Spring into Summer and a Threat from Wildlife

April, and it is time to celebrate the profusion of late spring flowers on the plat. The blue of 'Bugle', known to gardeners as ajuga reptans, is subtly different from the blue of bluebells but it would be hard to define exactly how. True to their name (reptans = creeping) they are spreading through the lower slopes of the plat and down the open slope facing the Mote driveway.

Bugle among the nut trees

'Blow, bugle, blow'

A magnet for bees

The words 'Blow, bugle, blow' came to mind and I had to look it up: a wonderful elegiac poem by Tennyson. Google will take you straight to it and the evocative '.... horns of Elfland faintly blowing'.

Orchid buffs are understandably protective of the rarer species, concealing the location of their finds from all but other experts, but the Common Spotted, as the name suggests, is widespread in Kent and seems to like nut plantations as my family had plenty on our old plat, also in Ivy Hatch.  

A good specimen of Common Spotted

It is always a thrill however when they make their appearance

with flowers appearing usually in May running through well into June. This year they have continued to spread, perhaps due to the regular mowing spreading the seed heads.

Delicate flowers and grasses

It is July and mowing has still not taken place.  The grass is high, ragwort is colourful and attracts bees even though it is harmful to cattle and other animals. And there is Rosebay Willowherb, Mallow and plenty of thistles, which will succumb to the mower in due course.

For the last couple of months the trees have been left to get on with the business of plumping up the nuts.  Whilst pollination takes place as early as January and February there is little sign of any action until perhaps in late May or early June you can see some very small beginnings of nuts. Now at the end of this month they are clearly visible.  It looks like a reasonable crop though perhaps not as heavy as last year. If you  pick and break one open  you find little in the way of a kernal, more like a soft spongy material.  

But that's not what the squirrels think and even now, with a month or six weeks to go until harvest, the little beggars - excuse the expression but these creatures are indeed vermin - have already targeted two trees.  Near the bottom of the main track I find this shocking sight and wonder just how much more of the crop will be taken and how much will be left when the nuts are actually ripe.  Steps must be taken.

Havoc!

A shocking sight

Nuts which are nowhere near ripe have been vandalised

I have  no sympathy for those who see the grey squirrel as a furry pet.  The truth is that in plantations, orchards and forests and wherever young trees are planted these 'tree rats' will wreak havoc, stripping the bark and destroying the tree.

Late July and these nuts are  at risk 

To turn to more cheerful news, in August the plat will host the Summer Tea-party of the Kentish Cobnuts Association.  By then the plat will have been mown and everything should look fine - provided there are still nuts on the trees.  We are hoping for a fine day: a report will be posted in due course.