Sallow

It was another sunny day, with the temperature reaching the mid-teens by the afternoon, but the garden remained virtually invertebrate-free. I even went for a walk along the lane, to see if there was an early fruit tree in flower that might be attracting my solitary bees, but there wasn't. So I vented my considerable spleen on the garden, rough tidying most of the long front border, and cutting the grass. Eeeurgh. After two hours of hard work I was almost on my knees, but at least now when the solitary bees do emerge they'll be able to find the primroses and pulmonaria.

Also waiting for the pollinators to come out is my little goat willow (Salix caprea 'Kilmarnock'), whose furry silver catkins are now bursting into life, producing their showy golden anthers. Because this variety is a male plant it can only fertilise a female form, but these seem to be much less commonly sold, so I'm not expecting to be gifted any self-sown offspring. Which is a shame, because goat willow is a superb garden plant: not only is the pollen an excellent resource for early pollinators, but the leaves are eaten by a number of different insect larvae. The most spectacular of the insects associated with goat willow is the Purple Emperor butterfly, but I think I'd need more than one small tree to attract any of them to my garden.

On the subject of butterflies, I saw a male Brimstone this afternoon, determinedly quartering the village in search of a mate. Because I was gardening and had an electric trimmer at my hand at the time, rather than a camera, I failed to capture any evidence of his passing, but I'm confident that he'll be back.