Rose Hips

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 We have a fine display of rose hips along our hedge at the moment. Hips or rose haw or rose hep are the fruit of the rose plant. This rose is a wild rose or dog rose ( the Romans thought that rose hips from this rose could be used to treat dog bites!)

Rose hips are edible when cooked and I well remember as a child growing up in the1950s being forced to swallow a teaspoon of rose hip syrup a day. This was a hangover from WW1 when such items as oranges were rare luxuries and this was how one acquired the requisite vitamin C.  It didn't taste very nice and today's children are fortunate not to have this inflicted on them.

Diary.
The stream in the bottom field has run dry again. I did my turn at counting butterflies at Waitby Greenriggs reserve yesterday. I am attaching a histogram of the butterfly numbers so far this year. I was hoping to spot another of the rare Scotch Argus butterflies but have still only seen the one - a search of the database reveals that it was 1999 when the last one was found at this reserve. Overnight cameras showed nothing noteworthy other than a very lost mountain biker! Some very large flocks of goldfinch passing through 100 plus. One very large dragonfly in the garden - too fast to photograph - one of the "hawkers" possibly.
Some nice butterfly photos from yesterday.








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