Where the sweet chestnuts lurk

I had a day off today so I walked to the open space by Wanstead High Street as I thought there would be sweet chestnuts there. There were only 3 sweet chestnut trees and I only got 10 sweet chestnuts and those very small.

I met my handyman on the way back and he said I needed to go to Georges Fields where there are a lot - though not very big. Looking at the A-Z I think he means George Green by Wanstead Tube Station but don't know if I will get the time to go there this year.

Then again - I am unlikely to eat very many. Perhaps 10 are enough!

Late but autumn has arrived!

Yesterday evening I was at Stow Tellers, a story-telling (aural tradition) club in Walthamstow. The central heating wasn't on and I would have been glad if it had been.

I decided to wear bed socks to bed as I didn't want to wake up cold in the night and have problems getting to sleep again. Mentioning this to colleagues at work, a couple of them had also worn bed socks last night.

I've lit a fire in the wood burning stove for this first time this season.

With this morning's weather forecasts telling of cold weather approaching (though BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio London disagreed in which direction this cold weather was heading from) this morning I picked not just the ripe tomatoes but any that were even slightly orange. There are 10 green ones left - not enough for a green tomato chutney.

The leaves of my boston ivy on the back wall usually turn red and then the leaves drop off in August, very early. They have just turned red. Being driven around by friends on Saturday and Sunday the trees are still very green, with just one here and there with a yellowing tinge (probably the same species, but going past at speed I wasn't able to work out which it was).

Swiss chard resisting the slugs

I've read that slugs and snails are very bad this year due to the winter being mild and the summer not being particularly dry.

I have a clump of self sown swiss chard and there has been very little slug damage. I have found it easy this year to find leaves with no bits eaten at all.

There are plenty of slugs and snails elsewhere in the garden though!

Christmas and Spring in one day

I had a trip to Ely today (saw a kestrel and a buzzard from the train on the way) and saw a lot of Christmas stuff in the shops no longer hidden a bit away (and yesterday in Waitrose there were socks with Christmas designs on!).

On the way back to the station there were a group of domesticated ducks and one had two ducklings. Quite large but still yellow and fluffy!

sloe gin for 2019!

I cut from a magazine a receipe for sloe gin which doesn't use sugar (from Andy Hamilton "wild food expert and brewer"). I am to just fill a jar with them, cover with strong vodka and seal. Leave for six months. Strain. Leave for two years.

I am going to try it. But next year when I am harvesting sloes again, I won't know whether it is worth the wait! Or the year after that!

I pick my sloes in September. Books and magazines keep saying you should pick them after the first frosts but down here in London that is October or later. If I wait that long the sloes will either be shrivelled, have fallen off, or been picked by someone else.

I went today to open space near Kingsbury station (in north west London - Kingsbury is the station just north of Wembley). It looks as if it is old farm land. I easily got two soya dessert tubs of sloes.

The tubs are in the freezer compartment at the moment, but I intend to prick each sloe with a needle tomorrow evening as I listen to the radio, and then start the sloe gin.

Extra: Today I saw a weasal for possibly only the second time in my life. It ran across the path in front of my bike as I cycled up between the riding stable and the marshes.

I also saw what I think was a kestrel. This flew low over the path and then perched on a pylon. It looked rather grey, but the bird book shows grey underparts, so I think that the most likely bird.

What the robin knows

I have just finished reading What the robin knows by Jon Young which shows how birds reveal the secrets of the natural world to those who know their language.

In particular you learn the "baseline" calls and behaviour of birds in your area, the songs, the companion calls, territorial aggression and adolescent begging. so you can then spot the alarm calls (and alarm behaviour) and work out what is causing the alarm and where it is. The book is American based but the information is transferable to other environments.

We need a "sit" area we use regularly to learn the lessons from the book.

We are given guidance on "jungle etiquette" where our way of moving, including expanding our sphere of awareness and shrinking our sphere of disturbance, mean birds don't have to waste valuable energy when we move about.

My main sit area will have to be the garden, but there is also an area in Wick Wood, a small new growth wood near the Lea Navigation between the Leabridge Road and Old Ford Lock, I'd like to use also. The problem is it is too far for me to walk (I mean, I am capable of walking that distance (4/5 miles), and back again, but I'd never do it) so I would be cycling there.

There is no mention in the book of how disturbed birds are by cycles. I expect birds whose territory is by the towpath have cycles as part of their baseline environment, but I don't think many people cycle around the wood - I haven't seen another cyclist anytime I have been cycling round it.

I wouldn't want to chain the bike near the towpath and walk to my intended spot. I would be tense from worrying about my bike being stolen. And one of the ways of disturbing birds less is be relaxed oneself!

First ripe plum tomato!

Third September and I pick my first ripe plum tomato - and another one is ripening.

A colleague at work says she doesn't bother with plum tomatoes anymore as they take so long to ripen so it is not just me.

Though the only non plum tomato plant I have had ripe fruit a month after my friend Tony got ripe fruit on his plants - and it has been just 2 or 3 ripe tomatoes every week. And my first picking of beans was on bank holiday Monday - over a month after Tony started picking his.

And Tony lives in Chingford on the edge of London, so not benefiting much from the heat of the city.