What's flowering as forage in your area

  • Thread starter Curly green fingers
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Well praise be. First pollen of the year today, and not just a tease. Full on pollen flow even at a breezy 45˚F. A brown with white speckles on the surface. Always the first of the year. I've always thought it was Poplar...Populous tremuloides. And a pale yellow...certainly Silver maple. Last couple years that one started April 12 and 20. A bit early but I'll take that for sure.
 
Copious OSR within a few hundred yards of the hives, now in full flower. So that's another year of it being too cold to produce much nectar or for the bees to work it. Hopefully, it will warm up next week. Last year was my first time ever (since 2010) with no OSR honey
 
Copious OSR within a few hundred yards of the hives, now in full flower. So that's another year of it being too cold to produce much nectar or for the bees to work it. Hopefully, it will warm up next week. Last year was my first time ever (since 2010) with no OSR honey

There's a fair bit of OSR that has come into flower in the last week around here, too. I wonder if we might see even more of it over the next few years given the reports that sunflower oil is going to be in short supply because of the invasion of Ukraine. I wasn't aware until recently that it produces a huge amount of food-grade sunflower oil as well as wheat. I imagine rapeseed prices will rise as a result.

James
 
It's common land, on OS maps the paths are marked unmaintained. Perimeter paths are well trodden and branch off in places to different parts of the hill. Some of the smaller off shoots become swamped by ferns in Summer and the community council has cleared areas where they encroach on the main paths. At present there is a blanket of bracken over the open area between two areas of woodland and Bluebells under the lot. A 'path' runs down the centre but this disappears each Summer and I usually have to clear the ferns to get through. Last year they hired a team of contractors who took a machine over the main path up to this point. They did this when the ferns were getting tall, as you'd expect. What are they cutting in March???? Not even the brambles have done much yet. They can't harm the Bluebells that go on into the woods below but you don't see those so well. I've no idea if they will flower now that they are all topped but I still can't understand why it was done. Doing the path would be bad enough because it's simply a narrow line through a field of Bluebells. The path is now about five feet wide and then they turned off and had a field day.
I'm contacting my local councillor to find out who issued the contract. I intend to educate as this can't be allowed to happen again, I will take the opportunity to mention verge cutting timings in general as well. Somewhere between protection notices on both access gates to this site and just before the protected subject is about to come into bloom, the message has gone missing.
It seems emails don't work. The main path from the top access gate has been widened further, picture the carnage a ride on mower creates as it tears through brambles. I use another perimeter path through the trees that takes you to the same point, where they both enter the main Bluebell 'field'. The path widening has already chewed up many more but where two paths merged into one that takes you around this area (the unmaintained path on OS which is the remnant of an old farm track through a wooded area below) this is completely flattened. From the ridge, the miserable scene was absolutely heart breaking, the only thing left standing are the trees and most awkward bits of bramble.
As if to emphasise the point, some Bluebells are starting to flower in the more sheltered spots, the main 'field' is usually a couple of weeks behind. When I say field, it is actually a lumpy, bumpy, open area dotted with some trees, patches of bramble and the entire area becomes covered with ferns.
It looks suspiciously like a point scoring exercise between local councilors, polling day May 5th. It also explains the brand new bus shelters they are putting up to replace the perfectly good bus shelters we already have ..... after they were rapidly erected in similar circumstances some years ago.
 
It seems emails don't work. The main path from the top access gate has been widened further, picture the carnage a ride on mower creates as it tears through brambles. I use another perimeter path through the trees that takes you to the same point, where they both enter the main Bluebell 'field'. The path widening has already chewed up many more but where two paths merged into one that takes you around this area (the unmaintained path on OS which is the remnant of an old farm track through a wooded area below) this is completely flattened. From the ridge, the miserable scene was absolutely heart breaking, the only thing left standing are the trees and most awkward bits of bramble.
As if to emphasise the point, some Bluebells are starting to flower in the more sheltered spots, the main 'field' is usually a couple of weeks behind. When I say field, it is actually a lumpy, bumpy, open area dotted with some trees, patches of bramble and the entire area becomes covered with ferns.
It looks suspiciously like a point scoring exercise between local councilors, polling day May 5th. It also explains the brand new bus shelters they are putting up to replace the perfectly good bus shelters we already have ..... after they were rapidly erected in similar circumstances some years ago.

Aren't bluebells a protected species? Can probably torpedo the election prospects of those responsible if you play it right.
 
Aren't bluebells a protected species? Can probably torpedo the election prospects of those responsible if you play it right.
Yes they are. The law talks about not digging them up. Not sure if that also prohibits mowing.
 

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They are indeed, part of our national/natural heritage and last year two notices went up on the gates into this place. We should be pushing for a SSSI status.
It's an example of the tragic lack of awareness of the things we should cherish, that some of us do cherish.
I remember a report from last year about achievements that inevitably contained criticism of the previous office. A counter to the report was issued by the sneering labour lot, mocking the current lot for not knowing how many 'park' areas were maintained.
It's not been touched in the forty years I've walked the area and my wife can go back further to when she was about ten.
Never mind eh, think of the thousand Daffodil bulbs donated by Joe Blogs, yeah right.
 
I refer to my previous response - a change of mind. USE the cricket bat.
 
:)
Getting a bit old now, Poot. Already told my wife it's just as well I didn't come across them, I'd have said something and been buried over there.
 
There's a fair bit of OSR that has come into flower in the last week around here, too. I wonder if we might see even more of it over the next few years given the reports that sunflower oil is going to be in short supply because of the invasion of Ukraine. I wasn't aware until recently that it produces a huge amount of food-grade sunflower oil as well as wheat. I imagine rapeseed prices will rise as a result.

James
In the 1980s, I used to visit Wiveliscombe on a regular basis. Some of the most beautiful farm land I've seen anywhere in this country: never seen earth so brown or plants so green anywhere else; Tolkien-land.

There's a tension between the price and the elevated risk of growing OSR now that neonics are banned. There is a greater risk of crop failure over winter, and doing something to recover a profitable crop in damp south west springs can be a problem. It's the only significant edible oil crop we grow in this country (I don't count linseed! :drool5:), so I hope it stays. Around us, there has been a switch back to more field beans, which are traditional on some of our heavier soils - can be useful nectar source but not as supercharged as OSR
 
Cherry tree in my garden is breaking into bloom, chilly and damp down here today - a few intrepid bees venturing out - there are lots of ornamental cherries in full bloom, the black thorn has gone over but lots of spring flowers around. Not quite there yet .. 12 degrees tops for the rest of this week but temps increasing next week to 14/15 degrees ... but with rain predicted - hopefully just April showers which will give the girls chance to forage in between and with those temps and a bit of moisture - perhaps some nectar ?

cherry tree.jpg
 
And my huge eucalyptus tree is in flower AGAIN. I posted in December that it was in full bloom, and here we are again. A bit chilly still for the bees to work it, and very windy too, so I hope it is around long enough for the weather to improve a bit. They adore it on a warm day and the whole tree hums as if it were alive (which it is of course)
 
This is our version of a hedgehog, called an echidna. We get a lot of road kill but rarely these cuties thankfully.

One of the delights of being down-under - primitive animals - the echidna and the platypus are the only mammals that lay eggs, I believe. Another marvel: before man arrived in NZ there were no land mammals, only bats.
 
Cherry tree in my garden is breaking into bloom, chilly and damp down here today - a few intrepid bees venturing out - there are lots of ornamental cherries in full bloom, the black thorn has gone over but lots of spring flowers around. Not quite there yet .. 12 degrees tops for the rest of this week but temps increasing next week to 14/15 degrees ... but with rain predicted - hopefully just April showers which will give the girls chance to forage in between and with those temps and a bit of moisture - perhaps some nectar ?

View attachment 31261
Crikey, one gone over and the other one not far behind here.
 

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