This weekend the warm weather has brought out some of the flowers and
insects in the Biodiversity Area. The grass is about knee-high at
most, and so it is possible to walk around the spiral maze.
The first trees to flower are the hazels, wild cherries, the elder and the rowan. There is also some sloe blossom in the old hedge-bank. The Pussy Willow catkins are good sources of nectar for bees.
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| Wild Cherry planted April 2014 |
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| Rowan planted April 2014 |
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| Goat Willow (Pussy Willow) 2016 |
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| Elder - existing hedgerow |
I also saw a black ladybird with red spots (possibly a 2-spot), three Great Tits, a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, a wren, two brown Carder Bumblebees. There are also a lot of Red Admiral caterpillars in their nettle tents.
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| Caterpillars hidden from predators inside their 'tents' |
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Some early flowers are dandelion, celandine, lady's smock - the food plant of the Orange Tip butterfly. The leaves are opening on the Alder Buckthorn, but no sign of Brimstone butterfly eggs yet.
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