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Ulster Star
21/12/2001 |
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Then there were the blackberries. We had collected
the last of them some months ago, made all our jam and are quite happily
eating this gastronomic delight. We have enough supplies to last us to
the next season. All very well and good.
So how come we see new fruit looking as good as it did months ago? The
fruit was in the red stage, and also in the black stage and both stages
looked superb.We decided to check out Paul Hackney's Flora of the North-East of
Ireland, and got another shock, about the diversity of blackberries,
this time.
Hackney lists 46 different types of blackberry in this small corner of
the world.
I always thought that blackberries were blackberries but no, that is too
simple.
Decided to look into this matter further and found there are more than
2,000 varieties of blackberry bushes, but cannot find if this refers to
an all-Europe or all-world basis.
Old folklore suggests that blackberries should not be eaten late in the
season. This is because the Devil spits on them, the fruit becomes mushy
and not nice. But in fact the flesh-fly does more damage than the Devil.
Well, the fruit I came across the other day was firm, both the red and
black fruit, no sign of insects or Devils, so I really must think about
making another batch of jam.
COMING EVENTS
Saturday 22 December - Feeling energetic? Fancy a Walk in Mournes at
loam? Call Mourne Heritage, 4372 4059
Wednesday 26 December - Lisburn RSPB St Stephen's Day Amble, details
from 92601864
Wednesday 26 December to Tuesday 2 January - Treasure Hunt every day at
Castle Espie, further details from 91874146.
Thursday 27 December - Birdwatch Morning, 11.30, Castle Espie, phone
9187 4146.
Sunday 30 December - Oxford Island, 11 am, you are invited to follow a
simple trail around the Nature Reserve, losing a few calories in the
process. The Island is on 3832 2205.
Saturday 5 January - Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, at 2.30, find out how
to help the birds in winter, more from 3832 2205
March 2002 - RSPB/Birdwatch Ireland, joint conference.
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Birds and blackberries seem to have confused the seasons
THE birds are getting it wrong, the bees likewise, I saw
blackberries the other day, and now Isobel from Dundrod tells me about
starlings. She saw a huge flock near home recently, never seen such a
large flock before.
We did not see how the mild weather could have affected the numbers of
starlings, so we looked further afield for an explanation.
If w a get un-seasonal mild weather here, chances are that somewhere else is getting very cold weather. If you study
news reports you will see how the south of Europe is getting. weather
the likes of which they have never seen before.
Starlings do not usually migrate here from south Europe in the winter:
Let's say they got signals that a very cold snap was coming, however, as
wildlife seems to do with weather predictions. That might cause them to head north, especially if they anticipated warmer
weather here.
On the other hand, if you were living in south Europe, knew that a
very cold spell was coming, would you not be tempted to head across the
Mediterranean for north Africa?
Heck, it's not too far to the warm desert. It is probably no more
dangerous to cross the sea than cross the Alps.
Our starling numbers are augmented by flying visitors from northern and
eastern Europe in the
winter. So maybe the weather is very cold to the north and to the east,
as well as to the south of us. In any case, I had noticed what I took to
be more starlings than usual about the place, and when I spoke to local
expert Clive at the RSPB and he was of a similar opinion.
Clive tells me they did a survey last year, found a large influx of
winter starlings from eastern Europe, but in the absence of a survey
this year it is impossible to say whether there are more birds, and if
so, how many.
Incidentally, Clive told me about concern for starlings roosting under
Belfast bridges and the impact of fireworks displays on them.
After discussions with the powers-that-be, it was decided to re-position
these displays in the future. What a victory for sound common sense.
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