Although I’m sure many of you are waiting as eagerly for the first flower buds, returning migrant birds, and other signs of spring as I am, I do still appreciate some of the nature observations that are just plain easier in the winter. Galls are certainly one of them. With no leaves on trees and shrubs, any galls remaining on woody stems are easily visible. Galls come in a variety of unique shapes and sizes; I’ve written about a number…
Two weeks ago I had a post about rose hips from Rosa rugosa (click here to read the original post), and discussed that they were a readily available wild edible, and a great source for vitamin C. I’d tasted the fruit in the past and really liked the taste, but I have been generally dissuaded from eating them more often due to the tediousness of picking out the seeds and scraping the small bit of flesh off the inside of…
Last night marked the first frost of the season in Bourne. Recording occurrences such as the first frost is important to the study of phenology. Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena. The word itself is derived from the Greek word phaino, which means “to show or to make appear”, and the Greek word logos, which means “study”. Therefore, phenology is concerned with the dates of the first occurrence of biological events and natural phenomena in their…