Scots Lovage/ Skotsk Lostilk

Ligusticum scoticum, 

Scots lovage, or Scottish licorice-root,is a perennial plant of the family Umbelliferae, found near the coasts of northern Europe and north-eastern North America. It grows up to 60 centimetres tall and is found in rock crevices and cliff-top grassland. The plant is edible, with a flavour resembling parsley or celery. The edge of the triangular leaves may be toothed, lobed or serrated and are typically either a paler green or magenta. The flowers are greenish-white.

Ligusticum scoticum tastes and smells like parsley or celery, and was formerly widely eaten in western Britain, both for nutrition and to combat scurvy. The plant is primarily arctic, ranging from northern Norway to the northerly shores of the British Isles and from western Greenland to New England.  A related species, Ligusticum hultenii, occurs around the northern Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Alaska.

The Latin name Ligusticum refers to the home of the plant namely Liguria in northern Italy where several species of this plant-family grow wild, but the Ligusticum scoticum origins from Scotland where it grows at the rocky coast. It also grows wild at the coast of Norway. In Denmark Scots Lovage is rare and protected. It grows wild in a few places in Denmark  - a few populations in Thy and Han Herred. It is possible to cultivate Scots Lovage in the garden and be able to pluck and use this well-tasting herb. 

Within the British Isles, Ligusticum scoticum is only found on coasts where the mean annual temperature is below 15 °C (59 °F). Towards the southern end of its range, the plant performs poorly on south-facing sites. It grows in fissures in rocks, where it may be the only vascular plant, and also in cliff-top grassland communities. Ligusticum scoticum cannot tolerate grazing, and is harmed by the actions of nesting seabirds, it is therefore rarely found on bird cliffs, or where grazing sheep and rabbits are found. It is, however, tolerant of salt spray, and its growth has been shown to improve when given dilute seas water. The leaves of L. scoticum are frost-tolerant, and die back each winter, but regrow very rapidly the following spring. In the British Isles, flowering occurs from June to August, and the seeds are ripe in October or November; the timing is expected to be later at higher latitudes. The flowers of L. scoticum are visited by generalist pollinators, mostly flies.

 

Folk medicine: In the old days  the plant juice was considered to be calming, and a decoction was used as a drink against hysteria and insanity.  Insomnia was helped by placing the plant root under the pillow.

Ligusticum scoticum was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum.

Scots Lovage was earlier used as a medical herb against digestion problems and reumathism and the plant juice was used to promote child birth. Decoction from the root was working somnolent - therefore Scots Lovage was earlier knon as sleep herb (søvnurt). 
 

Food: today Scots Lovage is used in soups and fish dishes. 
In tea as a light somnolent drug like lemon balm.
 Parts of Scots Lovage are fine in the kitchen. The young leaves, the flowers and the unripe seeds are well suited to be eaten fresh fx in salad or as a decoration when serving the food. The leaves are most delicate when quite young before the plant is flowering. They taste good in a mixed tomato salad or - salsa together with cucumber, onion, mint leaves and an oil/lemon dressing. Young leaves can be mixed in the mince for fish cakes. The stems can be made into candy for confiture. Older leaves, the ripe seeds and the root can be used in stews. Scots lovage can naturally be the part of a Bouquet garni. The ripe grounded seeds can be used as a substitut for pepper. 

Superstition
If people suffered from insomnia they could pack the root into a sock and place it under the pillow

source: Danske Klosterurter, Anemette Olesen, 2001. 
photo: wikipedia

Marsh Fritillary / Hedepletvinge

Euphydryas aurinia

Characteristics:  Wing span  33 - 42 mm.  In freshly hatched condition the species are easy to recognize on the narrow wings and the variegated drawings in black, yellowish and orange brown. The colours vary much and in between the basic colour is uniform orange brown. The male can be very small with a wing span of 30 mm                                                                          

Behavior: The flight is low, changing from whirring to hovering . Both sexes eagerly seek to flowers and are seen on fx Marsh-thistle, Common ragwort or Arnica.

Flight period:  The flight period is short and  rarely stretching over more than three weeks in the individual years. The safest period is 1-2 weeks in June, but the flight time may start late May in warm years stretching into July in cool years.

Habitat: The habitats are difficult to characterize. They are often border areas between moist and dry areas in nutrient-poor soil, like in the edge of heaths or bogs and in low places between the inner dunes and the heaths behind them.

The larvae: The larvae overwinters together with halfgrown larvaes in close webs upon the fodder plant Devil's bit Scabious (Succia pratensis)

Frequency and Spread:  earlier spread in local populations in big parts of Denmark but has collapsed since the late 19th century. Disappeared from Zealand in the 1920s and from most of Jutland in the period 1950-1990. Since 1990 only known from about 20 small localities in North Jutland.


Protection of the species:  the species endures no types of fertilization of their habitats. Disturbances like grazing are necessary - eventually with intervals of several years and never at the same time in the localities. It is necessary to examine how the species react in the rest of the habitats. PROTECTED.


Source: Michael Stoltze "Dagsommerfugle i Danmark", 1997

Photo juni 2010 Nordjylland: stig bachmann nielsen Naturplan Foto

Vejlbo Mose, Silkeborg

 

For several hundred years was dug peat here in Vejlbo Mose by common people from the town Silkeborg, who needed fuel for their houses in the winter season , but in the 1800s a paper factory was established in the town. They needed fuel for the factory, so they got a contract on peat-digging. A peat factory was established after French role model. The peat production stopped in 1870.  At that time the moor had been dug through in full depth, and the present lake emerged.

cowbane

Bog Arum

path around Vejlbo Mose

 Vejlbo Mose is a raised bog-lake, characterized by its acidic water, which is coloured brown by the dissolved humic substances. It is a very popular recreational area, close to the town of Silkeborg and with a good path and a varied nature. Vejlbo Mose has a rich flora and fauna. Although it is obvious now that the birch is growing fast and covers a part of the edge along the lake there is still sweet gale and heather here, and cranberry, lingonberry, blueberry, the bog arum and water lilies and many other water plants and also the poisonous cowbane. There are usually many dragonflies and butterflies and of course the sweet ducks and other water fowls and there are reptiles too, which I haven't seen often, lizards, grass snakes and vipers. In spring time are especially good opportunities to see vipers - and Naturstyrelsen (Nature Management) tell us  to tread carefully.

heather

autum colour in the green

 

ducks on stalks of water lilies.

dark green water

and deep blue

what's up - what's down?

The raised bogs: 
 In Denmark and in several other West European countries it was obvious after WWII that the raised bogs were threatened by complete extinction, and many raised bogs are today protected and the extraction of spaghnum is submitted to control by the State. This is not the case in some East European countries ( and Sweden). Here are still important raised bog areas which are considered more or less as an unlimited ressource, and extraction goes still on and  in a speed which is much faster than the natural regeneration.

Depending on geological and climatic conditions it takes from several hundreds till several thousands of years for a raised bog to regenerate, but in many cases it is not possible because the climatic conditions are different from when the raised bog was originally formed.  In many countries - also in Denmark - the raised bogs are also threatened by natural degeneration,  since birch and fir start to grow in the dry parts of the  bog, which then grows into forest.




photo Vejlbo Mose 11. August 2012: grethe bachmann

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Ice on the Water - Snow in the Sky.

A Taste of Denmark

Winter

Once again a visit to the small island Alrø in Horsens fjord, the latest couple of visits for the same reason, to see the white tailed eagle, who's always in another place anyway, when we're there - probably sitting on the island of Vorsø, which has got public access for birds only. But it's good to be out in the countryside to get some fresh air instead of the black city air, and the narrow country roads are not very traffic. Although it's a part of our neighbourhood close to Århus then there are still places, we haven't seen yet. In the winter season we take relative short trips. As you can see the day is dark, and the day is short too . The light is quickly disappearing in the afternoon, and it is cold to be out for long.

Two horses in a field often walk together. I think they like company. I feel pity with a horse who's quite alone. Maybe I'm wrong?  Well, two friends, those two horses. The landscape shows that the snow is still here. We've got rid of it in town, this happens quickly, already while it is snowing - and often in the middle of the night.  I can hear the snowmen driving through the streets and in front of our building to remove the snow. They really have to get up early. In the country the snow stays put except on the traffic roads. I wouldn't be able to live in a house in the country. Furthermore there are no shops.

But in this district there is one little village after another, and I took some photos along the way of farms and houses - it was funny, because there were so many halftimbered houses in black and white. Maybe they copy each other. The big halftimbered black and white house is a vicarage. Many priests live in a pretty vicarage, but it's not sunny days always to be a priest. They've got many obligations. A priest is dependent on the parish council and what they decide. If the council don't like their new vicar they can make life difficult for him. I can imagine it's not an easy job to be a priest, and his wife has to be an outgoing and social person. No, the pretty vicarage might be dearly bought!








































                                                                                

what about some weight-control?

There were two fields next to each other, one with a lonely pony with a heavy forelock covering one eye and one with the nice friendly cattle with belts - the belted Galloway. They origin from Scotland, they are hornless and  the earliest British cattle, and the opinion is that they came from the hornless cattle of the Scythians from year 485-425 B.C. The fur is traditionally black-brown. The Galloway cattle has outer and inner fur with long cover-hair and a curly woolen under-fur, which isolates against both cold and heat. The cover-hair is water-repellent. The original Scottish Galloway is lesser than the Amercian. The Scottish bull weighs about 700-800 kilos. The Galloways are peaceful and easy to deal with, but if the flock is threatened,  they stick together and form a united front against the enemy.

listening with one ear...

Then we were passing a couple of white washed churches by the road, and opposite a church was a little village house with an outhouse with the same simple decoration of small red bricks. Three ponies stood in a thick layer of hay. It's important to have warm feet. Everyone knows that!  And not far from each other two buzzards in top of a tree. One was very "light-headed". They were waiting for a traffic victim! Well, yes they actually often are in the winter season. If an animal is run over by a car, it won't last long before it has disappeared, if there's a  predator in the neighbourhood. The birds of prey are among  Nature's garbage men. 

the black stripe is birds

looking for birds on the ice.

the first sight of the frozen sea ...

And now we came to the island Alrø which I have shown you a couple of times. I could see from the first sight when we reached the dam that the water in Horsens fjord was completely frozen. Everything was white, land joined water. I was a little surprised about the difference between this sea and the sea at Århus, where we came from. The sea at Århus was blue and shining like a mirror this morning. Some of the ice on the fjord had been pushed into frozen waves and looked like whipped cream. There was not a bird to see anywhere, not even geese and swans on the fields. There was nothing to eat. The grass was frozen too. Only one car when we came out to the only parking place in the southern end of the island. A young couple tried to take a little walk.  The wind made it colder and they gave up after five minutes. I gave up after almost the same and sat in the car drinking thermo-coffee and eating the traditional Wiener-Pecan-cake. Many birds gathered along an opening in the ice far out. The white-tailed eagle was probably on the next island,  also too far away.

two men with telescope

then outermost farm

the village street

Two men were walking along the coast with a telescope, when we drove back to the main land. They were probably on their way to a place, from which they can watch across and over to some small islands, called the Alrø Poller. The island Alrø is an eldorado for birds of all kinds. The low water and the protected area give optimal conditions for the bird life. Alrø is EF-habitat area, EF-bird protection area and Ramsar area. This means that plants, animals and nature types are largely protected. Hunting is forbidden in a section of the sea, and walking about on the small islands Alrø Poller is forbidden most of the year.
























As you can see from today's photos the day was dark and with snow in the sky. The colours had a dark blue, which grew darker and darker with the vanishing light, the darkest of ultramarine.

No matter if it was cold and I was freezing my feet, I enjoyed being out to see how nature was now on this day in February. But I'm looking forward anyway to some sunny day in March and April, where the first signs of spring are coming. March is not far away.
GB

going home now...

photo February 2012: grethe bachmann

two landscapes just before the town Odder. 

.....

Village Green/ Village Pond/ Gadekær

Open Air Museum, Hjerl Hede, Jutland

In England a Village Green is usually a common open area which is a part of the settlement. In Denmark the village green is not a green area, but a pond, the Danish name is gadekær. Once every village in Denmark had a gadekær - still most villages have one, and the interest for re-creating the pond as it once were in the good old days is growing.


Elsegårde gadekær near Ebeltoft, Mols, Jutland

Maybe the village pond was the earliest grounds of the village and the very first starting point from its birth. It was a common property and a part of the soul of the village. Through many centuries the village pond was important for the social life. It was a stamping ground. The blacksmith cooled his work there; vessels and barrels were put into water to become denser; the farmers washed their tools and wagon wheels, and the horses and cattle were watered; the children played by the village pond - and last but not least it was a water tank in case of fire.


Elsegårde gadekær, Mols, Jutland

When the farming grew mechanized the village pond was now only a water tank/fire pond. The broad flat banks of the old pond meant that it occupied a lot of space, but now it was changed into a deepened and smaller basin, from which it was easier to pump up water. In some villages the village pond later disappeared and in other villages it was neglected, but now there is a growing interest for re-creating a gadekær as it looked in the good old days.


Elsegårde gadekær, Mols, Jutland, Yellow Iris

A gadekær is usually protected area. It has a recreative importance for the community, but also a considerable nature function. The restored pond has to be as close to nature as possible. It is not allowed to set out fish in those small closed lakes/ponds, since this causes a uniform and poor flora and fauna. In some place in Denmark people set out Chinese grass carps in their village pond which was a complete mistake.


Elsegårde gadekær, Mols, Jutland

It is not indifferent which plants and fish are put out in a village pond. Besides being careful as to fish it is also necessary not to make the pond a feeding place for ducks. It is important to let the natural fauna and flora appear of itself. The surroundings have to be open to the south and to the west to give place for the sun. It is about obtaining clean clear water - and maybe also create a little place for people with tables and benches.

In a large lake-like village pond fish and ducks can live without causing a too heavy impact to the water quality .


Estruplund gadekær, East Jutland

photo 2004/2008: grethe bachmann