Blog 10

 

10th March 

At last! Early morning sun sculpts tree branches, spattering dark ivy shines with leaves of white glitter, moss turns lush green... and the early buds of wild Cherry Plum burst into a froth of white petal confetti. Welcome hope of Spring warmth for us chilly humans, but for wildlife, these are vital winter havens, now presenting yet more opportunities!





small ivy sprays and climbing, creeping stems offer sheltering crevices to the small. Moss clothing bark protects the minute and microscopic, as do the lichen and young Ivy-leaved Toadflax clinging to the old wall below. Whole worlds lie within, hidden in plain sight... unless you happen to be carrying a powerful magnifier!

The delicate Cherry Plum flowers


 offer food bounty, obvious at a glance. Here a Peacock Butterfly warms itself, newly awake from its winter shelter in a dark crevice or a shed. It looks as if it had a lucky escape last season – note the chunk out of its right hind wing, possibly a bird.

Birds are also feeding amongst the white blossom - Blue Tits possibly picking off tiny insects. Pigeons graze the buds and flowers in bulk – two pigeons,


taken at 7am... there were six of them. Since they have now taken over as the chief Cherry Plum fruit feeders, clearing this flower crop too thoroughly might not be to their ultimate advantage later in the Summer! Small and yellow, the fruit makes nice eating when stewed or as jam... if you can get there before the pigeons!

Big, noisy fliers sounding like miniature helicopters are also there, almost unwieldy, buzzing about the blooms, feeding voraciously... more about them in next post... and flower colours


will be bursting into Spring! Even as I type, there are the beginnings of a continuous hum in the air round the Cherry Plum. This is the arrival of the Honey Bees, battalions of them, feasting for an hour at a time in the warming sun.

Wildlife Gardening Tips:

Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera), non-native, but naturalised in the wild, is an ideal hedger as well as a tree standing alone. There are several trees in the lanes of Turleigh - they are good in windy situations, partial shade or sun. Escapee garden cherries pop up in the wild too 


 – pale pink blossom growing on Turleigh Down by the old badger sett, maybe “planted” years ago by one of their ancestors who fancied cherries!


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