Tags
amelanchier, blackthorn, bullace, cuckooflower, Damson, garden, garden plants, ground-ivy, horse chestnut, Lady's Smock, lesser celandine, lichen, Mallard, marsh marigold, mining bees, montana clematis, pasque flower, Pear, pond, Suffolk, trees, wild cherry, wild flowers
This was the view from our front door on the 1st of April. The rather untidy Blackthorn trees growing on the verge on the other side of our hedge looked like they were snow-covered; the blossom was so plentiful.
Just over a week after I took the photo of the Blackthorn I was finding bee nests all over the garden. Some were plain ones like the photo above….
…and these ones.
But this one (the burrow is in the shadow of one of the seed-pods) has been decorated with twigs, bits of wood, stone and seed-pods! I wonder if this is just by chance or if not, were these to make it easier to find or, is the bee just more of an individual, more artistic than most other bees? I have found other nest-burrows seemingly marked with twigs and stones.
This is one of our wild cherry trees just coming into blossom in the middle of April. The house on the left of the photo is that of our next-door neighbours and this long thin strip of land, in-between their garden and our leylandii hedge on the right, belongs to us and is where the former owners of our house used to park their combine harvester, so we are told. We have planted a few trees on this strip of land; you can see a couple of hollies and another cherry has decided to grow here too.
For the first time since we have lived here we had no nesting geese on the island on our pond. They built a nest and I am sure they began laying an egg each day prior to incubation but something happened and the nest was abandoned. The water level in the pond was very low and it would have been easy for a fox to cross the water and get to the nest. There has always been danger from mink and otters but up til now the geese have coped with them. A fox is different and much bigger. This is only a guess – there may have been other reasons; I don’t know.

We have a couple of spindly Damson or Bullace (Prunus domestica ssp. insititia ) trees growing in the scrubby area near our pond. This is a photo of the blossom and new leaves.

Pear blossom. We recently pruned and topped our pear tree as it was getting enormous. We should still get quite a lot of fruit this year, if all goes well.
I have a few more April photos I would like to share but I will save them for a separate post.
Bee nests are new to me – how fascinating! And lovely to see your lichen tree again 😀
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Thank you, Liz. 🙂 I like the mining bees; they are territorial and patrol their domain. Some are completely solitary and others live in adjoining burrows and work together.
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Incredible – it must be so absorbing to watch & track!
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I find it so 🙂
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I am sorry about the lack of geese. I always enjoy some lichen pictures.
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Thank you, Tom. I hope that the pond fills a little with all the rain we are getting. I am not sorry to see the rain but I could do with a little more warmth.
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Gorgeous photographs, Clare! I’ve never been a fan of bees nesting in the ground. I had a friend, who was allergic, get attacked while she was mowing her grass. Let’s hope for more rain!
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Thank you, Jill. Fortunately, we have had quite a lot of rain this week and everything is looking much greener. The pond is still very low but it does have a little more water in it than before. I am sorry your friend was attacked by bees; how horrid! The bees in our garden are solitary bees that dig a deep tunnel and then lay one egg at the bottom of it.
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Wow – the brilliant heads on those mallards! I am amazed, Clare, at your recognition of the bee and goose dwellings – I know nothing of these things. Your flowers are very pretty, and I always love hearing about blackthorn – for some reason, it is very romantic sounding to me. 🙂
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Thank you, Lisa! Blackthorn has lots of long thorns which isn’t too pleasant but the blossom is beautiful and the fruits (sloes) are usually used to flavour and colour gin.
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Very nice Clare. Like the bee burrows ! Is the weather still on the dry side ?
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Thank you, John. Fortunately, we have had a lot of rain this week and everything is looking much greener.
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Having a tricky day, but your photos and post are a balm for the soul. thank you
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Thank you, Meg. I am sorry you had a bad day; I hope things are better for you now.
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Lovely spring photo essay, Clare!
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Thank you very much, Peter!
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Thanks for reminding us that we had a glorious spring this year. We seem to have returned directly to winter… And our water birds don’t seem to be managing successfully to rear their broods either. All gone.
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Isn’t it cold! I am pleased to have had some rain at last but I could have done with a little more warmth. I am sorry your water birds have had problems too.
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A delightful selection of Spring colours, thank you.
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Thank you very much, Susan.
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Lovely to see so many April flowers… the wild Cherry blossoms are one of my favourite. . I’m not familiar with nesting bees… they sound very interesting… although it might be a nasty surprise if you dug up a nest accidentally and got stung. Sorry to read about your nesting geese, foxes are a problem here too.
I hope summer brings you some sunshine.
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Thank you, Gerrie. Fortunately the bees are solitary and once they have dug their burrow and filled it with pollen they lay their one egg and then leave!
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I always learn from your posts, Clare. So THAT’S what those little holes in the ground are – bees’ nests! Shame about the geese…otters have been pinching fish from garden ponds around our village; on the one hand, it’s a shame about the fish, but on the other it’s good to know there are otters in the river.
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Thank you very much, Mike. I am pleased we have otters here and that they are no longer in danger but I could do without the mink! I am sure the geese will be back next year.
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A lovely pictorial record with helpful captions. We had underground bees’ nests in our orchard at Newark. I hadn’t realised they were called miners.I’m sorry about your geese.
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Thank you very much, Derrick. I am sure the geese will be back to try again next year.
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I hope so
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Such variety in your photos! You do have a beautiful area to enjoy–and share with us!
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Thank you very much, Kerry.
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Clare, your garden is a haven of tranquillity and it’s a joy to see the flowering trees and plants. The lichen photos are particularly striking and alien in nature! Hope the sun shines for us soon so we can be out and enjoying our gardens!
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Thank you very much, Annika. Won’t the sunshine be good when it returns! I am fascinated by lichen though don’t know much about it at all.
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Beautiful shots of spring. Sorry about the geese. Must have been a disappointment not to have a goose family to watch over the summer.
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Thank you very much, Laurie. It was a great disappointment but I am sure they will be back again next year.
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Fingers crossed!
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It’s lovely!
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Thank you very much, Kevin!
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Ohh, Clare, an absolute delight as always to visit with you. Thank you. ❤ xxx ❤ with hugs xXx ❤
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Thank you so much, my dear Jane! Love and hugs flowing to you ❤ ❤ xxXXxx ❤ ❤
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You have an interesting yard. I’ve never heard of bees decorating their nests, or a Montana clematis!
Nice to see the marsh marigold. I knew of a single plant that grew in a ditch, then they came along last fall and cleaned the ditch and no more marsh marigold.
Nice lichens on that tree. They all look to be saucer or crater shaped but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to identify.
What I liked most about this post was the sunshine. We had a very dreary April and May.
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Thank you Allen. Such a pity about the marsh marigold as they are such bright and shining flowers in the spring! The lichens are doing well and I must try to identify them some time. We had a lot of sunshine in April and May but not much rain. We are making up for that now with lots of rain and not much sun! I have a link for the Clematis montana we have in our garden. It is very highly scented and a real pleasure to have but it does grow like crazy and I have to cut it back severely after flowering otherwise it would take over the whole garden! https://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk/climbers/clematis-montana-rubens.asp
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I’m glad you’re finally getting some rain but too bad you are getting it all at once like we did. The balance seems to have gone out of the weather over the last few years and now it’s all or nothing.
Thanks for the link. That sounds like a very interesting clematis. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one!
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I badly miss having horse chestnut trees nearby – I grew up with them in my family garden, so it’s nice to see their leaves.And thanks for giving names to two plants (one a small tree) that we have growing in our garden. Marsh Marigolds (all over the place, round our pond) and Amelanchier – at least, I think it’s that. It certainly looks like it. 🙂 Lovely post, Clare. A breath of spring. I’m hoping for a breath of summer soon, both in your blog and ‘out there’!
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Thank you, Val. I’ve always had horse chestnuts too and was glad to find this young one when we moved here in 2006. The amelanchier flowers for such a short few days in April but so pretty. The leaves turn a beautifulred in autumn. I think the Americans call it shadbush. A breath of summer would be wonderful! It was warmer today and it didn’t rain!
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A delightful re-run of spring in your beautiful country garden. I’m sorry to hear about the Greylag Geese. Not many gardens can boast of a garden plot designed for a combine harvester! You seem to have made good use of yours.
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Thank you, Richard. We had thought of getting rid of the leylandii hedge but changed our minds when we realised how much shelter from the south-westerlies it gave us. I am sure the geese will be back again next year and I hope the pond might have more water in it by then.
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Once again your photo tour has brought some color and delight to the rest of us. Thank you for sharing 🙂
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You are very kind – thank you so much!
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Gorgeous photos, it still feels like spring now so at least Crissy gets to ‘appreciate’ it before we get the summer.
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I hope she has some warm clothes with her!
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We are still in the winter clothes at the moment, and being English I feel like I need to apologise for the weather every day.
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Hehe! That made me laugh!
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Your April flowers are beautiful, Clare! I love the little mining bee nests, too.
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Thank you very much, Lavinia. The nests all appear at the same time and are all over the garden; in the lawn, in flowerbeds and wherever they find suitable soil.
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I adore all of the photos, Clare.
I never heard of a mining bee before. Can they ruin your garden, or are they good for the garden?
I’m liking the lichen.
However, I am sad for the geese nest. Great spring post, thank you!!!
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Thank you, Resa. No, mining bees don’t ruin the garden. They are solitary bees and they lay one little egg at the bottom of the tunnel. They leave a supply of pollen with the egg so the larva has something to eat when it hatches out and when eventually the larva changes into a bee it emerges from the tunnel and visits all the flowers!
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Fabulous! Thank you, Clare!
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I just always thought bees 🐝 were in hives or the loft and rafters I didn’t know they burrowed in the ground. Goodbye Spring let’s hope Nice summer weather arrives soon.
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Thank you, Charlotte. I hope we get some warmer weather now, though I think we have yet more thunderstorms next week as well!
Some bumblebees take over old abandoned mice, vole and/or rabbit holes and build their nests there. There are also mason bees that make their nests in walls.
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Really interesting. I saw an old wasps nest once it was massive.
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Awesome photos of life in your neck of the woods. Love to read, see and explore elsewhere. Enjoy your weekend and summer.
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Thank you very much, Mary Ann. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
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Sunshine and blue skies which we enjoy while we can. Rain is returning and winds. I hope you enjoy your weekend as well, Clare It is wonderful to have blue skies with sun.
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It is!
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Have a wonderful week.
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😊
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Lovely to see a Bullace. When my parents lived in North Wiltshire they had a hedge full of them. The flowers provided an early food source for our bees. And we used to make jam and crumbles from the fruit later in the year. Now I have a Welsh Damson, from stock on Bardsey, that I’m nurturing ….
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Thank you, Clive. We used to to see Bullace everywhere but sadly they seem to be disappearing from hedges now. We never get any fruit from our poor specimen; the birds always get there first!
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It must have been quite an old hedge as it also had Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Dog Rose, Honeysuckle and an old Crack Willow. There was a ditch on the far side which usually held a trickle of water. We diverted this through a small pond for Mum’s ducks. In the drought of ‘76 we even dug a well to keep them and the garden watered! We used forked hazel twigs cut from the hedge to divine the best spot – we hit a water supply about 12’ down …
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It must have been quite an old hedge as it also had Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Dog Rose, Honeysuckle and an old Crack Willow. There was a ditch on the far side which usually held a trickle of water. We diverted this through a small pond for Mum’s ducks. In the drought of ‘76 we even dug a well to keep them and the garden watered! We used forked hazel twigs cut from the hedge to divine the best spot – we hit a water supply about 12’ down …
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What a wonderful hedge that must have been and a lovely memory to have of it. Thank you, Clive.
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Oh and an old Spindle tree and a few Hazel and of course Elder. The fields were once part of a large manorial farming estate – Cutteridge Farm – mentioned by Edward Thomas, who walked and cycled the lanes here on his journey from London ‘In Pursuit of Spring’. There were English Elms too in other hedges before they succumbed to Dutch Elm disease … and a grand Lime tree avenue up to the ‘house’.
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How glorious!
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Lovely, from start to finish. Perhaps because Easter is a favourite time of mine, I have always loved the Pasque flower but never had one. And the daffodils as in your first picture always give my heart a lift. Summer is ablaze with colour, but after a long winter, there’s nothing like the yellow of daffodils.
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Oh, I love the joyful yellow of daffodils after the gloom and chill of winter! Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments, Cynthia.
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Interesting post from start to finish – bees, flowers, geese (or lack thereof) – all interesting stuff even if the lack of geese is a little sad. As autumn is now just round the corner it’s nice to think of spring.
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It is. Thank you, Simon. I don’t particularly like autumn being so near.
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I’m getting to an age where winter is a bit of a trial. Autumn can be quite pleasant but I don’t like what it leads on to. 🙂
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Yes, exactly! 🙂
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