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dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Aug 27, 19 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i don't think so, iirc it might be a parasitic plant with no chlorophyll

i think i have seen it in west cornwall covering a large area of cliff slope scrub

i am probably wrong but it does look familiar

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Tue Aug 27, 19 9:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Looks to me like Robin's Pincushions, a gall caused by Diplolepis rosae, a gall wasp.

The galls are used by so many other creatures as homes or a food source, that a whole book has been written about them

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Aug 27, 19 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

gall wasp seems better than my dubious recollection of an explanation that seems probably wrong.

it is quite impressive

as galls have interesting chemistry i wonder if it has any uses

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15542

PostPosted: Wed Aug 28, 19 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I thought it was a gall too. Oak galls are usually good for ink, but then oak trees contain a lot of tannin, so they may have extra tannin in them. Not sure about other sorts of gall though.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Wed Aug 28, 19 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Clipped from Wikipedia:

Quote
Dried and powdered, the gall was used to treat colic, as a diuretic, and as a remedy against toothache; the ashes mixed with honey and applied to the scalp were thought to prevent baldness. It was also valued as an astringent and for its ability to control fluid loss; placed beneath a pillow, it was thought to induce sleep.
Endquote

Is there a contradiction between its use as a diuretic and its supposed ability to control fluid loss (unless control here means 'make faster')?


Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Wed Aug 28, 19 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

it did not catch on for baldness but the others seem plausible if control and diuretic both refer to more out.

i was sure i had seen it and only part remembered the details

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15542

PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 19 6:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I don't think there is necessarily a contradiction. It will act as a diuretic if the kidneys try to get rid of it, but will act to control bleeding by various methods like binding the platelets or forming some sort of gel over the wound. On the other hand, it could just be folklore and not observation.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 19 12:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

based on other "folklore" and observations i have read about or been taught there seems to be a simple rule.

if it sounds daft, hanging a dried frog as a necklace to cure tb for instance, it probably is.
if it would be popular if it works, most historical baldness cures for instance, it probably does not work
if it is based on pharmacology and makes use of the plants properties and it works it is medicine.

apart from the baldness part the other uses seem to be the sort of things that a decent healer/apothecary would record if they work.

diuretics, wound medicine etc are the basics and there is usually a local/seasonal option growing nearby so many things have been tried, those that worked get recorded in folklore and apothecary's notes

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Sep 14, 19 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i have a new dik

a young one has visited a few times but this aft it was claiming any fallen dried mealworms from the sparrows.

dik is often fierce but twice the size and 20 to one is best handled with diplomacy so it was not quite how dik intended it to go

we do not know each other yet, the last two have been rubbish at caution(peregrine and cat while being butch)

winter is the time to get to know them via earth turning and free worms

sparrow news includes a new clutch of half feathered youngsters.
anecdote rather than data but young ones seem to learn faster later in the season

of the three in this batch one has a tiny carnival mask on a stick look and one has gone full on lone ranger raccoon style, the other is still fluffy.

again anecdote until i get the snaps but feather pattern seems to have family characteristics at least within clutches and probably in previous clutches and parental patterns

they are very variable and are individual as well as having "family traits" such a NCO stripes or pale morning coats which should make the which one is it ? thing easier.

i recon the way to understand a bit more about their social structure is to id individuals and the they all look different thing is an ace crib .

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15542

PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 19 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Dik was a robin wasn't he? Nice to know you have a new one. We had two outside the backdoor singing yesterday, but couldn't see them, so not sure whether they were having a territorial contest, or singing to each other. I haven't seen the 'down the garden' robin lately, but assume he was busy with nestlings, so hoping to see him again soon.

The sparrows sound interesting. I am afraid I have never really got to know any that well.

Any news on the Sammison front?

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 19 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dik is whichever robin is the local king

no sammisons (see ahhh rat)

the sparrows i have known for years but getting the new camera will provide the means to work out some behaviour stuff

if i can get a "cast list" and "family trees" for them and then record behaviour at the feeder/in the hedge etc i might be able to work out who feeds who.
i know parent will feed fledgling and the recently fledged will feed new ones but are they siblings or cousins or random members of the sparrow population.
adults and juveniles often seem to feed any young uns that ask loudly enough but how close are their family relationships.

ie are they truly socialist and every child is our child or are they dynastic and the family that feeds best gets most? or something in between?

re the id thing they all have individual feather patterns which seem to have a family "style" although a clutch of 4 might have two with masks and two with lance corporal stripes which complicates matters a bit.

i have known the sparrows up close for a decade, we have moved from perch on my head to ignore me with a camera
that helps a lot, they act naturally because they are used to me as were their ancestors.

when tt steps out they scarper and lurk as they dont know her very well, real strangers they scarper and either wait or wait for me to settle the stranger and call em in if the stranger is domestic rather than trade.

if i am still they ignore me or say hello up close, if i move most are comfortable to a meter or so, some just ignore me no matter how close i pass.

there have been a few times when the birds accept me as harmless and useful, this crew are pretty chilled.

the ones that would follow wild boar such as robins are easy to get to know by scratting up food for them, chaffinches are similar but also inclined to use me as a safe perch even when food is not involved.
if we share territory the chaffinch often finds me.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15542

PostPosted: Mon Sep 16, 19 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That could be a very useful study, and one worth publishing if it works.

The only birds I have ever become really friendly with are robins. I suppose I move around too much, but robins will often come and visit even if I am working in the garden. My 'down the garden' robin that I have known since before it got a red breast is quite friendly and will move from compost heap to raised bed as I am working.

If we see wood mice in the woods, they tend to be completely oblivious to our presence. Hares can be quite friendly, or think we can't see them, not sure which.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 19 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The box turtles hatched last Saturday night. And I missed it.



The hatchlings were so tiny that they were able to scamper (if turtles may be said to scamper) between the bottom of the crate with the metal "skirt" around the perimeter and the minimally uneven ground.

I dug the nest up on Tuesday - there were broken shells from six eggs and one egg that didn't make it, filled with gray goop.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45384
Location: yes
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 19 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

good news that 6 turtles hatched, well done for the racoon proofing etc

sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 19 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We've acquired a sparrowhawk. Or rather one has found our sparrows.

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