Friday’s forage (11th October 2019) was combined with a walk to the top of Tripynten (315m).
Please let me know if you can ID any of the fungi!
Malvik’s Pulpit Rock (Prekestolen)! Not advisable to walk out on it though!
Presumably badgers (grevling) have been busy in this anthill.
It was a long time before we found the prey, only one area of winter chantarelles (traktkantarell)
Winter chantarelles (traktkantarell)
View of Fevollberga which is just above the house and the fjord beyond and Frosta. The clearfelled south side of Fevollberga where there used to be a lot of old trees and breeding goshawk (hønsehauk) :(
View of Fevollberga which is just above the house and the fjord beyond and Frosta. The clearfelled south side of Fevollberga where there used to be a lot of old trees and breeding goshawk (hønsehauk) :(
Great to be home again after my non-stop tour of Eastern and Mid-West USA. 12 talks and 2 walk and talks complete without any deviations from plan! Thanks to all for making it possible and to the Midwest Wild Harvest Festival and Atlanta Botanical Garden who shared my travel expenses.
However, much to do to put my 3 gardens to bed for the winter!
On Sunday, we went for a walk up to a mountain farm (seter) near to the lake Foldsjøen in Malvik with the main aim to gather alpine bistort (harerug) bulbils (Polygonum viviparum / Persicaria vivipara) to dry for the winter. This is one of the 80 plants in my book and I grow various accessions of this plant also in my garden! See also my post on 25th June: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=22680
You can often find large quantities of this plant in open sheep pasture and dampish meadows. I hadn’t been to this “seter” before and right enough there were large amounts of this plant, although the bulbils were still not fully grown. We walked from Verket, an outdoor museum on the site of Mostadmark Jernverk, the site of an old iron furnace (see https://www.malvik.kommune.no/mostadmark-jernverk.6168342-478994.html) up through the forest past Hulåsen to the seter, returning via Slåttdalen and returning along the side of the lake. We didn’t meet a single person or car all the way! At the end you can also see a number of pictures and films of nature and some fungi we found along the way!
Here’s a short film showing thousands of flowerheads in a damp meadow (the flowers are sterile, the plant almost only multiplying vegetatively by bulbils):
Arran Brown / Fløyelsringvinge
Ant trail across the path
Lactaris trivialis (hulriske)?
Cortinarius spp.
Cortinarius spp.
Duftbrunpigg (Hydnella suaveolens)?
Duftbrunpigg (Hydnella suaveolens)?
Moneses uniflora, the one-flowered wintergreen (British Isles)or single delight (Olavsstake)
On the 4th day of the Norwegian Seed Savers weekend (6th May 2019), the traditional spring walk along the Homla river and canyon was on the programme with the hope to find ostrich ferns at the right stage to pick. In the cooler parts near the river, it was too early and too late away from the river. Nevertheless, everyone who wanted to picked a few fiddleheads!
It was as usual a magical walk which took some of us 8 hours to complete….as there was so much to see and enjoy!
Thanks to all the participants who also provided pictures: Berit Børte (third time participant), new steering commitee member Bernhard Askedalen, Elin Mar (from Røst), Inger Line Skurdal Ødegård, Meg Anderson and Tina Lambert!
Ostrich Fern Paradise:
New tractor road at the start of the trail!
New viewpoint and boardwalk replacing the slippery and eroded path down to the waterfall
Fern roots
Bernhard Askedalen tells us about the ecology of Symrebeger or Anemone cup (Dumontinia tuberosa), parasitic on wood anemone (hvitveis)
Symrebeger or Anemone cup (Dumontinia tuberosa) is parasitic on wood anemone (hvitveis)
Symrebeger or Anemone cup (Dumontinia tuberosa) is parasitic on wood anemone (hvitveis)
Alternative leaved golden saxifrage / maigull
Rumex spp.
Rumex spp.
Grynløpekule /Deer truffle or Common False Truffle….favourite food of wild boar! I spotted this in the middle of the eroded path!!
A red variant of Rumex acetosa…I must dig a bit and see if it retains its red colour in cultivation
Sitka (sitkagran) needles
Magical as usual ostrich fern paradise!
Magical as usual ostrich fern paradise!
There are many other edibles growing alongside the ostrich fern in this spot including Stachys sylvatica (hedge woundwort / skogsvinerot) edible rhizomes (but hardly worth the effort!
…and alternative leaved golden saxifrage / maigull
On 8th March 2019 I walked along the River Itchen in Hampshire between Shawford and Eastleigh, mostly along the old canal tow path:
River Itchen, Shawford, UK
River Itchen, Shawford, UK
Mute swans
Teasel (Dipsacus) field
Misteltoe
Common polypody (Polypodium vulgare)…called sisselrot here in Norway, the roots were eaten as a candy by children in the past!
Asplenium scolopendrium (Hart’s tongue fern)
Primrose (Primula vulgaris)
?
Dandelion
Sarcoscypha coccinea (?) (scarlet elf cup)
Ground elder (Aegopodium) with ivy
Duckweed (Lemna spp.)?
Duckweed (Lemna spp.)?
Cow parsley (?) already in flower
Not to be confused with this one, Hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata), the most poisonous plant in the UK!
Old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba)…the shoots are a favourite cooked vegetable in Italy in the spring
…and a video of a large population of Elfin cups (Sarcoscypha coccinea)?
And now some pictures taken on 10th March from the Monks Brook, a stream behind my parents’ house in Chandlers Ford where a lot of foragables were already available (a full two months before our area in Norway!), starting with a video ending with Helleborus foetidus.
Allium ursinum (ramsons)
Allium ursinum (ramsons)
Nettles (Urtica dioica) and cleavers (Galium aparine)
Nettles (Urtica dioica) and cleavers (Galium aparine)
Nearby was a shop selling a myriad of wasabi products! Let me know if you can translate any of the signs in the album! At the bottom are a few pictures from a popular nearby walk, the Kawazu Seven Falls.
Wasabi shop
We did a small hike along the Kawazu Seven Falls trail:
On my last morning in Wicklow, Orlaith took me on a spectacular wild drive over the Wicklow mountains through the Sally Gap pass stopping off to look down on lough Tay, locally called the Guinness lake!
During my stay in Mertola, we did two short walks along the river. The first pictures are from near the town centre, the second group from Canais do Guadiana where we were joined by a local producer of essential oils, who showed us some of the plants they use. There’s a great little video of the area and plants on the producer’s website: http://dalenguadiana.pt
Vitor Menas and Fernando Garcia run the business and Fernando joined us on the walk and showed us around the workshop in the village.
THe River Guadiana near Mertola
Old mill on the river below Mertola
The first plant was a surprise edible, Epazote, Chenopodium ambrosioides, introduced from Mexico! Ambrósia-do-México
Our guide Nuno Roxo introduced us to a local plant man, who produces essential oils in a small village, Corte Sines in the hills near Mertola. He took us to a location near the river (Guadiana) where they harvest herbs for their business. These are the main herbs they use: Cistus ladanifer Lavandula stoechas, pedunculata and viridis, Rosmarinus officinalis Thymus mastichina Fueniculum vulgare Helichrysum stoechas Eucalyptus globulus Mentha pulegium Ruta graveolens
Mentha pulegium, pennycress
Daucus carota, wild carrot
Nuno Roxo told us that he acted as guide for visiting birdwatchers
Pistacia lentiscus, alfostigueiro
Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary / alecrim)
Juniperus turbinata
…and just as we approached the river a Golden Eagle flew right overhead!
Verebascum sinuatus
Rumex pulcher subsp. woodsii?
Apium nodiflorum
Silybum marianum seedlings…excellent greens when the plants are young and thornless