Category: Newton Wood
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The holly and the …
Need I go on? You must be so familiar with the Christmas carol. Holly, traditionally a masculine plant compared with the feminine ivy, although holly is what is called dioecious, meaning that individual trees are either male or female. Flowers occur on both male and female trees but only the female trees have berries and…
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Who was this Guy Fawkes anyway?
I posted yesterday that Bonfire Night developed in celebration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot. Re-reading it, this sort of implied that it was unplanned public rejoicing, but although the first bonfires may have been lit spontaneously soon after he was captured as news quickly spread throughout the city, soon afterward Parliament made it…
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Dry hedging in Newton Wood
A tiring day in Newton Wood on the main route up Roseberry making some dry hedges from cut sycamore saplings. Dry hedges are basically a wall of branches weaved between stakes. They provide good habitat for all small mammals and insects but the primary aim for these hedges is to encourage visitors not to wander…
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The bluebell meadows, Newton Woods
With the lockdown eased I don’t feel so guilty about posting photos taken on my daily exercise. I have deliberately avoided doing so. Roseberry is still there, and the bluebells are out, intoxicating the woodland floor with a violety-blue wash but, in the upper meadow at least, they are perhaps past their prime. Bluebells flower…
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The Great Tit – Parus major
The largest member of the tit family, resident throughout the year and well known in our woodlands and gardens. The National Trust maintains 78 bird boxes in Newton Wood, in 2018, and out of 61 occupied, 12 contained Great tit nests (plus 47 Blue tits and 2 Nuthatches). They feed generally on seeds during the…
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Newton Wood
Heavy overnight rain and winds have taken their toll on the autumnal colours, russets, browns and yellows. On the lower path in Newton Wood, a yellow carpet of fallen hazel leaves covers the woodland floor. With the onset of shorter days and cooler temperatures, complex chemical changes occur in the leaves. The concentration of sugar…
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Newton Woods
An early climb up Roseberry and back through Newton Wood looking glorious in its autumn colours, oak leaves refusing to fall. Overcast and dull. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Cliff Rigg and Newton Wood
Explored a long-forgotten section of a Public Bridleway up Roseberry Topping that has recently been cleared of bracken. It’s just a wild guess but to me, the route points to an early tourist route up to the summit. I’ve posted about this before. It starts in Newton and goes up Roseberry Lane (or Wood Land…
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Word of the day: tropism
From the Greek tropos meaning “a turning”, a tropism is the response in a plant’s growth due to an external environmental stimulus. There are many types, such as: Hydrotropism, growth in response to water for example when the roots grow towards areas of higher moisture Phototropism, in response to light Thermotropism, in response to temperature…
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Tramway kip, Newton Wood
Last Friday’s task for the National Trust volunteers was to clear bracken and brambles from the industrial archaeology remains in Newton Wood. Stripped of undergrowth the shape of this unusual structure becomes clear. It’s the head of a narrow-gauge tramway incline down which wagons full of ore from the Roseberry Ironstone Mine rolled down under…