Beauty in common countryside features

I want to demonstrate that a landscape need not have extraordinary features to be beautiful; the most commonplace of plants can lighten up a dreary day. The sight of a lone kestrel soaring above you while walking through an agricultural field is just  as valid as an experience of nature as viewing a rare orchid.

A single buttercup  flowering in a sea of greenery.

 

 

Patches of escaped oilseed rape plants provide splashes of colour in unexpected corners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The delicate white flowers of the common garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) growing under the trees along the edges of the cultivated land. If you accidentally walk on them, you will note a delicate garlic smell.

 

 

Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) along the fence line attracts many insects. This plant has become much commoner in recent years especially along road verges, and can be accused of smothering the smaller and more delicate plants, but in its place it is still attractive and quintessentially part of the English landscape.

 

A pretty clump of red campion (Silene dioica) makes a contrast from the predominantly white flowers under the trees.

And now the storm clouds are gathering. Time to go home.

 

Environmental assessment

What evidence can be seen that there has been an environmental assessment?

Walking through the fields and observing the trees, it is apparent that many of the larger specimen trees have been numbered as you can see from the photograph below.

 

This gives me hope that there may be some process by which some of these trees may be saved in the event of the development progressing.

Here is a close up view of one of the flowering clusters from a lovely specimen horse chestnut tree.

 

 

 

Throughout the fields there are many pieces of black roofing felt and metal corrugated tiles which I assume have been placed in order to assess amphibian and insect life. I have seen no amphibians or snakes, only a myriad of ants, beetles, wood lice and  centipedes lurking in the warm dry environment underneath the felting.

 

In the surrounding hedgerows, there are some nesting boxes which I believe may have been provided to assess the presence or absence of dormice.

 

Reference to the Ashford Borough Planning application still states that the planning is subject to further environmental assessment. Comments, objections and reports are available to anyone with an interest to view.

 ( Application reference 14/00906/AS)

 

 

 

St Mary's Church

The beautiful church  of  St. Mary's which currently sits in idyllic countryside will be forever changed by this project. If you examine the proposals, you will see that the developers want to create a car park for the church and encourage better access by attracting people to a cafe and convenience store nearby. The lovely distant views that I have recorded in previous posts will be compromised, or destroyed.

This Grade 1 listed building has been serving the community of Sevington since the 12th Century.  I t was listed in 1957 and for the architectural student exhibits many interesting historical features. It last underwent a major restoration in 1936. It was built of ragstone, with a timber framed porch and shingled spire. Apparently, one window has remnants of 14th Century stained glass.

Blosslyn for her blog has attached some lovely photographs and has given me permission to share it with you.
https://blosslynspage.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/st-marys-church-sevington-kent/

The Southern Orbital Road, built in the early 1990's cut off the church from the rest of Church road . A footbridge was later added after the unfortunate death of a parishioner trying to cross the road.


There is a beautifully produced short compilation of photographs and narrated history of the church by Steve Sidders to be found on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIf88w77SuI

Two prominent local families the Barrys and the Boys have historical connections to the church. Boys Hall, a very lovely 17th Century Jacobean Manor house lies not far from the church and is currently being run as a hotel and wedding venue.

Wild flowers of April

Throughout the hedgerows in the land destined for redevelopment, little islands of colour are appearing.

The Lesser Celandine ( Ranunculus ficaria) from the buttercup family, sometimes called the spring messenger because it flowers so early, brings brilliant yellow happy faces to the clumps of green leaves. Wordsworth wrote several poems about this humble flower. Note the spider who found his way into my photograph!

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea),has small pretty purple flowers. Also known as creeping jenny. The leaves can be used in salad and it  has many medicinal uses. Wild bees are attracted to it.

The White Deadnettle ( Lamium album) looks very much like the stinging nettle but does not sting. The flowers are brilliant white and the leaves are edible.

and this is the commonly found Spotted Deadnettle (Lamium Maculatum)

I showed the pretty cuckoo flowers , or Lady's Smock (Cardamine Pretensis) on a previous page, but let us look at them again as they definitely draw attention to themselves. It is a food plant for the orange tip butterfly.