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| A Thrush? No, a baby Robin! |
On the 7th
April I wrote a blog entitled “Ancient & modern, massive & tiny” in
which I made a comment about wild strawberries - “later in the year it can produce its tiny strawberry fruits, which
taste so deliciously sweet”. A couple of days later I received an E-mail
from a reader of my Blog, which said:
Dear Peter
Sorry to be a spoilsport but the plant in the picture illustrating the elegant piece of writing is Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis) not Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca). You can tell this because the petals of the flower do not overlap - in the true Wild Strawberry they do. Barren Strawberry, true to its name, produces only a small dry fruit - nothing edible.
Sorry to be a spoilsport but the plant in the picture illustrating the elegant piece of writing is Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis) not Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca). You can tell this because the petals of the flower do not overlap - in the true Wild Strawberry they do. Barren Strawberry, true to its name, produces only a small dry fruit - nothing edible.
Best wishes,
Mike Lock.
Obviously, Ray Mears I am not! Foraging for a “wild” picnic in
the countryside with me could be a wonderful new way to diet!!
This started me thinking about how many things are
misidentified in the countryside and wondering how many observations are sent
in as records that are actually not quite correct.
There are common ones such as spotting a Yellow Wagtail in
January – almost certainly a Grey wagtail, (which does have lots of yellow on it) as
Yellow wagtails do not over-winter here. Tree sparrows and House sparrows are muddled
up, as are Willow tit and Marsh tit. Baby Robins that have no redbreast to
start with, are often recorded as baby thrushes. These are just a few mistakes from the
bird world.
I do find it refreshing that often so called “experts” also
quite often get things wrong – even if only momentarily!
Here are a few:
The late, great Sir Peter Scott was sea-watching one day
with an enthusiastic and adoring crowd of admirers. As he scanned the horizon,
he confidently called out ''Hobby chasing a Swift''. As the 'birds' moved
closer, it transpired that the 'Hobby' was in fact a Swallow and the 'Swift' a
bumblebee!
A Shrike had been recorded in the Norfolk Brecks and
several birders were gathered at the point where the bird had last been seen.
Suddenly a shout of ''Got it! Third gorse bush from the left to the right of
the second pylon!'' One co-observer calmly replied ''Erm, where exactly is it
in relation to the faded cheese and onion crisp packet?''
Another good one is the story about a group of “twitchers”
who had gathered on the Isles of Scilly to 'tick' a tired Nighthawk (a kind of
North American nightjar) which had settled down in a grass field. After quite a
long time taking photographs and discussing the rarity, it was suggested that
they might all be able to move a little closer. Slowly, the assembled group
moved silently forward, only to discover that they had all been watching a
cowpat!
So, thank you to Mike Lock for pointing out my mistaken strawberry
plant – this is how we all learn – from each other. I am absolutely sure however,
that it will not be long before I blunder again on something else! (Please correct
me if I do!).
I often say that if one could spend the whole of one’s life
studying an individual species or niche habitat such an old tree, we would still
not know half of what there is to discover. Multiply that across the whole
countryside and it becomes a big, fascinating subject!
Anyone want to come with me to forage a few wild mushrooms
for supper?
Wild mushrooms for supper? Err, no thanks; just in case!
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