Back to Long Grove

Following the trip to Long Grove Park noticed at reference 1, a follow-up to check on a few points of difficulty. This following an efficient COVID booster at the Horton pharmacy. Which meant that I went in at the bottom of the park and finished the circuit anti-clockwise, rather than my usual clockwise.

So starting rather than ending with the supposed willow-leaved sea buckthorn, aka Hippophae salicifolia. With it being quite clear now that the berries were nothing like the size of olives, whatever I may have said first time around, at least not the ones that you get in restaurants - olives not being something that we buy to eat at home very often.

On a snip from the snap above, Google Images, this time, offers Elaeagnus angustifolia, commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster or wild olive as an alternative to the buckthorn. Not an olive proper and not to be confused with the sort of oleaster which I cut out of our hedge. See references 2 and 3 respectively.

Both Hippophae salicifolia and Elaeagnus angustifolia are in the oleaster family (Elaeagnaceae), to be found at reference 4.

A close-up, with keys to give an idea of scale. On which, Google Images is back with one of the buckthorns, but opting for Hippophae rhamnoides rather than Hippophae salicifolia.

All these plants are described as thorny, while I can see so no thorns. To which Google Images responds that some cultivars have few thorns and some have none.

If it is a buckthorn, there must be a male somewhere to hand for there to be berries on this tree.

No thorns.

Reference 6 talks of small leaves, up to 3cm long which seems to rule the present plant out. While reference 5 says: '... The leaves are alternate, narrow and lanceolate, with silvery-green upper faces...'. Which last might explain the white speckling visible under magnification that I noticed last time around and which is snapped again above.

There has been medicinal interest in Hippophae rhamnoides for a very long time, and there is plenty of interest in the chemical makeup of its leaves and twigs, for example, reference 7, but this does not help with identification.

Using the image above. Maybe I shall stop here for now. Next step, can I find a male?

Avenue of sweet chestnuts coming on.

The wilding at the top of the hill. Not too much life to be seen in the plastic tubes: maybe they were caught by the long, dry summer.

An oak which appears to be on the way out. It does not look particularly old and is certainly not one of the ancient pollards which are dotted about the place.

About here I came across a chap exercising his dog, which was hunting squirrels. I was able to admire the speed of the reactions of the dog when it spotted one - not that that was enough for success. His owner told me that, despite having been in the area for years, and used most of the parks roundabout, he had not come across any rabbits. Squirrels yes, rabbits no. Which was curious, as I would not have expected them here, but I would have expected them on the Common. To the point of remembered long-ago talk from older men of snaring same for the pot. While BH talks of dogs on the Common putting up deer.

It might be a new estate, but there appeared to be plenty of community. We shall probably be making it to the 'Stabat Mater', lower right, which comes complete with neighbourly participation.

First sighting this time of the Wellingtonia of last time. Second right.

Digression to a handsome tree which, in this shot, appears to be badly infested with ivy. Google Images quite clear about this one: 'The image shows the leaves and spiky seed pods of a London plane tree (Platanus × hispanica), also known as a London plane tree'.

Which fits well enough with reference 8 and what I can remember of the (handsome) tree itself.

With attendant monkey puzzle, missing last time around.

So there is just the one conspicuous Wellingtonia by the old hospital administration building.

Nearer home, I associated from these alternate lobes to alternate leaves. Is it the same mechanism?

Gemini seems to be having indigestion again. He had troubles at times yesterday, so maybe there is some big upgrade in progress, which for some geeky reason I know not of disturbs what can be seen by its users. Not just a clean cutover from the pre-production to the production system.

The day closed with the scones already noticed at reference 9.

PS 1: interested to read the civilised piece about privatisation of public utilities and services by an eminence at reference 10. The eminence himself at reference 11. Long on problems but short on solutions. But that is, I guess, why there are problems in the first place: there are very few magic bullets about, whatever we might have thought when we were very young.

PS 2: Gemini now back on form, offering me a little essay about the arrangement of leaves on a stem and another about the arrangement of lobes on a leaf. It seems that there are two quite different kinds of machinery here - which will take me a little time to digest.

PS 3: I have just learned that Tata Consultancy Services, a big Indian technology company, who get themselves into the news from time to time, have taken over the administration of teachers' pensions. I wonder this morning whether teachers still have a national pension scheme, in these days of deregulation and corporate endeavour. Are these pensions just a hangover from the bad old days? Then what about the oft-promoted line about the importance to UK PLC of our world-class financial and legal services sector if we are losing this bit of business to the Indians? Are we pricing ourselves out of this one too?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/long-grove.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaeagnus_angustifolia.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaeagnus_macrophylla.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaeagnaceae.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippophae_rhamnoides.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippophae_salicifolia.

Reference 7: Hippophae rhamnoides L. leaf and twig extracts as rich sources of nutrients and bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity - Małgorzata Kubczak, Ainur B. Khassenova, Bartosz Skalski, Sylwia Michlewska, Marzena Wielanek, Maria Skłodowska, Araylim N. Aralbayeva, Zhanar S. Nabiyeva, Maira K. Murzakhmetova, Maria Zamaraeva, Maria Bryszewska, Maksim Ionov - 2022.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_plane.

Reference 9: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-snack-for-thursday.html.

Reference 10: What exactly are we paying for? The legacy of privatising utilities: All-round expertise is lacking, but urgently needed to run key public services efficiently - John Kay, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 11: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kay_(economist). Just about the same age as myself.

Reference 12: https://www.tcs.com/.

Group search key: 20251016.