Pignut

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 The pignut has started to flower in the meadow.



This plant is a member of the carrot family and has swollen tubers that produce a "nut" rather like a chestnut without the shell.  It's called pignut because pigs would root them up as a valuable source of food. In the interests of research I dug one up to photograph the nut and can confirm that it is good eating. The nuts sometimes grow to golf ball proportions but nuts shrink as the plants grow and use the nuts as a food source.





There is an old children's nursery rhyme that goes
"Here we go gathering nuts in May on a cold and frosty morning" that I am sure refers to these nuts. What other sort of nut would be in season to gather in May?

Diary
A good shot of a fox on the overnight trail cams. Don't tell me that foxes can't detect the camera!
Another sighting of four red squirrel at the same time in the garden. We saw a red squirrel being dive bombed by a spotted flycatcher that had got too close to a nest site.







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