CRANESBILLS

There are a lot of cranesbills or Geraniums as they are botanically known.  The meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense), which is the ancestor of our garden Geraniums (not the Pelargoniums) is not out until June.  But we already have Dovesfoot Cranesbill (Geranium molle) in flower.

And with slightly glossy leaves, Shining Cranesbill (Geranium lucidum).

  

The shape of the leaves helps to identify these modest little flowers sparkling in the grass.

  

   
Shining                                                          Dovesfoot     

       

Another cranesbill, or Geranium, now in flower is Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), with a quite different leaf shape.  This one grows in disturbed ground and on walls, not so much in grassland.

Last two photos: Alan Watts

 

ANDRENA AND VESPULA - A BEE AND A WASP

Came across this little volcano of earth particles in some short grass.  Could it be the beginning of an ants' nest.  But no.  This is the entrance to a mining bee's nest.

One of the commonest is the Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva).  The female pictured below has bright chestnut fur on her thorax but the male is golden brown all over, except for the black head.

Photo: Lostash Whetstone GCR Footpath on Naturespot

The female mining bees dig a vertical mineshaft up to 30cm deep with side chambers which they ply with a mixture of pollen and nectar.  An egg is laid in each chamber before it is sealed off.  The larvae pupate and hibernate until March or May the following year, when they emerge again to repeat the cycle.  Nobody tells them what to do.  Incredible!

They are quite important for pollinating fruit trees like this apple.

Queen wasps on the other hand hibernate as adults.  After waking, this one had been resting on the beams in our conservatory over night and dropped exhausted on to our breakfast table.  She was quite easy to capture under a glass before returning her to the garden.

Queen wasps are the only ones to survive the winter.  She will soon start a new nest and, when the first of her new brood are mature, she will leave the building and foraging to them and concentrate on laying eggs for the rest of her life.

 

FLOORED FLOWERS

 

Male flowers of poplar (left) and ash (right) lying on the floor tell you what trees are overhead.

The female ash flowers (usually on a separate tree) cling on and develop into ash keys, once pollinated.

  

You can see the whiskery stalks of last year's keys in the photo.

Sycamore flowers are male at the bottom and female at the top.  

In a few weeks you will be able to see the samaras developing.

  

With more conventional flowers, i.e with petals, the Bird Cherry is in flower now but hurry to Filnore to see it, as the blooms soon drop.  These are on a big tree near post 11.

and these are on a smaller bush between posts 13 and 14.

 

BADGER

 Unfortunately most badgers I see are dead ones at the roadside.  They are mostly nocturnal unless food is in short supply.  This video from Karen Drage's garden shows just how important a sense of smell is to a badger.

They are omnivores eating a variety of food: small mammals, birds' eggs, worms, fruit and plants.  One badger can eat several hundred earthworms in a night !

My best view of a badger was  one night on holiday in Pembrokeshire in the 1990s.  It had detected a Fray Bentos meat pie tin in our dustbin.  We switched on the kitchen light and there it was, just outside the window.  Badgers' vision is not too good and the window prevented it smelling us.  All was well until somebody spoke and the badger's keen sense of hearing alerted it to our presence.

WYCH ELM SAMARAS

Like Norway Maple the Wych Elm looks as if it is in leaf before it is.  But this time it is not the flowers.

These are the winged fruits called samaras.  The papery wing helps the seeds to flutter away from the parent tree.   Although usually a lot of them fall like green confetti to the ground beneath the tree.

The Wych Elm flowers probably went unnoticed above our heads earlier in the year in January and February.  Little red, bristly things here pictured by Phil Gates against a winter blue sky.

 

EARLY BUTTER

Some butterflies are out already when weather permits.

Probably the earliest butterfly you will see is the Brimstone.  The males are an unmistakeable bright yellow while the females are a pale greenish white.  They look very conspicuous flying about but in dull weather they hang up side down on plants and look just like a withered leaf.

Photo: Norfolk Wildlife Trust

On sunny, spring days bright blue Holly Blues skitter around the holly bushes and trees where they lay their eggs on the flowers.    If you see one perched on a leaf you can see the litttle black dots on the pale blue underside of the wings.

  

Male Orange Tips are easily recognised but the females don't have any orange and look like small white butterflies.  Their caterpillar foodplants include Lady's Smock and Jack-by-the-Hedge.

And I have even seen some Peacock butterflies catching a few rays.  Insects need the sun to warm up their cold-blooded bodies.

 

HARTS TONGUE FERN

Harts Tongue fern is replacing the old fronds with new young ones unfurling.

The curly bit at the tip of the frond is called a crozier, 

named after the staff that bishops traditionally carry.