Horse Chestnut and Teasel

Horse chestnut in England has been under attack by the horse chestnut leaf miner, the larvae of the leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella. This was a new species, classified as such in 1986, and it appears to favour the common white horse chestnut rather than the red cultivars. Although it gives the trees the untidy appearance seen here, it does not seem otherwise to affect them adversely, and after many years of infestation the horse chestnut population thrives. We just have to put up with what often looks like the early onset of autumn when, late in summer, whole trees carry brown, dead leaves.

The flowering season of teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)was already over when I happened on this group of plants on the edge of a field. These spectacular seed heads will last through the winter.