Mylor bridge lies on a mediaeval trade route between Truro and Penryn used for livestock and packhorses. In 1597, Mylor bridge was described as "new" and consisting of 2 arches. This has since been widened to carry the road but parts of the Tudor bridge are still visible on the upriver side.
The orchids are one of the largest families of plants with over 28,000 recorded species, many of which live in the tropics. It is thought that the first orchids evolved somewhere between 80 and 100 million years ago. The word "orchid" comes from the Greek word for testicle on account of the shape of the plant's tuber. Consequently, in mediaeval times, the plant was known as bollockwort.
During winter, from November to March, winter heliotrope is visible along the edges of roads and paths as carpets of rounded heart-shaped leaves.
Despite only having the male form in the UK (is and therefore unable to produce seeds), it can spread vegetatively through its network of underground roots. A small fragment of root can give rise to a new plant which allows it to colonise new locations. Within less than 30 years of its introduction it had been recorded in the wild in Middlesex. Roughly a century later it has become one of the most common plants along roads and bridleways in Cornwall.
After A and B roads, the next smallest in Cornwall (by level of traffic) are C roads and then finally the U roads (often small lanes). Both are normally the same minor road colour on OS maps but the C roads are normally drawn with fatter lines. C and U roads are numbered by each council so Cornwall has its own set of numbers. They are not unique nationally, only locally, so the road number for each of these will be the same as several totally unrelated roads in other parts of Britain. The other quirky thing particularly with U roads is that several small lanes in the same area will often be given the same number. Consequently the C and U numbers are not printed on signs to avoid totally confusing motorists.
The roots of red campion contain saponins (soapy compounds) which protect the plants against microbes and fungi. These compounds make it easier for large molecules such as proteins to enter cell membranes. This has the potential to increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy against cancer by allowing immunotoxins to enter the cancer cells more easily.
Wild garlic can be preserved as a frozen paste for use as a cooking ingredient throughout the year. Simply whizz up roughly chopped leaves in a food processor with enough olive oil to make a fairly thick paste and then freeze this in an ice cube tray (or slightly larger silicone moulds if you have them). Standard cooking olive oil will do for this (it's a waste to use extra-virgin as the powerful garlic will mask its flavour). Turn out the frozen blocks into a bag and keep in the freezer. They can then be used as garlic "stock cubes", added just before the end of cooking.
Of the spotted woodpecker species, the sparrow-sized Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is now not very common. Greater Spotted Woodpeckers are starling-sized and have a white patch at the top of their wings which Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers don't have. Male Greater Spotted Woodpeckers can be recognised from the red patch on the back of the head. Mature female Greater Spotted Woodpeckers don't have a red mark on the head but have the red rump. Juvenile Greater Spotted Woodpeckers have a red mark at the front of their head which can lead to confusion with Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.
The early purple orchid gets its common name from its spring flowering time - it appears at a similar time to bluebells although it lasts a bit longer. It has a Latin name meaning "virile" which is in keeping with the word "orchid" coming from the Greek word for testicle (on account of the shape of the tuber).
When an area of land is left alone by humans it undergoes a natural process of succession as taller plants out-compete the shorter ones for light. Bare land is first colonised by pioneer species including mosses and annual plants such as rosebay willowherb. Perennial plants including grasses can then grow thanks to the nutrients and moisture retention created by the pioneer species. Next, woody shrubs are able to grow higher than their herbaceous cousins and therefore steal the sunlight. Finally tall trees form a mature forest, sometimes known as "climax forest" as it's at the end of the chain of succession. Factors such as climate and minerals govern which species are involved in the succession chain for a particular area (e.g. it may end in conifer forests in alpine regions whereas lowland climax forests are usually hardwood).
Since its reintroduction, sycamore has spread widely as the seeds are extremely fertile and able to grow just about anywhere where the ground is sufficiently wet. In particular they can grow within the shade of the parent tree, creating dense cover that crowds-out other species. In some areas it is regarded as an invasive weed.
Fields here are used for arable crops such as oil seed rape.
A crop of oil seed rape has been traditionally used in crop rotation schemes as a "break" between cereal crops to suppress weeds and improve soil quality, but the increasing demand for rapeseed oil is making it profitable enough to be grown as a primary crop. Rape seeds are 45% oil and the remaining 55% can be used as a high protein animal feed. Originally rapeseed oil contained bitter-tasting and harmful chemical compounds that meant it was not used for human or even animal consumption and instead used to lubricate steam engines. Varieties have now been bred with very little of these chemicals and rapeseed oil is now one of the highest quality vegetable oils, low in saturated fat and high in omega-3. Consequently cold-pressed rapeseed oil is becoming increasingly popular in gourmet food. The plant requires quite a lot of nitrogen from the soil so is sometimes rotated with a nitrogen-fixing crop such as clover.
The idea of eating something that can sting you seems wrong until you realise that nettles lose their sting as soon as you cook them, and they taste like spinach. Nettles are extremely nutritious, containing high levels of vitamin A and C, large amounts of iron and even a significant amount of protein.
Flushing was originally known as Nankersey, meaning something along the lines of "valley of reeds"; a number of roads still contain the name Kersey. The village is recorded as being founded in 1661. The name Flushing was given to it by the Dutch engineers who built the quays, as they were from Flushing in the Netherlands.
Flushing lies in the parish of Mylor so in the 17th and 18th Centuries there would have been a trek to Mylor church on Sundays. Flushing church was built in the 1840s and renovated/extended in 1871.
In Flushing Churchyard is the head of a Celtic wayside cross which is decorated with carvings on both sides. It was found in 1891 in a pigsty at Porloe farm (over the top of the hill from Flushing, towards Mylor Harbour) where it had been in use as the socket stone for a threshing machine. The brass socket is still visible in the neck of the cross head.
During late winter or early spring, if you encounter a patch of plants with white bell-shaped flowers, smelling strongly of onions, and with long, narrow leaves then they are likely to be three-cornered leeks. Once you're familiar with their narrow, ridged leaves, you'll be able to spot these emerging from late October onwards.
All parts of the plant are edible by humans and the flavour of the leaves is relatively mild so they can be used in recipes in place of spring onions or chives. They are at their best for culinary use from November to April. By mid-May, they have flowered and the leaves are starting to die back.
The long leaves can be mistaken for bluebells or daffodils which are both poisonous but do not smell of onions. However, fingers that have previously picked 3-cornered leeks also smell of onions and so mistakes have been made this way.
The blackbird is a species of thrush. The name "blackbird" is mediaeval, first recorded in 1486. Since most of the crow family is also black, plus many seabirds, the choice of this particular species for the name is thought to be due to its size. Up to the 18th Century, larger birds such as crows were referred to as "fowl" and the term "bird" was only used for smaller species.
If there are sheep in the field and you have a dog, make sure it's securely on its lead (sheep are prone to panic and injuring themselves even if a dog is just being inquisitive). If the sheep start bleating, this means they are scared and they are liable to panic.
If there are pregnant sheep in the field, be particularly sensitive as a scare can cause a miscarriage. If there are sheep in the field with lambs, avoid approaching them closely, making loud noises or walking between a lamb and its mother, as you may provoke the mother to defend her young.
Sheep may look cute but if provoked they can cause serious injury (hence the verb "to ram"). Generally, the best plan is to walk quietly along the hedges and they will move away or ignore you.
On the opposite side of the river, Penryn (right) now merges into Falmouth (left).
In Elizabethan times, the town of Falmouth did not exist, only a few small settlements around Carrick Roads which had been there since mediaeval times. A few castles had been built during the Tudor period to defend the river system and there was a manor house of Arwenack which was owned by Sir John Killigrew. When Sir Walter Raleigh visited Arwenack in 1598, he was so impressed with the natural harbour of Carrick Roads that he recommended that it should be developed as a port. Following this, the town of Falmouth was created in 1613.
The berries of holly contain a chemical compound very similar to caffeine. Only in very small doses is this a stimulant; in larger doses it is toxic. It is for this reason that you see holly berries on bushes rather than being inside the nearest bird. The birds have learned to wait until after the frosts have reduced the toxicity of the berries before eating them.
From Roman times, holly trees were planted near houses as it was believed to offer protection from witchcraft and lightning strikes. There is some scientific basis for the latter at least: the spines on the leaves can act as lightning conductors. The sharp points allow electrical charge to concentrate, increasing its potential to form a spark.
The wild arum (Arum Maculatum) is known by over 90 colourful folk names including "Lords and ladies", "Priest in the pulpit", "Devils and angels", "Cows and bulls" etc. Most of these have sexual connotations as the inflorescence (known as the "spadix") is obviously phallic, and is sheathed suggestively by the encircling, leaf-like spathe. Another name "Cuckoo Pint" alludes to the time of the flower's appearance being with the first cuckoos; "pint" stays on theme, being the Old English slang for penis (a contraction of "pintle").
All members of the lily family, including wild arum, are poisonous to dogs.
Black Bryony is a climbing hedgerow plant with heart-shaped leaves, particularly noticeable in autumn and early winter due its red berries. It is the only member of the yam family that grows natively in the UK but all parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested. Touching it can also result in skin irritation and even blisters.
Squirrels are rodents, closely related to chipmunks and slightly more distantly to dormice. The word "squirrel" originates from an ancient Greek word meaning "shadow-tailed", referring to the bushy tail of a squirrel. A family group of squirrels is known as a "drey" (also the word for a squirrel nest). A group of unrelated squirrels is known as a "scurry", though squirrels tend not to hang out in groups.
Swans usually mate for life, although "divorce" can sometimes occur if there is a nesting failure. The birds can live for over 20 years but in the 20th Century many swans were found to be suffering from lead poisoning. This was tracked down to the tiny "lead shot" weights used for fishing that swans would hoover up with weed and roots from the bottom of rivers and lakes. Since the introduction of non-toxic metals for making fishing weights, incidents of poisoning have disappeared and the swan population is now even growing very slightly.
The little egret - a white member of the heron family - can be seen on many of the creeks in Cornwall and yet is only a very recent settler in Britain. The birds first appeared in Britain in any number in 1989 and the first to breed was in 1996 in Dorset.
The Lavin family of Penryn, Cornwall had a long connection to St Gluvias Church. The family experienced several tragic deaths, including drownings in South Africa and death in a conflict with Maori tribes in New Zealand. These, along with others in the family, are listed on a headstone in the churchyard of St Gluvias. One family member, John Michael Lavin, became a successful mineralogist and built the Grade I listed Egyptian House in Penzance, which is now owned by the Landmark Trust.
In Elizabethan times, starch made from the bulbs was used to stiffen collars and cuffs in clothing. The ruffs that were highly fashionable at the time would have needed a lot of starch to prevent them flopping. The toxins in bluebell sap might also have had the desirable property of preventing the starch encouraging the formation of mould.
The wharf at Penryn was already in existence by the 1880s. The older buildings on the wharf are the remains of a tannery.
Penryn parish church has been dedicated to St Gluvias since 1318. The current church building dates from the 15th Century and the tower survives from this period. The rest of the church was rebuilt in the 18th Century and again in the 19th Century. It's possible that the churchyard may be on the site of a Celtic monastery and a bank on the east side of the churchyard could be the remnants of an enclosure surrounding this.
Penryn was already established as a creek-side settlement in mediaeval times and appears in the Domesday book as Trelivel. It was rebranded as Penryn in 1216 by the Bishop of Exeter and created as a borough in 1236. A religious college (Glasney College) was built in 1265 and lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Tudor times. A small harbour is shown on Tudor maps and the town had a reputation in this period with at least 3 mayors being convicted of piracy. The town was a thriving port by the mid-17th Century but lost its market and customs house to Falmouth for backing the Parliamentarians in the Civil War and then went into steady decline.
Periwinkle, also known as myrtle, is a native plant in Europe and both the greater (Vinca major) and lesser (Vinca minor) forms are common, both with blue-purple 5-petal flowers that resemble turbine blades.
The "greater" form has wider teardrop-shaped leaves whereas the leaves of the "lesser" form are thinner and lance-shaped. The flowers on the lesser form are also smaller.
The name may be from the Russian name for the flower - pervinka - which is based on the word pervi, meaning "first", as it is one of the earliest spring flowers. Some flowers start appearing in November.
The original tarmac was made from coal tar and ironworks slag. In the 1920s, coal tar was replaced by the tar from petroleum oil - bitumen. This oil-based tarmac is known as asphalt in the UK. However in the USA, "asphalt" means bitumen (i.e. just the tar with no "mac"). If that wasn't confusing enough, tarmac is known as "bitumen" in Australia!
The name "round ring" is from a fortified prehistoric settlement that was located here. The ramparts still form some of the field boundaries.
Primrose flowers provide an important nectar source for pollinators that hibernate over winter and emerge quite early like brimstone and small tortoiseshell butterflies - these are some of the first butterflies to be seen in spring. Primrose is also the food plant for the caterpillars of the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly.
Even up to the 16th Century, magpies were simply known as "pies" from the Old French word pie (related to the Latin word for magpie - pica). The term "pied" meaning "black-and-white" (as in pied wagtail) is from the magpie's colouration. It's also possible that the pastry thing we now know as a pie (which can be traced back to Mediaeval Latin) was named after the magpie. It has been speculated that the assortment of ingredients in the pastry crust was likened to objects collected in a magpie nest. The "mag" in the modern name is a (somewhat sexist) mediaeval slang word for someone who chatters, based on the name Margaret.
Pencoose is thought to date from the mediaeval period although no records have been found. The name is Cornish for "woods' end".
Birds of the crow family are considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals, displaying a high learning ability and are able to use logic for solving problems. Researchers have found some crow species capable of not only tool use but also tool construction. Crows have also demonstrated the ability to distinguish individual humans apart by recognising facial features. If a crow encounters a cruel human, it can also teach other crows how to identify that individual.
The settlement of Gwarder first was recorded as Gwerthour in 1312 which is thought to be from the Cornish gwer-dhowr (meaning "green water"). There is an old well fed by a spring in woods near the settlement so this could possibly be the origin of the name.
The earliest recorded use of concrete was around 6500 BC in Syria and Jordan which was put to a number of uses including creating level floors. The Romans made concrete blocks from volcanic ash, lime and seawater.
In 1793, John Smeaton discovered a way of producing hydraulic lime for cement by firing limestone that contained clay. He used his cement for constructing the Eddystone lighthouse.
In 1824, Portland cement was invented by burning powdered chalk and clay together which were both readily available. During the 19th Century, this began to be used in industrial buildings.
The first record of the settlement of Enys is from 1301. The name taken literally is the Cornish word for "island" but is thought to have been used figuratively for "remote spot" or possibly for "land beside a river".
A house with an E-shaped floor plan was built in Elizabethan times but this burned down in the 1820s and only some foundations remain. The current house is thought to have been completed in 1830. During the Second World War, the house was commandeered for use as a naval college. It was later used as a boys' school for a few years and has remained uninhabited since then. It is sometimes opened to the public during garden events (see the Enys website for upcoming events).
The gardens at Enys are thought to be some of the oldest in Cornwall and date from before the 18th Century. A mediaeval stone cross originally from Sancreed near Penzance was moved into Enys gardens in 1848. In recent years, the display of bluebells has become famous and attracts many visitors in the spring. The gardens are open to the public on certain days between April and the end of September (see the Enys website for exact days and times).
Wheat was formed by hybridisations between wild grasses which was then spread through domestication. The cultivation of wheat is thought to have begun nearly 12,000 years ago in southeast Turkey.
Remains of wheat from 8000 years ago have been found in Britain which indicate trade with Europe. Until around 6500 BC, it was possible to walk between Britain and the rest of Europe via an area of low lying land known as Doggerland. As sea levels rose after the last Ice Age, the North Sea flooded this, making Britain an island.
Because each of the hybridisations that formed wheat were rare events, and because there were multiple stages of hybridisation involved, domesticated bread wheat is all from a common ancestry and therefore there is very little genetic variety. This narrow gene pool makes the risk of a catastrophic disease quite high. Since the 20th Century, work has been underway to broaden the wheat gene pool to produce disease-resistant strains through a number of techniques including crossing wheat varieties from different parts of the world, hybridising with wild grasses, and more recently through direct genetic manipulation.
Some plant nutrients such as phosphorus tend to be more abundant near the surface of the soil where decaying organic matter collects. Bluebell seedlings start life at the surface so these are OK but as bluebell plants mature and send their roots deeper into the soil to avoid winter frosts, they have a phosphorus problem. They have solved this by partnering with a fungus that extends from their root cells, drawing in minerals from the soil in return for some carbohydrates from the plant.
When a tree prepares to shed a leaf, it creates a barrier of cells to close the leaf off. Sugars produced from photosynthesis which normally flow back into the plant instead build up in the leaf and react with proteins in sap to form red anthrocyanin compounds. Sunny autumn days produce more sugars and result in more red leaves. Frost causes the leaves to drop off quickly so mild, sunny autumns produce the best red colours.
The reason that trees trouble GPS receivers is that branches and leaves absorb the frequencies of radio waves used to transmit GPS signals, so summer is also slightly worse than winter. The result is that GPS receivers lose the signals from some of their satellites and therefore the position accuracy degrades. Newer phones tend to fare better as they have access both to more satellites and to newer satellites with more powerful signals. The first smartphones only supported the American GPS satellites. Subsequent phone generations added support for Russian GLONASS and Chinese BeiDou satellites. Most recently, support has been added for the European Galileo satellites.
The small streams are the beginnings of the Mylor River which is still fairly small at Mylor Bridge. The river valley below Mylor Bridge has been flooded by rising sea levels to form Mylor Creek.
Dandelions are dispersed very effectively by the wind. The tiny parachute-like seeds can travel around five miles. Each plant can live for about 10 years and produces several thousand seeds each year.
Holly is able to adapt to a range of conditions but prefers moist ground. It is very tolerant of shade and can grow as a thicket of bushes underneath larger trees. However, given the right conditions, holly trees can grow up to 80ft tall!
Mosses' lack of deep roots mean they need to store their own supply of water during dry periods which is why they are found in shady places that are not dried-out by the sun. This also applies to moss on trees - it rarely grows on the south-facing part of the trunk which can be used as a crude form of compass when navigating.
Coppicing is a traditional form of wood production that became redundant when industrial sawmills could easily cut full-grown trees into a range of timber sizes.
The approach with coppicing is, rather than simply planting trees and letting them grow to full size, that the trees are grown only until the trunks are suitable for use as poles and then they are cut to the ground and allowed to regrow.
The cycle produces varied habitats of clearings, bushes and small trees which each support different types of wildlife. Coppicing has therefore been reintroduced in many places as part of a conservation woodland management scheme to promote biodiversity.
Robins are also able to see magnetic fields. Receptors in their eyes make magnetic fields appear as patterns of light or colour which allows them to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. They only seem to use their right eye for this as the left half of their brain (linked to the right eye) does the processing.
During the 19th Century, a horse mill was situated in the woods. The wheel driven by the horses was manufactured in 1821.
Since the multi-lobed leaves are found in shade, whist the teardrop leaves are found in sun, this allows the leaves of ivy plants growing up trees to be used as a compass. Unless something is in the way then the sunniest side of a tree is to the south and the shadiest is to the north.
Mylor is the name of the parish but there is not as such a village of Mylor. The closest thing to this are the separate villages of Mylor Bridge, which is the largest in the parish, and Mylor Churchtown which includes the harbour as well as the church.
The grey heron is an unmistakably massive bird with a 6ft wingspan and yet weighs in at only 1-2kg. The call of the heron is equally unsubtle - a loud croaking "fraaank" noise that is more like grating metal than the sound of birdsong. Herons are most commonly seen in or near freshwater where they hunt for fish. The number of breeding herons has been steadily growing in the UK due to mild winters as they struggle to feed during cold weather when ice forms a barrier on the surface of water.
Although herons primarily eat fish, they will eat frogs, rodents, moles, ducklings and even baby rabbits! They are quite brave birds and will venture into gardens and parks to eat the ornamental fish. They have also been known to visit zoos to steal fish during penguin and seal feeding.
Herons nest in tree-top colonies known as "heronries" where they make a large nest from twigs. It is not unusual for a single tree to contain as many as 10 nests and the overall colony can reach over a hundred nests. The herons re-use their nest for as many years as possible until it gets blown away by a storm. It is unwise to stand beneath a heronry as the birds defend their nests by regurgitating half-digested fish on those below!
In mediaeval Britain, roast heron was a prized dish reserved for aristocratic banquets. In Tudor and Elizabethan times, hunting herons with peregrine falcons was considered a royal sport which resulted in the population being protected from peasants who might otherwise have caught and roasted them.
The English surnames Earnshaw and Hernshaw originally meant "heron wood" and the surname Herne is also a corruption of Heron.
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