Spring is one of the most beautiful times in the orchard as so much begins to emerge after winter. From the first bulbs, an expanding range of plants will flower, making the most of the sun before the leaves on the apple trees shade them out.
Lesser Celandine
Lesser celandine, the first emerging member of the buttercup family, dies back by May. Its root tubers enable it to start early in providing welcome nectar and pollen for insects. Although toxic to some livestock, it is reportedly edible by humans, with therapeutic uses.
Dog Violet
Another early starter – seen from late March – is dog violet, often found in shady places and woodlands. Easily confused with sweet violet, which the orchard also has in both purple and white forms, the pleasant scent of the latter is the principal difference. It can provide important food for the caterpillars of rare fritillary butterflies.
Red Campion
Amongst the flowers emerging in May – and potentially visible through to autumn – is red campion. It will be familiar to many people as it is often visible on roadside verges, growing in clumps as high as 90cm. Its relatives, ragged robin and white campion, can also be seen in May, although often white campion is a little later.
Bugle
With distinctive short spikes of blue flowers up to 20cm high, bugle can also be found in spring. Its usual habitat is damp grassland and woodland clearings, which nicely sums up our orchard. Like many other early flowering plants, it can be attractive to bees, butterflies and moths.
Orange Tip
There is no more distinctive sight to herald the changing seasons than the orange tip butterfly, often seen flying along hedgerows looking for a mate. Here’s one taking a break to sip nectar from bluebells near the back of the orchard. The orange-tipped butterflies are actually the males, with the black tipped females flying less. However, they might still find our orchard worth a visit as their caterpillars’ food plants are garlic mustard and cuckoo flower, both found there.
Mayfly
Mayflies are one of several flying insects that spend most of their lives as immature nymphs in freshwater ponds or rivers. This early aquatic life can last up to a year or more, whilst as adults they live for only a day. Their sole purpose as an adult is to find a mate and produce fertilised eggs for the next generation. There are fifty different species in the UK and this one is Ephemera danica. Mayflies need clean, unpolluted water to thrive so, as one would expect, we have seen a significant fall in their numbers over the last few decades.
Rosemary Beetle
Rosemary beetles have not always been resident in the UK. They arrived here in the 1960s when herbs were shipped to this country from the Mediterranean. The newly emerged adult beetles feed busily from spring through to summer, they then rest before mating and laying eggs on the underside of their foodplant leaves. Rosemary is not their sole preference, they will also feed on thyme and lavender, amongst other herbs. The larvae overwinter as pupae in the subsoil, before emerging the following spring.
Common Carder Bee
The common carder bee is a little ginger coloured, furry teddy bear of a bumble bee. It can be found in gardens, farmland and woodland, in fact most habitats where there are flowers for nectar. They are social bees, with up to 200 workers in a hive. They make their nests in old bird or mouse nests or mossy cavities in lawns. At the end of the season the old queen will mate and die, leaving lots of new queens to hibernate underground over winter.
Dark-edged Bee Fly
The dark-edged bee fly is another furry, cuddly looking chap but with rather sinister intentions. The female masquerades as a bumble bee, looking for ground nests of solitary bees or wasps. She then lays an egg near the entrance. The emerging grub will make its way into the nest to feed on the young bee or wasp larvae. Bee flies have furry brown bodies and long proboscises for feeding on early spring flowers like primroses and violets.