Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2014/January 2015 | Page 70

COUNTRY LIFE

In the
Country

Sam's tip for the countryside!

How to find north at night

by Sam Biles
Sam Biles is Managing Director
of country Estate Agents:
www.bilesandco.co.uk

O

n a starry night you can always find North by locating
Polaris, The North Star. One of the most recognisable
constellations is known by several names The Plough; The
Big Dipper; The Saucepan or Ursa Major – The Great Bear.
Perhaps the most descriptive name to modern eyes is The
Saucepan. If you find the two stars which form the side of
the saucepan furthest from its handle then project a line
‘up’ from the top of the pan for about five times the length
of the pan side then the bright star at that point is Polaris.

A posy of poisons
S

am Biles takes a look at the less
pleasant plants in the Island’s
flora.
As we become ever-more urbanised
few people grow up knowing which
plants in our hedgerows, fields and
woods are poisonous.
Being ‘poisonous’ can range from
the unpleasant but not fatal sting of
the nettle to the fatal consequences
of eating the berries of deadly
nightshade. At Scout Camp as a child
I remember having a patch of blisters
on my legs which I now think must
have been caused by contact with wild
parsnip. Contact with wild, or garden
parsnip, foliage reacts with sunlight to
produce quite dramatic blisters.
Similarly the beautiful foxglove
contains digitalis, a poison used in
medicine to alter the heart rate. The
poison can be taken into the blood
through the skin so contact with the
flowers is to be avoided.
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Most people know that the berries of
the yew tree and mistletoe are highly
poisonous but they don’t look that
attractive and are therefore unlikely to
tempt anyone. The berries of deadly
nightshade however, glisten like currants.

Several plants have the word
Hemlock in their names and the most
dangerous is the aptly-named Poison
Hemlock, with its feathery leaves,
speckled stems and unpleasant,
mousy smell. Fatal cases in the UK are
rare, mainly occurring when the plant
is found in gardens and is mistaken
for a vegetable.
It is not just humans that can be
poisoned by plants. Animals, though
often more robust than humans,
are very vulnerable to certain plants.
The pretty yellow flowers of ragwort
disguise a poison deadly to horses
and cattle - the more toxic when the
plant has been cut and withered. It is
not enough therefore just to cut it; the
plant must be removed and burned
to remove the danger. Last year I heard
of several cases of Sycamore poisoning
in horses where the unfortunate animals
had ingested large quantities of the
‘helicopter’ seeds with fatal consequences.