Apples From Blossom

I took these photos about 4 weeks ago when the young apple trees in the garden were covered with blossom and I thought how wonderful it would be if all the blossom turned into apples.

 

Somewhere in one of my books is an old saying about not  being able to count the apple crop very soon in the year but I've searched and can't find it.............It's a bit like chickens, eggs and hatching. 

There must have been lots of pollinators because this years flowers to fruit percentage is good and  the Falstaff - above- is looking hopeful for a good crop, so much so that I'm going to need to do some thinning out and there's the 'June Drop' too which is the way the tree copes with dry weather and too many fruit.

I looked in labels and found the Apple Blossom Fairy  from Cicily Mary Barkers books hasn't been on the blog before although 36 others have appeared. She painted 168 in total so there is a way to go.

When i googled to find out how many Flower Fairies there are, up popped an ad from Oxfam Shops Online where they have for sale a 1950s copy of three of her books together in one volume. They want £140 for it!!

I know charities need the money and charge the same as on line sellers but £140 for a book donated to them seems a bit excessive. If no one is willing to pay that much what will they do with the book?

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May 20th World Bee Day

 Today is World Bee Day 

World Bee Day is celebrated on 20th May each year, marking the birthday of Anton Janša, a pioneer of modern beekeeping. The event is designated by the United Nations to raise global awareness of the importance of bees and all pollinators.

There are now lots of websites about bees, spotting, identifying and recording. This was one website that popped up........... The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

This information sheet I've had around for ages and now it's stuck in a scrapbook to keep

This photo below is from May 2024 when the Ceanothus (Californian Lilac) was buzzing with all sorts of bees, this year the flowers are just as blue and beautiful but with the colder spring and chilly wind there are very few bees about.

I picked up this leaflet about spotting Yellow Legged or  Asian Hornets from somewhere last year, thankfully not established in this country yet, although they are spreading. They are predators of honey bees and other pollinators and were first spotted in the UK in 2016. Thank goodness for monitoring and eradication but still 120 sightings were recorded up to summer of last year. All sightings must be reported . This is a link HERE

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Two Books and a Scoop.........

 .....were my car boot sale finds on Saturday.

Unusual to find two books at a boot sale that look interesting.

I dithered over the 'Back of Beyond' as the man was insistent on wanting £2 -  hate paying that much! I wasn't 100% sure that I'd not read it but knew there was an interesting, old  book about trees by this author on my shelves and thought that on Amazon for 'Back of Beyond' it would be more than £2 for sure. 

Thank goodness it wasn't listed in my book of books read and would be between £5 and £22 on Amazon so £2 was OK after all.

The other book was in a house clearance box so just 50p and is also about someone who bought an old cottage but this one is in Australia - that's a bit different.

The 50p scoop is for the greenhouse for compost - had one just like this but it split last year, which I only remembered after spending ages looking for it a few weeks ago.

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