What's flowering as forage in your area

[elainemary]

Planted 700 plugs of wildflowers I’d grown from seed into a new meadow area I plan to develop. Too cold for beekeeping.
Back in my main meadow the yellow rattle is coming up and I was thrilled to see common purple spotted orchids growing too. I planted about 10 plugs eight years ago & it takes 7 years to flower from seed and they are just starting to spread. Counted 35 in a small area. Lifted my soul. Love wildflowers and helping out our pollinators
2 songthrush chicks flew the nest this week

 

[pargyle]

My cherry tree is now going over but the sycamores are just coming into flower and the horse chestnuts will be in the next day or so - a few florets already breaking. The plum are in flower and the apples in bud. On our way down to Somerset from Hampshire last week there were fields of OSR in full bloom between Salisbury and Warminster- looked very healthy.

We had the first rain (not near enough) for four weeks here on the Costa del Fareham yesterday so the drought seems to have stifled the flow of nectar but I'm hoping the predicted deluge on Monday will turn things around and the flow will really get underway. Very chilly this morning and only moderate activity around my hives ...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

All the blackthorn here has burst into bloom - usually a sign that elsewhere it's drawing to an end, dandelion is slowing down a bit but I've noticed the hawthorn is only a few days away from opening.

 

[enrico]

Alot of the blossom going over here. Cherry, blackthorne, dandelion all gone but pair in full flower and apple is just coming into its own. We rely on the walnut to tell us when frost's are over. It never puts leaf out until the last frost has gone.....well that's what we say anyway and the leaves are still tight.

When I said pair tree I did of course mean pear tree! Although coincidentally I do have two of them! (Thanks Antipodes xx)

 

[Loxley]

The wild cherries have hit their stride now despite the weather (heavy hail today). This one was thrumming when I walked under it.

Also got blackthorn and dandilions aplenty and the sycamore is not far off.

 

[DaveG23]

Rowan is out now, such a beautiful tree, bees were happy on it today

 

[GuyNir]

Rowan is out now, such a beautiful tree, bees were happy on it today

Agree lovely tree. I don’t see my bees working it much though... maybe because of better alternatives?

 

[Antipodes]

Planted 700 plugs of wildflowers I’d grown from seed into a new meadow area I plan to develop. Too cold for beekeeping.
Back in my main meadow the yellow rattle is coming up and I was thrilled to see common purple spotted orchids growing too. I planted about 10 plugs eight years ago & it takes 7 years to flower from seed and they are just starting to spread. Counted 35 in a small area. Lifted my soul. Love wildflowers and helping out our pollinators
2 songthrush chicks flew the nest this week

Please post a video of the birdsong when you get a chance

 

[pargyle]

All the blackthorn here has burst into bloom - usually a sign that elsewhere it's drawing to an end, dandelion is slowing down a bit but I've noticed the hawthorn is only a few days away from opening.

Yes ... blackthorn pretty much over with down here and the hawthorn is already out on some trees ... we're only about 100 miles East of you and perhaps 50 miles south as the crow flies but it makes a huge difference - although we are assisted by the Solent/Portsdown microclimate.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Maple gone. Pussy Willow still blooming. First Dandelion pollen April 28. No apple yet.
It snowed here this morning.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hard frost with us when I went to let the chickens out

 

[DaveG23]

Agree lovely tree. I don’t see my bees working it much though... maybe because of better alternatives?

Could be, we are probably a bit low on decent alternative here! I only see bees working an older tree that has loads of flower, they ignore the smaller ones

 

[Murox]

Could be, we are probably a bit low on decent alternative here! I only see bees working an older tree that has loads of flower, they ignore the smaller ones

Its good for both pollen and nectar, but I think the size/age of the tree matters (as does rain) they can go on for over 100 years.

 

[Nannysbees]

Hard frost with us when I went to let the chickens out

I'd love to keep chickens do you have any problems with rats?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'd love to keep chickens do you have any problems with rats?

not because of the chickens - I have a large enough shed that the feed hopper stays in there - I don't feed much out in the open (apart from a handful or two of corn in the evening to settle them down) which is where the issues with rats stem from as, if you leave the hens help themselves all day they spill as much as they eat.
Being not far from a stream which runs behind a row of gardens (with the usual dirty buggers who just dump their rubbish over the hedge) I am used to seasonal incursions from Rattus Norvegicus but never in the area of the chicken shed and run.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'd love to keep chickens do you have any problems with rats?

Our hens are fed inside a large walk in run which has a weld mesh floor and sides. No rats

 

[Cuckmere couple]

blackthorn just ending...hawthorn about to come out but frosts are a pain

 

[GuyNir]

We used to use the metal feeder the hens had to step on to open. Helped a lot with rats but didn’t eliminate the problem.

 

[Murox]

blackthorn just ending...hawthorn about to come out but frosts are a pain

As contrast - blackthorn only started around a week ago, hopefully todays rain will give the possibility of some nectar and help other forage plants along, its been so uncharacteristically dry this last month or so.

 

[Antipodes]

Oh wow, it's pin-cushion hakea time!