A beautiful sunny day – we’ve not had many of those this winter and we took the opportunity to finish up the hedge laying for this year. There’s still lots of hedge to do and by the time we finish it all the first bit we layed will probably need doing again. But this years stretch has given us a fair amount of firewood for next winter, which is one of the reasons we’re doing it. Next year we might hire a chipper for the brash and hopefully produce enough mulch to keep some shrubs/fruit bushes grass/weed free.
Before the weather really warms up we want to restock the bits of the hedge that are thin – we’ll replant with hawthorn and cherry plum but over time we’d like more ‘fruit’ in the hedges, after all most fruit bushes are descended from plants of the woodland edge. And we’ve a few more trees to plant as well: More small leaved lime & hazel, amalanchier, wild pear and goat willow. The first and last of those should (in time) be good for the bees
The buzzards were taking advantage of the warmth – there was a pair circling upwards on a thermal over us. The bees were also out – they were taking pollen into the hive suggesting the queen is laying – the pollen was yellow (dandelion?) and orange (no idea), they were also collecting hazel pollen. There was also a pair of hares chasing each other – ‘mad March hares’ seem so absorbed in what they’re doing that they’re simply not as wary as they usually are – its a good time to watch hares – if you’re quiet and still they’ll come remarkably close.
