Activelife NATURE
Know your crop: beans
OUT AND ABOUT
Things to do in September Go blackberrying. The hedgerows are full of them at the moment. Slightly earlier than usual this year as autumn has arrived so early. What can be better than delicious blackberry crumble using berries you’ve picked yourself? Make the annual trip to Burghley Horse Trials (September 4-7). Join the huge crowds on Saturday to watch some of the top eventers in the country do the cross country course or pop in late on the Sunday for some last minute shopping. A great place to go ‘people watching’. Make the most of the last of the summer
weather and enjoy Stamford’s al fresco bars and restaurants. The Stamford Wine Company in St Paul’s Street has a fabulous, surprisingly large garden (pictured above) and what can beat Fine Foods’ secret garden? And what better thing to do to celebrate the kids going back to school a er the holidays?
Have you noticed the fields of what looks like dead, black stalks and wondered what they are? If you get up close you’ll see that the dead stalks have pods on them that look like broad beans, in fact that is what they are. But allowed to harden off so the beans are solid as a pulse rather than so and delicious as a broad bean. Usually the last crop to be harvested it is grown as a break crop because as a legume it fixes nitrogen in the soil to help fertilise it before a following crop of wheat. Relatively easy and cheap to grow and harvest they have been a popular break crop for years but have dipped slightly in popularity, taking second place to oilseed rape. An ancient crop native to North Africa and Asia beans are first thought to have become part of the Mediterranean diet in 6000BC. In ancient Greece and Rome the bean was used for voting. A white bean for yes, a black one for no. Most of the bean crop grown in this country is used for stock feed and is used as an alternative to GM protein crops such as soya. The beans grown for human consumption are mainly shipped to the Middle East where they are used prior to Ramadan.
Head down the M11 to the Duxford Air show (September 13-14). See a combination of historic aircra , the most recent jets and fabulous aerobatics. The Red Arrows will be appearing as will the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and some replica WW1 aircra .
NATURE
How to spot a goldfinch Late summer and autumn is when goldfinches form large flocks to feed on the abundant seeds of thistle and teasel. Their fine bills allow them to easily extract these small seeds. These attractive birds, with black, yellow-barred wings and red faces were once commonly kept as cage birds, trapped in huge numbers for the pet trade. Bright plumage and an attractive tinkling song made them popular in Victorian and Edwardian households. Goldfinches are birds of scrubby hedgerows and seem attracted to large gardens and orchards where they build a neat nest, decorated and camouflaged with moss and lichen. Two or three broods may be raised each year. In recent years Goldfinches have become regular visitors at garden feeders, initially attracted by thistle-like nyger seed but now by widely provided sunflower hearts. Friends in Stamford have reported garden flocks of up to 40 birds, the majority perched or flitting around whilst the others attend the feeders.
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