February brings out the cherry plum Prunus cerasifera; and as its the first to blossom in the hedgerows on the North Downs it always gets a mention. But it’s not a native species but introduced from Central Asia and the Balkans and cultivated from the 16th century; hence its other more exotic name of myrobalan plum….
Tag: Blackthorn
March descending
On the last day of March, the sun makes a slow descent behind the dark hedgerow and April emerges under a blue sky. On the downs, ravens and buzzards are mobbed by nesting carrion crows. Chiffchaffs, finches and buntings are calling from the trees. Bumblebees work the willow catkins in the evening sun and appear…
Blackthorn winter
Late March is cold and grey with fleeting sunshine; the woods are still winter dead and the promise of spring seems a distant dream. There always seems to be a cold snap when the blackthorn flowers and lights up the hedges. The early spring flowers appear foolhardy in the chill easterlies that keep the land…
Shipton Bellinger’s Browns
6th August 2016 Shipton Bellinger, a village on the southeastern corner of Salisbury Plain is a well known site to see brown hairstreaks Thecla betulae. This is an August flying species that is always local and confined to discrete areas of southern England and south Wales. Ancient byways to the west of the village rise through fields of abandoned…