Mistletoe

 On our trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and France spring appeared in various stages. In the Netherlands the forsythia was in bloom and the trees were barely beginning to leaf out. Twas the same in Belgium. In Paris the trees were halfway leafed out and the lilacs were in bloom. I stopped to smell every lilac I could reach in Paris. In Normandy the forsythia was back in bloom and the trees were beginning to leaf out. Along the journey we saw trees infested with mistletoe. Some trees had 30 plus globes of mistletoe hanging from their branches. Others had one or two globes. Mistletoe is a parasitic growth. Too much mistletoe can kill a tree. Mistletoe spreads via birds eating the seeds and excreting the seeds on tree branches. One bird likes mistletoe berries so much it is named the Mistle thrush. Once the mistletoe seeds pass through a bird's gut they become very sticky and will adhere to the branches. Normandy has an abundance of mistletoe and exports it during the holiday season. Mistletoe threatens the apple trees that Normandy has in apple orchards. If humans eat the mistletoe berries or drink a tea infused with mistletoe the results can be deadly. The mistletoe we did see was mainly in hedgerows which are rows of hedges with a few trees mixed in between fields. I didn't see any mistletoe in forests nor areas where trees were close together. Years ago I saw mistletoe in Poland but it wasn't nearly as common as in Normandy. As we traveled by bus and train we saw miles and miles of European countryside. Not once did we see a raptor. We saw no eagles, no vultures, no buzzards, no hawks, and no kestrels. We saw several gray herons, lots of gulls and several sparrows. Also, just in case you are wondering where the milk is in a grocery store, don't bother looking in the refrigerated section. You can find cream in the refrigerated section but the shelf stable milk is kept on the shelves.

 

Mistletoe