‘No-mow May’ was a thing this year, with gardeners encouraged not to mow their lawns for a month to let wildflowers bloom for pollinators. We always leave the cowslip patch unmown until well into summer anyway, and this year an area of grass under the plum tree has been left to allow more of the orchids to flower; but from the middle of the month we were away up north for nearly three weeks and the whole lawn was more than a bit wild when we got back in early June. After a cold and dry April, May was cold and wet, finishing with a warm spell, so the vegetation was decidedly luxuriant on our return. A lot of cow parsley had crept into the bed at the bottom of the garden, which was pretty but not to be encouraged, though it did set off the last of the tulips (in the big pot by the summerhouse) and the first of the alliums.
 |
| Tulips, alliums and cow parsley in the bottom border |
So one of the first jobs to be tackled when we got home was to mow those parts of the lawn that were meant to be mown and to get things back to normal. In the process, we discovered that it wasn’t only the grass that had gone wild. On the trunk of the plum tree was a heaving mass of honeybees.
 |
| The 'cast' on the plum tree |
Fortunately we have a beekeeping neighbour, who was summoned to advise; he informed us that it wasn’t a swarm but a ‘cast’ (don’t ask me the difference), apparently a group of bees who have followed a queen bee to find a new home. There needs to be a certain (large) number of bees for them to survive, and unless this lot started breeding fast, they would die over winter. So our neighbour and his friend, fully kitted out in case the bees turned nasty (in fact they were extremely docile but you never know with bees), brought along a bee box and scraped most of the cast, including the queen, into it; it was then lodged in the lower branches of the plum tree for the other bees to find their way into it. Some bees came out of the box, flew over to the others on the tree trunk, and gave ‘come on guys the party’s here’ signals to get them to follow.
 |
| Preparing the box ,,, |
 |
| Getting it into the tree ,,,, |
 |
| ... now in place |
That was two weeks ago now, and they’re still there, apparently reasonably happy but possibly not reproducing fast enough. We’re happy for them to stay if they can form a viable colony, but if not they will be re-homed in another existing hive elsewhere in the village.
We’re just pleased that they thought our garden a good place
to live; maybe our ‘no-mow May’ helped!
When we got round to mowing the grass verge outside the
front of the house, we found more wildness: five early spotted orchids had
appeared in the grass there. They have
been carefully mown around; we hope they’ll seed about. Presumably they seeded in from the group in
our lawn, where we have early spotteds, pyramidal orchids and common twayblades
(a very un-showy orchid, one of which has sent up a tall green flower spike).
 |
| Early spotted orchid, in the verge |
It’s not only the bees and the orchids that have been proliferating; our birds are busily feeding youngsters. The nestbox on the summerhouse wall has been home to a bluetit family (the bluetits seem to have won the battle against the great tits, although apparently it’s not unknown for one species to lay eggs in the nest of the other); they didn’t seem too bothered by our using the summerhouse for meals. The little ones must have flown the nest in the past few days as activity round the nestbox has ceased, and at least one youngster was being fed in the apple tree today. Down in the bottom of the garden and beyond in the field margin there is also a family of wrens, several little ones noisily following their parent for food, and a family of dunnocks; a robin also searches for food for its little ones down there. The grass (and cow parsley stalks, and nettles) in the field behind the summerhouse is still very long and provides great cover for small birds. Up by the house, the sparrows have several fledgelings, and a blackbird has been feeding one (but only one – blackbird broods seem to have been very small here this year) youngster.
Lunching in the garden yesterday (after a rainy and chilly spell, it was a sunny day), I noticed something very small scampering across the lawn. I went to investigate, and the little creature hid under some foliage that the recent winds had blown out of the plum tree. It stayed there long enough for me to grab my phone, lift the foliage and take photos. It was a common shrew, one of our tiniest mammals; it promptly scooted off and hid in the long grass under the tree, and I let it be.
Common shrews are indeed common, but not often seen, and certainly not running across a lawn in the middle of the day!
