A crisp morning, with that low winter light casting great shadows along the paths accompanied us on the walk today. The chaffinches were busy amongst the trees close to the edge of the forest, only to give way to the nuthatches as we went deeper. Territories were being claimed and stated as activity both natural and human burgeoned. There was a run organised by Les Hivernales du Racing Club de Bruxelles and the participants certainly benefited from the firmer ground owing to two nights of frost after all the dampness we have had...
Between the Drève de Lorraine and the Sentier de la Reine, a blockage had caused a forest pond to form, much to the joy of a Labrador. It was being fed by a stream, or winterbourne, running down from the Chaussée de Waterloo being one of many which run down that side of the road to the lakes at Groenendaal. In fact the Chaussée is a watershed, and on the other side streams feed the chain of lakes to the south of Rhode-St-Genèse. Winterbourne comes from the Old English 'Winterburna' meaning Winter Stream (Burn). There is a well-known town in Dorset bearing this name.
I’m sure most people have seen the ‘henge’ which is a monument to the Forest Rangers killed during the Great War but how many have seen the three anniversary stones along that stretch of the Drève de Grasdelle including the one right by the monument commemorating the end of that conflict? I love the word ‘dell’, it always reminds me of Eric Morecombe’s ‘There’s a hell of a smell in Dingley Dell’ as well as conjuring up images of forest nymphs and fairies.
On the ground we came across many fallen twigs from which sap had oozed and was consequently frozen, creating glacial caterpillars on the ground. The first shoots of Arum italicum, known as ‘Lords and Ladies’ in the UK were also seen. It’s not just the bright orange fruits it bears later in the year that are toxic but the foliage and roots as well. I’ve read that it has been used in traditional medicine as a cure for intestinal worms and that the rhizomes once cooked are edible but I’ll be leaving it where it is. The name ‘Lords and Ladies’ refers to the resemblance of the flower parts to male and female genitalia. Now you know.
