OX-EYE DAISY (leucanthemum vulgare)

Also known as marguerite, moon daisy or, in the north of England, dog daisy, this is a plant of old unsprayed hay meadows or, more likely nowadays, of waysides and road verges. The leaves are variable; the lower ones usually rounded, the upper ones narrower and toothed, clasping the stem. The large daisy flowers are borne singly. The rays (petals) are white, and the central disc florets are yellow. Ox-eye daisy is often included in wildflower sowings in meadows or along motorway verges.

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Silver coin of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), about the size of a modern one penny piece, found at Stuchbury

Sulgrave History Society invites all those with an interest in local history to take part in a GUIDED FIELD WALK at Stuchbury at 6.30 pm on Thursday 26th August, by kind permission of Michael and Joan Tims.

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Photo: Anthony Barrett

Jill Barrett reports a family of green woodpeckers in the Pocket Park and sends this picture of a youngster waiting anxiously to be fed!

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SPARROWHAWK (Accipiter nisus)

There was a time, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the sparrowhawk population crashed because of the use in agriculture of organo-chlorine pesticides. Following the banning of these products, numbers of this bird have steadily increased, and this predator is now quite common in our area.

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Do you have an unwanted item which could be re-used? Instead of simply throwing it away you can take it to your nearest County Council Re-use Shop, which for Sulgrave is at Recyclemart, 61 High Street, Daventry. (The location of a Re-use Shop at Towcester will be announced later)

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Beautiful mid-summer weather for the US Independence Day celebrations at Sulgrave Manor. Visitors and villagers alike enjoyed a whole range of performances and activities, including the “One Step Beyond” Appalachian Dancers, the “String of Pearls” close harmony vocal trio, Husky Dogs, a Circus Skills Workshop, a display of Native American artefacts, clothing and pictures, and of course, the American Bald Eagle. The children followed historic trails, completed quizzes and tried their hands at brass rubbings. Others took part in guided tours of the Manor House itself or strolled in the famous Rose Garden or the scented garden of the Herb Society of Great Britain.

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Yellow rattle is an annual most often found in old meadows and pastures on well-drained limey soil. It varies in height up to perhaps two feet. On stiff stems, the narrow leaves are toothed and borne in opposite pairs. The flowers, from May to July, are yellow, two lipped and in loose spikes. The inflated seed containers (calyxes) are purse-shaped and, when ripe, the flat, winged seeds rattle inside, hence the plant’s name.

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Photo courtesy Jennifer Dancer

Jennifer Dancer has kindly supplied this photograph of her great grandfather Albert Henry Smith, headmaster of Sulgrave School before and during the Great War 1914-18. The photograph was taken in 1913 and shows him seated outside the School House with his wife Ellen (née Malin) and four daughters Helen Jessie, Dora Amy, Edith Abigail and Lilian.

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Photo: Jill Barrett

Jill Barrett reports the sighting of a muntjac deer in the Pocket Park. They are very shy creatures and Jill did well to get this photo before it fled!

Blackbird Cottage - PC Gez Shillito investigates

Builders employed by Mr and Mrs Tattersall on renovations to their property Blackbird Cottage, Little Street, Sulgrave yesterday (8th June) found what appeared to be the remains of a small baby, possibly hidden for a hundred years or more.

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