As I set off, it’s another cloudy day typical of this wet, overcast summer.
The lane leading down to the first bridge is full of puddles and mud, but I just love the glorious scent of the lime trees at this time of year.
The Deben is flowing vigorously under the first bridge.
More mud on the other side leads on to the first open field, where bright yellow flowers of oilseed rape have matured into seed.
A few poppies brighten the expanse of green.
The milk-white florets of lime trees not only smell heavenly, they also look good, especially against the bright summer sky which has now emerged as the clouds disappear.
Dutch elm disease killed off all mature elms in our area years ago, but young trees are still common in hedgerows and copses. They grow to a height of about twenty feet before the early loss of leaves every year caused by the disease finally kills them.
On the other hand, the oak in the middle of the oilseed rape field is in rude good health and looks magnificent.
Rosebay willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) is not as common in this region of East Anglia as in some places in England. Here it fights for precedence over bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) growing at the edge of a copse.
Dense patches of stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) along the pathway make it advisable to wear jeans when out walking here, even in the height of summer, when shorts might seem more comfortable.
Elderflower (Sambucus nigra) has just finished flowering, and the young fruits are clustering in the sunshine.
Wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus) vary widely in the size and quality of the fruit, but one thing they all have in common is a vigorous habit producing an almost impenetrable barrier of thorns. Here a hardy specimen makes headway amongst the stinging nettles …
… while these brambles promise a good yield later in the summer.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on all the varieties of hogweed, but I guess that this one is just common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).
Because of its rather unpleasant pig-like smell, it hosts a variety of flies and other insects attracted to carrion. On these specimens the most common visitor is the red soldier beetle ( Rhagonycha fulva) …
… but there are also masses of these little black critters, and I’ve no idea what they are!
The red soldier beetle is also sometimes called the bonking beetle, as that is how they are most frequently encountered!
A beautifully lustrous green fly basks in the sun …
… and there is competition from these iridescent green beetles, or thick-legged flower beetles (Oedemera nobilis), this one a female with thin legs!
This potato crop is looking very healthy, and appears to have had its flowers removed, something I’ve not seen before.
Healthy the crop may seem, but I’m sure it’s battling having its feet under so much water this year!
Like the elderflower, hawthorn bushes have just set their fruits, and these already have a reddish tinge which hints that autumn is just around the corner.
The second of the bridges, two planks over a drainage ditch.
The buttercups which decked out this field earlier in the season have now given way to grasses.
A short walk down the hill takes us back to the Deben, where great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) lines the banks.
The last three bridges, the one in the foreground over the Deben, the final two over marshy ground in the forest.
In this damp summer moss grows easily on the stump of a felled tree.
Barley is ripening in the sun …
… but it seems all is not well here. Has the farmer cut out a section of blighted crop to prevent the spread of something? Whatever the reason, I could find no clues in what was left behind.
Tudor-style chimneys, oak trees in full leaf and television aerials vie for attention above the village prep school.
