For illustrated talks on natural history and history see www.peterlovetttalks.co.uk

For illustrated talks on natural history and history click here for www.peterlovetttalks.co.uk

Friday 6 March 2009

Signs of Spring

This Daphne bholua has an exquisite scent and attracts scores of bees. Click on any picture to expand it. Later, on 9 March a red admiral butterfly was feeding on it

Prepare for landing...
Note the pollen sacs on this lucky bee.
I have reduced the height of Surreyrambler's laurel hedge from 18 feet to 5 feet and the width by 6 feet. Dog rose, honey suckle, hawthorn, a bramble cultivar, hollies, yews and shrubs have been planted to eventually replace the existing laurel. This will be further removed once the native plants are established. Such light pruning with a chain saw is necessary from time to time!
Above are some of the prunings!

A solitary female frog was grasped by two males before laying this spawn earlier this week in Cuckfield. I hope that the icy covering last night has not killed the developing embryos.

1 comment:

EB said...

That's going to be quite some hedge! I have a dog rose in our garden, which I love for its vigour and hips in the autumn. We used to have a rubus (tricolor) but I had to dig it out, it was too invasive after the third year. Good luck with it all. I envy you the daphne.

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