Things to look out for in the garden - April

The British bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) is characteristic of woodlands, hedges and other shady places, and almost half the world's population of this species is found here. However, not all the bluebells seen in the here are Hyacinthoides non-scripta, the Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) is widely cultivated and can be found in many gardens and parks. In recent years there has been growing concern that our native species is breeding with the cultivated bluebell, which can alter the genetic makeup of the plant, possibly resulting in a reduced ability to survive. This supposed threat has little supporting evidence at present, so Plantlife and the Natural History Museum ran a survey in 2006 to try and found out how serious the problem is, and they intend to publish results soon, and to run the survey again this year to collect the evidence needed to reveal the nature and distribution of the various bluebell species.

Birds begin nesting this month, the song thrush may be heard by lucky gardeners, who can enjoy the song of the thrush until July, when the fledglings leave the nest, but more common nesting birds at this time of year are sparrows, blackbirds and chaffinchs. The first swallows, wheatears and sand martins arrive from Africa too and begin to stake out garden territory.

The garden will be full of catkins - the silver birch has male and female ones, the male being in pairs and dangling, changing colour from a brownish-purple to yellow as the pollen ripens, while the female ones are small and green. The black poplar tree has clumps of catkins that are a rich pinkish crimson colour and the goat willow has fat, upright catkins that are bright gold and whose down is often stolen by goldfinches who like it for lining their nests.

Garden April bluebell photograph by Akuppa, used under a creative commons attribution licence.

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