Bees and Trees

24 April

Every year at this time of the year there are entreaties to gardeners not to rake up leaves quite yet because there are very likely creatures beneath then waiting for their time to emerge. Some people pay attention, some let their eyes go over the message without taking it in and others shrug and don’t believe you … at least I don’t think they believe you because otherwise, why would they be raking leaves? Anyway, here’s the proof.

I was sitting on a garden bench admiring the Sanguinaria flowers when my eye was caught by a movement at the edge of some leaves near my feet. A small movement which turned out to be a Miner Bee, perhaps Dunning’s Miner Bee, emerging from his subterranean winter home as the sun warmed the air above his leafy roof. There were several more flying around shortly afterwards and they liked the Sanguinaria flowers too. To know more click here.

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Whilst Out Walking recently we began to see opening flower buds on maple trees … not absolutely certain, but the first picture below could be red maple and the second possibly silver maple (Acer saccharinum) … note: although the silver maple's Latin name is similar, it should not be confused with Acer saccharum, the sugar maple.

We also happened upon clumps of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) flowers … another invasive plant that is not native but seems to do well here. Too well, to be honest. It invades moist, open, disturbed areas such as stream banks, ditches, and fields. Spreading both by seed and rhizomes means that it can form large colonies, which can displace native species.