Sweet April showers do spring May flowers!
Hello Bee Greeners
We’ve had a busy Spring so far on our gluten free bakery, we made a good start on planting our mixed fruit and nut orchard. So far we have planted around 20 trees, a mixture of apple, pear, plum, crab apple, hazelnut & walnut and so far they are all doing well.
Apple Blossom
We also planted some nectarine, pear and plum espalier fruit trees in beautiful oak planters – hand made by our friend Nick. These were planted to screen a number of shipping containers we have a round the site, these are to store ingredients, a part of our traffic reduction plan – more storage space means fewer deliveries.
The birds are taking full advantage of the feeding stations a pair of bullfinches are spotted most days, as well as chaffinches, great tits, blue tits, pied wagtails and sparrows to name but a few.
We had some rather large visitors to the Bird table one morning-..Molly & Belle – the horses. So the bird table was promptly moved out of the reach of straying tongues!
Smile Please!
The first swallows were spotted around the nature reserve last week, a few weeks later than last year, we are very happy to see them back.
The April showers have done wonders for the plants, the grass is looking green and lush, the trees are bursting into blossom. We have planted lots of phacelia around the beds, these lovely blue flowers are excellent for Bees and hoverflies as they produce a large amount of nectar.
Male Chaffinch
We are excited to be hosting some childrens group visits over the next couple of months, one group are from future roots http://www.futureroots.net/
Who will be helping us make a bird hide from an old round cattle feeder!
We’ll also be welcoming some school groups who’ll help us make a Bug hotel’, comprising of recycled materials from around the farm such as;
Old pallets, pieces of slate, old bricks, canes, fir cones, straw etc, stacked up with a water tight roof, this will provide an excellent habitat for solitary Bees and other insects, toads, frogs and even hedgehogs.
Or if you are short on space you could make a bug box, this website shows you how; http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/wildlife-gardening/how-to-make-a-bug-box/166.html
One of our bug hotels will be situated in the children’s Bee Shack garden, alongside Bee and butterfly friendly plants and edible hedges.
If you can make it to the Bee shack on Sat 5th May we’ll be celebrating with spring time folk music, making flower fairy garlands, lucky spring charms and wreaths to take home.
Thanks for reading folks
Charlotte x
