Beech wood June 7, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in England, South Yorkshire.Tags: beech, beech mast, bluebells, European Beech, Fagus sylvaticus, furniture, Mediaeval times, nuts, pigs, silver-grey bark, South Yorkshire, toxicity, trunk, undergrowth, wild garlic, wood
add a comment
Beech wood
The European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a delightful tree, with silver-grey bark and a straight trunk. If left without management, it forms dense woodlands, whose deep shade, coupled with heavy layers of dead leaves, often prevents much undergrowth from forming. Sometimes, as in this case in South Yorkshire, the woodland floor is carpeted in season with bluebells or even wild garlic.
Beech wood is valuable in furniture making, and the beechnuts (or beech mast) are edible, but should NOT be consumed in large quantities by humans as they do have slight toxicity. Pigs, however, really enjoy beech mast, and used to, in Mediaeval times, be left to roam in the woods to feed on these nuts.
Snake Pass, Peak District National Park May 23, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Peak District, Royal Air Force, South Yorkshire.Tags: A57, Derbyshire, EGCC, Glossop, ICAO, Manchester Airport, National Park, Peak District National Park, Pennines, Sheffield, Snow, South Yorkshire, stream, UK, winter
add a comment
Snake Pass, A57 Glossop to Sheffield
I am from Derbyshire, and intensely proud of that fact. I am fortunate enough to be able to travel back fairly often, and visit friends and relations in the region. A few weeks ago, I landed at Manchester Airport (ICAO code, EGCC), the third-busiest airport in the UK and only a few miles from the boundary of the Peak District National Park. I have family in Sheffield on the other side of the Pennines.
I chose to travel the A57 road which runs from Glossop in Derbyshire to Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Part of this road forms the notorious Snake Pass, which winds it’s way through the National Park from west to east. Here you can see a typical piece of Peak District scenery on the A57, complete with pines and a rushing stream.
One thing the Snake Pass is notorious for is becoming blocked by snow, almost every winter, and its easy to see why!
Laburnum – a dangerous beauty February 28, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, England, Great Britain, South Yorkshire.Tags: adjuct, alkalolid, Alpine Laburnum, anti-smoking agent, Archives of Internal Medicine, bark, children, Common Laburnum, cultivar, cytisine, deadly, garden, Great Britain, hedge, Home Counties, hybrid, JF Etter, L. x vossii, laburnum, Laburnum alpinum, Laburnum anagyroides, Laburnum Avenue, Laburnum Crescent, Laburnum House, leaves, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, pea, racemes, seed pods, seeds, South Yorkshire, Southern Europe, suburbia, therapeutic drug, toxic, toxic agent, Victorian, Voss's Laburnum
add a comment
Laburnum
Originally a native of Southern Europe, the Common Laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides) a member of the pea family which grows to a height of around 20ft, is a common sight in gardens around Great Britain, although seen rather less the further north you go. The Victorian gardeners were very fond of its dense yellow flowers, which are held on long racemes; there are endless Laburnum Crescents, Laburnum Avenues, even Laburnum Houses scattered around suburbia and the Home Counties to attest to the popularity of the tree.
The Shield Xyla – showing that every Ground Power Unit has its day! February 27, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, England, aircraft.Tags: aircraft, Aviation, Continental Motors Corporation, Continental PC60 engine, cowlings, Don Cashmore, Druine, George Shield, Gnome rotary engine, Greek, ground power unit, Hullavington, Museums, PFA, polished metal, Popular Flying, RAF, RAF Museum, replica, Rolls-Royce, Royal Air Force, Sopwith, South Yorkshire, Tabloid, three-bladed propeller, two-bladed propeller, wood, WW1, Xyla, Yorkshire, Yorkshireman
add a comment
Shield Xyla
Welcome to the Shield Xyla! The vision of one Yorkshireman, George Shield, was translated into this neat single-seater. It is a wooden aircraft, for the most part, hence the name Xyla, from the Greek for wood. The uncovered airframe was featured on the front cover of Popular Flying in 1971, the year of its first flight. There are design ‘echoes’ of aircraft such as the Druine, but this aircraft is that rather overused word – unique.
The powerplant is very unusual, in that it is built by a famous manufacturer of aero engines – Continental Motors Corporation – but as a Ground Power Unit! The PC60 puts out around 100hp, and has been converted for airborne use. As an aside, a similar unit powered a famous WW1 replica aircraft, the Sopwith Tabloid built by a Rolls-Royce engineer, Don Cashmore, which is now on display in the RAF Museum – admittedly, that aircraft is now fitted with a genuine 80hp Gnome rotary engine, for added authenticity.
The PC60 in the Xyla originally drove a three-bladed propeller, but following a period in storage, and two more changes of ownership – both based in South Yorkshire – the engine is now fitted with a much more aesthetically-pleasing two-bladed prop.
The major rebuild (1500 hours of work) which was undertaken following the storage , also gave rise to a new colour scheme – all-over yellow to replace the original black - and a set of polished metal cowlings. What this means is that this ‘one-off’ piece of British light aviation history has become a cherished survivor, and it is back where it belongs – in the air. The aircraft is seen here at Hullavington.
A magical tree – the rowan February 11, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Great Britain, Peak District, South Yorkshire.Tags: 'A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End', apple, ash, Bombycilla garrulus, chutney, corymbs, cotoneaster, divining rod, England, European rowan, flower head, Fraxinus excelsior, fruit, Gaelic, garden, hawthorn, inflorescences, jam, jelly, kidney, magic wand, meat, mountain ash, parasorbic acid, pear, quince, Rosaceae, rowan, ruan, Rudha-an, sapient pearwood, Sheffield, sorbic acid, Sorbus aucuparia, South Yorkshire, Terry Pratchett, thrush, waxwing, witch wood, wizard's staff
add a comment
The rowan tree
The is something magical about the rowan tree (sometimes called the mountain ash). The way it changes the colour of it’s leaves in stages, the dense inflorescences of the flower heads and the subsequent startlingly bright bunches (or corymbs) of fruit. It is, without a doubt, one of the most popular trees of folklore, with many names – mountain ash, ruan, witch wood, Rudha-an (Gaelic for ‘red one’) etc. The rowan is found all over my native Derbyshire, especially in the Peak District.
The wood is dense and said to be the prefered material for a wizard’s staff (although the author Terry Pratchett says that sapient pearwood is prefered, see the song, ‘A Wizard’s Staff Has A Knob On The End’), and magic wands, and divining rods.
Despite the common name ‘mountain ash’, the tree is no relation at all to the ash, Fraxinus excelsior, being a member of the Rosaceae family and thereby related to the hawthorn, apple, pear, quince and cotoneaster. The example you can see here is of Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan, and is standing outside my relatives’ home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
The fruit of the rowan is a favourite of many birds such as various members of the thrush family, and the waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus. Since the berries contain high levels of parasorbic acid, a bitter chemical which can be harmful to humans (it can cause kidney damage), they are best not eaten raw. However, they can be eaten quite safely after cooking, (the heat alters the parasorbic acid to non-toxic sorbic acid) and are usually made into a tart jelly (for meats) or in a jam or chutney along with other fruit.
Hurrah for lilacs…. January 25, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in England, South Yorkshire.Tags: 'Under the Lilacs', England, gardens, lilacs, Louisa M Alcott, olive, Rewards and Fairies, Rudyard Kipling, scent, South Yorkshire, Syringa vulgaris
1 comment so far
White lilacs
The common lilac, or Syringa vulgaris, is a shrub which is related to the olive, and as such can have some ‘hardiness issues’ . However, it is widely used in English gardens, for its heavy white blossom (held in spikes) and its heady scent. Despite the name, not all lilacs are ‘lilac’; here we see a dense white example. It is not Syringa vulgaris ‘Alba’ – which is a ’single’ – as all the blossoms are ‘double’, so it is probably a white, naturalized variety. Since S. vulgaris can reach up to 20 feet and is a dense shrub, with little appeal except for the flower spikes, careful thought needs to be undertaken as to the siting of a lilac in a garden.
Liliacs are featured a great deal in literature too. Kipling mentioned them in ‘Rewards and Fairies’ and, of course, there is also ’Under the Lilacs’ by Louisa M Alcott. The shrub tends to have ‘good’ years followed by ones with less blossom. This was a good year in the garden in South Yorkshire!
An English country garden – well suburban, actually! January 25, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in England.Tags: beech hedge, fern, garden, lilacs, May, South Yorkshire, Virginia stock
add a comment
An English country garden....well, suburban actually
I’m sitting here, watching the thermometer plunging into the teens (Farenheit), and thought how I might cheer myself up. Well, here is the answer – a beautiful English garden. The lilacs foaming like a waterfall in the corner. The beech hedge showing its dark heart – and keeping the ferns and other shade-loving plants cool. Virginia stock in bloom, and everything bursting with life. Very well then,I must confess that I have a vested interest in this particular garden….it’s ‘back home’ in South Yorkshire at the end of May, and my relatives had just call to me that the tea was ready!
