The common weed once valued as a plant of many qualities

This was reinforced in 1687 when James II of England instituted the Order of the Thistle as a Scottish order of knighthood, firmly establishing the thistle as the emblem of Scotland.

Other references include the fact that the poet William Dunbar celebrated the marriage of James III of Scotland to Princess Margaret of England by writing a poem called The Thistle and The Rose.

There is also a possibility that the thistle was selected by Scotland because of the defence theme - the phrase "nobody touches me with impunity" appeared on the coinage of James VI (1566-1603).

However, Scotland's thistle is not the so-called Scottish Thistle, which is better known as the Cotton Thistle. The country's emblem is derived from the Spear Thistle, but it is not easy to distinguish between the two.

Both can grow up to 5ft tall, both grow profusely on waste ground in England and Wales and both have distinctive purple flowers on top of a spiky head.

The chief difference is that the Cotton Thistle has a covering of white, cottony fibres and its leaves tend to be parallel to the stem for much of their length. The Spear Thistle does not produce these fibres and its leaves have long, sharp points.

Another odd fact is that the so-called Scottish Thistle is more common in England and Wales than in Scotland. Indeed, it is considerably rare in some areas of Scotland. In England, however, it is one of our most common thistles, readily identifiable by its purple flowers and tall, sturdy plants bristling with spikes.

It has become known as the Cotton Thistle because its stem and leaves are covered with those cotton-like fibres and down. During medieval times, this was collected by country people and used to stuff mattresses, pillows and cushions, and I am sure some of our wild birds also collect this for nest-building. Some upholsterers mixed this soft down with feathers, but this was regarded as cheating!

Even more surprising is the fact that parts of the Cotton Thistle are edible. The stems, for example, particularly when young, can be peeled and boiled, then eaten with butter. Some of its leaves are also edible, the method being to peel off the bracts rather like one would do with an artichoke.

Medicines were also made from this thistle, and a concoction made from its stem was once thought to cure cancer, rickets and certain nervous complaints.

With such a list of qualities, it is surprising we regard this rather handsome plant as a weed. Certainly, it grows in profusion along our roadside verges and on waste ground, whereas we quickly remove it from the garden and our cultivated fields.

Indeed, in the past, this thistle was cultivated, being rarely found in the wild. In 1548, a herbalist called William Turner recorded seeing this thistle growing in the wild, which he considered a very rare event. During his time all such thistles were grown in gardens as cultivated species. When he noticed the wild specimen near the Thames, he thought its seed must have escaped from someone's garden. By the end of that century, however, it was well established in the wild and, today, we rarely consider these thistles as cultivated.

With undoubted qualities, thistles are always regarded as weeds and the general advice is to cut them down before midsummer day, the feast of St John (June 24), before they produce their seeds.

The old advice was: "Cut them before St John, or you'll have two instead of one". And another odd fact? Thistles belong to the same family as daisies.

One of the sounds of summer is the chirping of a grasshopper. My grandchildren love to trace the source of the noise and then witness these curious insects leaping to safety across the grass. However, the trick is to identify the species of grasshopper by the sound it makes! The reason for this cheerful sound, which is produced by the male, is to attract a female and, once he has achieved this, his music changes. Each type of grasshopper has its own music and, indeed, its own colour. There is a brown one called the common field grasshopper which produces a sound composed of between six and ten chirps which last for about 12 seconds.

The common green grasshopper, on the other hand, is a lovely shade of leaf green, while others are mottled greens and browns and produce different sounding chirps. Matching the chirps with the producers is an ideal picnic pastime!

Sunday is Lammas Day or the Gule of August, although in Yorkshire it has become accepted as Yorkshire Day, when lovers of the county eat Yorkshire puddings, wear white roses and utter phrases like "eee bah gum" or "owst tha gahin on?"

The latter celebrations were instituted in 1975 to remind everyone that Yorkshire's famous three ridings were not abolished in the boundary changes of 1974.

From small beginnings, Yorkshire Day has flourished to become a happy occasion when Yorkshire fare can be enjoyed in our hotels, pubs and restaurants, when white roses are worn, when lots of money is raised for charity and Yorkshire folk feel important. Watch out for celebrations this weekend.

Perhaps the oldest known name for August 1 is Lammas because, for centuries on this day, fairs and festivals were held to celebrate the first fruits of the coming harvest. If any of the corn was ripe, it was ground into flour, which in turn was used to produce a loaf of bread. This very first loaf from the new harvest was used to celebrate a special mass, known as the Loaf Mass. It is from this word that Lammas derives, although across the Pennines in Cumbria, the term used was Lowermass.

The term Gule of August is puzzling, but one theory is that it derives from the Welsh "gwyl", meaning festival. One old custom was for the land which had produced the harvest to be thrown open for common use on this day. It was then used for pasture or any other purpose, and this right continued until the following spring.

In Ireland, however, the day is called Bilberry Day, otherwise known as Blaeberry Day, Whortleberry Day and Heathberry Day. There is also a typically Irish name - Fraughan Day or Fraughan Sunday, which is a shortened version of Domhnach na bh Fraochog Day, although that celebration is often held on the Sunday nearest to August 1. Whatever day it is held, Bilberry Day is a time to go picking ripe bilberries while having some kind of celebratory party in the countryside.

Among my correspondence this week is an e-mail from a reader in Thirsk who noticed that the short grass on the verge near his home had been disturbed, as if by someone prodding it with a stick. The bared earth was covered with black ants who, it seems, were struggling to repair the damage to their home.

Then my correspondent's wife spotted the culprits. They were starlings and it seems they were feeding on the ants. Although starlings are widely known for the damage they cause to crops, particularly when they assemble in large flocks, they will also eat a range of insects and grubs.

Things like wireworms, leatherjackets and other pests form part of their diet, so it's not surprising they occasionally turn their attention to ants. They have a curious habit of digging into the earth with open beaks and I think it's fair to say they were responsible for uncovering that nest of black ants in Thirsk.

More curious behaviour occurred when I spotted a blue tit on the trunk of our cherry tree. It was emulating the movements of a tree creeper, climbing the tree while inspecting the bark for titbits. That action reminded me I haven't seen a tree creeper this year, but I know that they and blue tits are friendly.