It’s been a while since the last update (mainly due to my camera breaking)…  the recent heavy rain after a dry spell has everything at the Love Lane site looking lush.

The wildflower meadow (above) is looking colourful…

With a variety of poppies…

..and other flowers, enjoyed by the insects.

Strawberries are still producing…

Gooseberries well on their way…

..as are the Blackcurrants…

..and a bumper crop of Blueberries…

..Apples are ripening (time to thin them out a bit next week, picking off any diseased or damaged fruit, letting the trees put their energy into the good ones)…

..and finally, at last, we have some Pears!  That almost makes up for having missed all the Cherries (the birds had them), as they had decided to ripen during Golowan week.

Here’s a quick guide to the different types of Bluebell found at Love Lane…

Above is the native ‘english’ variety…  note the drooping stalks which give it it’s characteristic look.  It’s generally found in the woods or in shaded areas.

This is the ‘spanish’ variety…  straight stalks and flower bells all around, it’s generally found out on open ground.

Finally, above is a very rare variety, to my knowledge only found at Love Lane…  It took me a while to identify: It’s common name is ‘Bluebells attacked by a muppet with a paint spray can’.  Hopefully we won’t see too many more of these.

This little chap is a welcome visitor, though!

It’s official…  there are elderflowers:

We’ve taken off the lower shoots on the willow, so there are some withies in the making:

…and the blueberry are flowering:

What with the cherry, damson, blueberry, elder, wild garlic, pear and most of the apple, not forgetting the japanese knotweed, you’d think the only colour Love Lane can do for flowers is white!

But then you catch a flash in the corner of your eye…  hidden amongst hazel and almost eaten by a monster brash-pile, there is this:

I wonder what colour the apples will be?  Here’s another happy customer:

A few recent pictures from Love Lane…

Cherry blossom putting on a fine display.

Damsons, likewise.

…which keeps the Bees happy. 🙂

ANNOUNCEMENT: The regular ‘first Sunday of the Month’ volunteering day won’t be taking place at Love Lane this Sunday (5th April 2015) due to outside engagements, but we’ll be there on Wednesdays as usual, and on Sunday 3rd May.

This week saw the welcome return of the Cowslips…

…Now spreading up the slope on the East side of the site.  They’ve been ‘fenced off’ with canes and string, to avoid accidental mowing.

Some of the Hazel is putting on a nice display of Catkins, which look beautiful shimmering in the wind.

The first flush of blossom is appearing on the fruit trees (like this apple above).

One of the few reptiles resident at the Love Lane site is the Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis).  Prey to domestic cats, badgers and hedgehogs, they enjoy ‘Protected Status’ in the UK, and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to “intentionally kill, injure, sell or advertise to sell them”.

Last year we placed a some old corrugated iron on the ground within the enclosed area in an effort to encourage them – the one above preferred some old carpet.

Neither particularly slow, nor a worm, they are actually legless lizards and have the ability to autotomize – that is, they can shed their tail, leaving it violently squirming behind them in order to escape from predators.

The tail re-grows, but not to the same size.  It’s therefore important to leave them alone if possible, but if they do need to be relocated out of harm’s way, very gentle handling is required.

Another daftly named species found on site (and photographed by a volunteer with a decent camera) is the Ladybird (Coccinellidae)…

Again, the English language confuses us, as they are neither ‘ladies’ nor ‘birds’, but beetles –  and with over 5,000 different species worldwide, plus variation in the number of spots within a species, I’m not even going to attempt to identify this one.