Ilkeston - Autumn Fruits
w/e 06 October 2013
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
Whilst out in the previous two weeks with the Autumn
Footprints Walking Festival I had noticed several different fruits,
nuts and seeds in the hedgerows or on the trees including both
sweet and horse chestnuts, sloes and damsons. My preference for
photography is for landscapes both urban and rural, scenic views
and historic buildings but for a change this week I decided to
engage macro mode, do a few close-ups to see what other "Autumn
Fruits" I could find starting at home in the garden.
We've had thornless blackberry plants in the garden for many
years but recently the yield from the aging plants has started
to drop. A new species planted a couple of years ago however
is producing a good crop which we are are picking daily and it
bodes well for the future.
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Hanging over the fence at the bottom of the garden
are the branches of an apple tree and this is just one of the
fruit ripe for the picking. Our neighbour invited us to help
ourselves and we do like blackberry and apple pie!
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Almost ready for picking too are these quince fruits which are
growing in another neighbour's garden adjacent to another fence.
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And in the same garden a rowan tree heavily laden with berries
is overhanging and providing shade to our greenhouse. The tomatoes
alas in greenhouse are now finished.
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Although there will be no more home grown tomatoes this year
we are still picking raspberries and we even got one last boiling
of runner beans this weekend so for the rest of the images on
this page we had to go a little further afield. Not too far though,
as these elderberries were to be seen from a footbridge over
Chalons Way.
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We actually made our way to Victoria Park is search of the horse
chestnut trees there. Unfortunately all the fruit had already
been stripped from the lower branches presumably by fun loving
conker players and the only ones left were high up and well out
of reach of the camera. The acorns however on the Duke Oak could
be found in abundance.
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On another park, Chaucer Old Park ('Illy 'Oleys), a sycamore
tree was almost ready to launch its helicopters complete with
ladybird passenger.
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  Also on 'Illy 'Oleys we found a beech tree complete
with its beech nut fruits (left) and as we walked down to the
Erewash Canal, we found an ash tree close to the water heavily
weighed down with clusters of ash keys (right). In the hedgerow
at the side of the canal wild roses had produced flowers throughout
the summer but they have now fruited to form rose hips which
are sometimes called rose haws or heps.
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Hawthorn hedges alongside the canal have also produced a profusion
of red berries and as well as providing a source of nutrition
for birds, they are well regarded in homeopathic medicine as
a treatment for heart disorders.
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The fruit of the cherry laurel also provides sustenance for our
feathered friends but although they look like cherries, it is
not advisable to eat them as they are poisonous to humans. Having
said that I wouldn't eat anything from the hedgerows unless I
was absolutely certain about its safety. I'll just stick to taking
the pictures - and blackberry and apple pies of course!
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