May Nature notes 2014

by David Tidmarsh - 16:59 on 11 May 2014

Kens Nature Notes

Its sunshine and showers again today, sadly this weather has just about finished off the cherry blossom, which has been outstanding this year. Blues are in control now with the wonderful woodland bluebells adding huge splashes of colour between the trees and undergrowth. It’s such a gentle splash of blue that these bluebells give, unlike the brash, in your face, that you get with the “ceanothus”, don’t get me wrong, I love these shrubs, I once had a beauty growing in my garden and it lasted for years till a late frost destroyed it completely. Whilst I am on about frosts, I seemed to have lost some beech seedlings that I had just replanted; they were doing fine all huddled in a pot where I had sown them last year, frosts had not bothered them one bit, and so it was time they were in their own pots to grow on, suddenly some of the beech that I had replanted had their leaves turning grey and are looking in a bad way, I can only assume it was a late frost or they have disliked being replanted.

Last week some of our Conservation group were given some seeds to sow by another member, this might not seem too unusual but these seed have been dormant for three years. They are off a “Monkey Puzzle” tree, apparently the seeds are edible but our challenge is to get them to germinate. The lady who donated the seed read that you had to keep them three years before they could be planted? So my three seeds are in and I will let you know how I get on.

The May flower of the Hawthorn are now coming into bloom, any that have led a sheltered life, like me, are blossoming first. These will produce good winter feed of berries for the birds and unless we get a worsening spring should be plentiful.

The Pear tree that I had rescued from the allotments two years ago looks set to produce fruit this year, we had a good show of blossom on it and now the fruit is beginning to swell, trouble is I am not really a pear lover but I like the structure of the tree.

Brecon Hill wood, where I have been marvelling about the bluebells has another favourite plant of mine growing, this is the “Ramsons”, they have white flowers and have a strong smell of garlic, I love them but they are not everyone’s favourite. They hardly get attacked by predators, probably the smell and the taste puts them off.

I also spotted a few “Lords and Ladies” in the wood, not the nobility kind but small plants about six inches high, they have a large leaf like a pair of cupped hands with a brow spike growing in it. Later after it has been pollinated this spike turns into a cluster of red berries which are poisonous but quite pretty.

The “Cow Parsley” are virtually growing themselves out of the ground, it is phenomenal the speed of growth that these plants produce, growing to about five foot in what seems like a few days, if you are not sure what they look like just look to the hedgerows for tubular stems and white flowers like umbrellas. Speaking about umbrellas I think we are in for another shower!

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