Nature Notes: April 2025

FLEAS, BEES AND SUN-DAPPLED FLOWERS BENEATH WOODLAND TREES

Highlights of March: Sunshine; birdsong; yellow wagtails from the Sahara; the return of daisies in my lawn; scarlet elf cups and the first few anemones in the woods; butterflies and bumblebees on the wing; Lenten rose hellebores; regular tree-top soloists (robin, song thrush and black cap) singing-in the sunrise on their favourite perches whilst a skylark bubbled from on high; Horse chestnut 'budbursts' of unravelling leaves and flowers together; charms of chaffinches all around the village; ladybirds; pussy willow, celandine and violets.

Lowlights: finding the skeleton of a fallow fawn (male); a frozen long-tailed tit; news that 2024 was the worst year for our bumblebees (with Red-tailed and white-tailed down 74% and 60% respectively) and that our hoverflies (important pollinators) are also now on the IUCN Red List; a study from The University of Sussex on 103 nests of blue tits and great tits found every single nest contained the residue of at least one of the deadly insecticides found in pet flea treatments, leading to the high mortality of chicks.

>

Key Messages & What you can do to help:

1) Pet owners can make a real and positive difference:

a) Instead of putting out contaminated pet fur for nesting birds, save any untreated from the winter

b) Use natural based alternative treatments

c) Be mindful if your dog loves a swim - flea and tick insecticides have also been found in our rivers and streams, harming aquatic insects and all the species (mammals, birds, fish etc) that eat them

2) Grow nectar-rich, native, bumble-bee and hoverfly friendly flowers and caterpillar food plants to boost our pollinators.

What to look for/hear in April: basking and mating slow-worms (courtship can last around 10 hours); bats on feeding forays on warmer evenings; playful fox-cubs emerging from dens; the sound of the cuckoo; male orange-tip butterflies on ladies' smock; tadpoles waggling their black tails; the first brood of blackbird chicks emerging from their nests.

What you're more like to see/hear: scents of blossom and palettes of pastel petals; carpets of bluebells and more wood anemone emerging in our sun-dappled woodlands; clumsy St Marks day flies mating on the wing; swallows back from Africa re-acquainting themselves with their summer homes; the lushness of spring's fresh green grass; reminders of Easter: eggs, lambs, wood sorrel (known as 'the Allelujiah plant') early purple orchids with leaves said to have been speckled from the blood of Christ on the cross, the first cowslips, known in Welsh as 'dagrau Mair' (meaning 'Mary's tears' and named after the Virgin Mary) and the tiny bee and butterfly loving 'speedwell(Veronica)' associated with Veronica, wiping Jesus' brow on his way to the crucifixion.

This wonderful, joyous Eastertide may God 'Speed thee well' on your own journeys and may you all be blessed with the newness and wonder of life.