Black Mustard is an edible wild flower it is easy to forage for

Black Mustard Photo by Steve Andrews

Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) is a very common and widely distributed edible plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. It is easy to find on waste ground in late spring and early summer because its bright yellow flowers catch the eye and it grows in clumps. 

Black Mustard comes from the Mediterranean area of southern Europe and is thought to be native to parts of Asia too, where it has been used in cooking for thousands of years. Black Mustard, which can reach over two metres in height, though is usually much shorter, is found in the UK and many other parts of the world where it often grows as a weed. It is frequently found growing along pathways and in waste places. 

Black Mustard on waste ground. Photo by Steve Andrews

Black Mustard has a spicy flavour that is a bit like cabbage but mostly like the mustard we are familiar with and use to spice up and add some heat to our foods - mustard on hot-dog sausages, for example.

Mustard is made from the ground seeds of the plant that are made into a paste. The mustard seeds can also be used a spice and as an ingredient of curries or savoury dishes. 

Brassica nigra. In Public Domain

The Black Mustard seeds ripen in August and September but gathering them in quantity though can take a long time and a long time getting them out of the seed-pods they form in. It is much easier to buy mustard from the grocery store or the seeds that can often be found on sale in the spices section.

Best-selling author Richard Mabey, in his classic guide to foraging Food For Free, suggests that we “Try pressing a pinch of seeds into the cheese on the top of Welsh rarebits before cooking.” He also recommends the young leaves as an addition to salads or cooked as a green vegetable. Black Mustard is cooked as greens in Ethiopia.

The yellow flowers can be added to salads too but I like to munch on them when out walking.

Black Mustard has medicinal properties too. The ground up seeds have been mixed with honey and used to treat coughs in eastern Europe. In eastern Canada it was also used as a remedy for respiratory problems. The ground seeds were made into a paste with flour and water and this was applied to the chest or back of a person suffering from a bronchial infection.

Black Mustard is one of the easiest plants to find when out foraging and its distinctive taste will help in its identification.

Fly-tipping is illegal but on the increase - a sign of the times!

 

Illegally dumped rubbish. Photo by Steve Andrews

Fly-tipping or illegal dumping is on the increase in many places. It is unsightly, a potential health hazard, damaging to the environment and against the law.

Sadly our countryside, back lanes, roadsides and other areas of public space are getting filled with rubbish. Litter is bad enough, especially plastic items that can end up in rivers and drains and make their way to the sea where they can kill turtles, seabirds and whales, but all sorts of domestic and industrial garbage and waste materials are getting dumped. 

Plastic bags can easily get blown into waterways or end up in the branches of trees or stuck in bushes and hedgerows.

It is mainly domestic rubbish that gets so irresponsibly dumped like this but also materials from industry and construction gets thrown away too. Besides looking like the mess that it is, illegally dumped rubbish attracts rats and other pests, and can contain dangerous toxic materials that can be a serious health risk to animals and humans.

Large items, such as mattresses, old cookers and fridges, are just as likely to be dumped as bags of smaller types refuse.  Clothes, kitchen utensils, toys, garden rubbish, broken glass, carpets, rugs, bricks, building materials, televisions, tyres, broken flowerpots, tiles and furniture are some of the items and materials that are often thrown away like this.

Fly-tipping in Portugal Photo by Steve Andrews

The varied and beautiful countryside of Portugal, where I am now living, is so often spoiled by this serious problem. Back home in the UK the situation is just as bad. 

A report by The Guardian newspaper states that fly-tipping is up as much as by 20% in England after many years in which it was diminishing. 

Higher taxes on legally dumping rubbish at landfill sites, as well as cuts in local services are blamed for the problem. Closures of recycling depots and not as efficient local rubbish collection services have helped increase the problem of fly-tipping too. 

Although flytipping is against the law and local authorities will take action to prosecute offenders, it is often difficult to find out who the culprits are and much of the activity is carried out under cover of darkness. 

It is difficult to understand the people who care so little about the environment and the health of others with the eyesores they create with their illegal dumping of trash. 

Personally it makes me very annoyed seeing how this problem is getting worse. It really ruins my day when I am out enjoying a walk but come across a mouldering pile of refuse cast into an area of natural beauty!

So what can be done about this?  Of course, if we see it going on we can call the police, or if by some chance we know who is responsible then it can be reported. Unfortunately this environmental crime is so often carried out under cover of darkness.

Perhaps local groups of volunteers can be organised to help clean up countryside sites too? 

It is really such a shame and a sad sign of the times to see our rural areas being turned into rubbish dumps!

Forests in Portugal growing on sand

Sand bank in a forest showing the depth of the sand and what the trees are rooted in. Photo by Steve Andrews

In some parts of Portugal there are mixed evergreen forests that are growing on sand and very sandy soil. There are some of these woodlands around Quinta do Conde, a town in the municipality of Sesimbra between Lisbon and Setubal. 

For some reason there is very little information available on the Internet about these areas of forest and heath, although I would have thought they would be especially interesting to naturalists, as well as anyone who likes rambling in the countryside. Although you are miles from the sea you are walking on sand!

Not in sand dunes but inland. Photo by Steve Andrews

 The forests merge with sandy heathland and offer a very interesting habitat for many plants and animals. In many places the ground is nearly pure sand and, although this is inland, it looks far more like an area close to the sea.

Cork Oak Photo by Steve Andrews

 There are a mixture of evergreen trees that somehow manage to thrive despite the poor quality of their soil, evergreen conifers including the Stone or Umbrella Pine (Pinus pinea), as well as the Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) and Cork Oak (Q. suber), the Eucalyptus and other trees. The undergrowth consists of many shrubs and wild flowers and is very colourful in spring.

Silene species Photo by Steve Andrews

 Pink-flowered Catchfly species, (Silene), and the bright blue Scrambling Gromwell (Lithodora diffusa) provide floral eye candy, along with the white, pink and yellow Rockrose species (Cistus spp). The French Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) can be found on the outskirts of these woods and in clearings.

Shrubby Gromwell Photo by Steve Andrews

 Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) grows in aromatic anise-scented clumps and this herb provides a food-plant for Swallowtail Butterflies (Papilio machaon).   The Swallowtail is a very rare British butterfly but is quite common in Portugal.

Swallowtail Photo by Steve Andrews

 There are also plenty of Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria ssp aegeria) butterflies. The Speckled Wood found here is a subspecies of those seen in the UK and have lighter coloured wings. 

Pine Processionary moth caterpillars In Public Domain

 The caterpillars of the Pine Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) spin their overwintering nests in the branches of the pines and then descend in March to look for suitable places to pupate. This species of moth is named after the long head-to-tail processions its larvae make. These caterpillars should not be touched because they are covered in hairs that can cause extreme irritation. Look but don’t touch if you find any of these!

Coronella girondica in the Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal. Photo by Esv - Eduard Solà Vázquez

  I would think the dry sandy conditions would be good for reptiles so was not surprised to find a Southern Smooth Snake (Coronella girondica) hiding under a slab of stone in a grassy area near one of these forests. 

As its name suggests, this snake is very similar to the Smooth Snake (C. austriaca), which is a very rare species in Britain and confined to a few sandy heaths in England. These snakes are harmless and they feed on other small reptiles and mice.

The forests growing on sand in Portugal make a wonderful place to explore all year around.