with their falling leaves. 

The Field in September

 

  

  

 

 

 

The trees demand the attention now, laden with berries and their leaves starting to change colour. And it's been such a dry month, everything is quite parched.

the field in august

 

The field is full of seeds and berries and has slipped into a very autumnal colour scheme. 

 

Blackberries and elderberries have been picked and preserved - the blackberries went straight in the freezer and the elderberries bottles as a cordial. 

The boys gathered some early conkers and playing with my (precious!) camera while I was berry picking. It's always nice to look through their photographs, seeing their viewpoint.

Fred's view of the field.

Previous monthly posts of The Field here

the field in july

 

The long grass is parched and as you walk through it seeds fall and fill your shoes. On the hillside, a clump of harebells were a delight to find as I don't remember seeing these here before. 

 

 

 

  

Fruits are ripening on the trees and bushes. Blackberries already! 

And joining the Meadow Browns in the field are one of my favourite butterflies, the Small Skipper. Little flashes of orange zipping about amongst the grasses.

The field in January : February : March : April : May : June

The Field in June

 

I love the field in June. The grass grows long and it feels more like a meadow than just a field. The mix of flowers and seed-heads makes it all the more interesting.

 

The pignuts have finished flowering and turning into beautiful sculptural seed-heads.

Self-heal

  

The elderflowers came a little earlier than usual this year and the boys and I have been regularly picking them to make cordial - our favourite summertime drink. Under the elder trees are mounds of brambles, all now in flower.

The tree I struggled to identify in April, appears to be a variant of Horse Chestnut. It's growing next to a more familiar Horse Chestnut so it's easy to compare. The leaves are more slender and pointed and it is only now coming into flower, much later than it's neighbour.

Clumps of nettles are in flower. I had spotted some small tortoiseshell caterpillars on the leaves a couple of weeks ago, which are always nice to see. On this visit I was lucky enough to see a Yellow Shell moth with beautiful shading on its wings.

The hedgerows on the edge of the field are peppered with dog roses - one of my favourites...
The season seems to be passing by so fast, I can barely keep up!

The field in January : February : March : April : May