Page 14 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #04

WILD APRIL

A walk in almost any landscape with trees at underneath Scotland’s COMING UP
MIKE this time of year will enable the keen-eyed Caledonian pines. NEXT ISSUE:
O Mike is watching
A basic flower
DILGER observer to spot a range of wild flowers, identification guide should wildlife in farmland
but it is in those locations with continuous
tree cover for at least the last 400 years be your essential companion on any botanical
y botanical
n on any
where floral diversity will be at its highest. expedition to help reveal the identity of an
Many of the spring flowers that inhabit unrecognised bloom and give you a strong
these ancient woodlands are termed ancient indication of what you can expect to find
woodland indicators, as they need the precise and where you can expect to find it.
conditions offered by stable and continuous
wooded cover to thrive. Additionally, with ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS
In a spring wood d this suite of flowers being slow to colonise Many woodland spring flowers are also
new habitats, they are less likely to be ephemeral by nature, making the timing
Poet Alexander Pope wrotee found in a forest that has been recently of your visit everything. For example,
u
that ‘hope springs eternal’, but planted. Bluebells are an obvious example the spectacle of a bank full of ramsons
for British naturalists it is of an indicator species (flowering mid-April is as fleeting as it is dramatic, but if you
perhaps spring itself that brings to May) but there are many other floral arrive just a few days late it will look like
the eternal hope in the e beauties to look out. someone has dragged the display through
form of woodland flowers s. Your local Wildlife Trust, the National a hedge backwards. Finally, many of the
Trust, the Forestry Commission, Plantlife flowers occupy a very lowly position on the
and the Woodland Trust all have plenty woodland floor, so the best way to appreciate
of information online to help you find an them is down on your hands and knees.
DILGER’S DOS ancient woodland close to you that is happy If this takes a bit of effort and means
AND DON’TS to receive visitors. So with a quick bit of becoming a touch grubby, it’s worth it!
research you should be able to find a reserve
DO REMEMBER that will provide both the best possible MIKEDILGER is anaturalist,wildlifeTVpresenter and
ED
G
ER
IL
THAT PICKING WILD writer. Watchhim on BBCOne’s The One Show.
FLOWERS is against display and an opportunity to track down a
Woodland: David Noton Photography/A amy; wood warbler: Andy Rouse/2020VISION/NPL; hand lens: antapix/A amy; wood anemone: Matthew Taylor/A amy; orchid: Kev n E sby/A amy
the law. Ifyou are keen few of those all-important indicator species.
on photography,then It is crucial to also bear in mind that
takethe camera to the geology and geography play key roles
plant, not the other in dictating where many plants can be
way round!
found. Lily-of-the-valley and butcher’s
DON’T FORGET WHILE broom, for example, will only ever be
MOST OF THE FLORAL found in woodlands growing atop chalk
action will be at your or limestone, and don’t expect to track
feet,April is also a
glorious month for bird down twinflower anywhere other than
activity.Listen out for
y
nigghtingales
o or wood
warblers.
a

Beyond the
bluebells: pay
close attention
to the forest
floor this spring
to identify other
woodland flowers.

14 BBC Wildlife April 2018