So I wasn't too surprised when we saw an insect in our garden a few weeks ago which looked a bit like a cross between a bee and a fly, but with a long proboscis, to find out it's called a Bee-fly, proper name Bombyliidae:
Bee-flies are harmless parasitic flies that feed on nectar and are apparently commonly seen between late March and May. So why hadn't we noticed them before? Well we are retired and don't run around like proverbial blue-arsed flies as much as we used to, spending a bit more time smelling the flowers along the way as the saying goes. Which actually is a golf quote: it was Walter Hagen who said "You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way". But it's not just that: according to Natural History Museum fly expert Erica McAlister 'People are spotting more of these flies that look like bees in their gardens, not because they're becoming more common,but because the public are generally more aware of bees because we know there's a shortage of them.'
And so the butterfly we spotted in the garden a few days ago with orange tips on its fore wings is called, of course, an Orange Tip:
This is the male of the species, the female doesn't have the orange tips, meaning it's often mistaken for other butterflies (though not, presumably, by the males). We clearly should have noticed the Orange Tip before as it's common throughout England, Wales and Ireland. The Orange Tip is regarded as a true sign of spring, being one of the first species to emerge that has not overwintered as an adult. It was, indeed beautifully warm and calm here last week, after a winter when it seemed the rain would never stop falling and the wind wouldn't ever stop blowing. They both returned a bit in the last two nights though.
Which made us finally get round to identifying the tall weeds - generally two or three feet tall but up to head height if they really get going - with yellow flowers that grow rampantly in our neck of the woods, including alongside the narrow roadway running up the hill to our house. I've been chopping them back recently before the ferns and then brambles take over, the latter risking scratching the car when they start to overhang the road. they look like this:
It's smyrnium olastratum, known commonly as Alexanders, alisanders or horse parsley. It is native to the Mediterranean area but can thrive further north and has long been naturalised in Britain and Ireland where it is commonly found on waste ground, field margins and in hedge rows, ancient ruins, banks and quarries especially near the sea (tick to all of those here). It was introduced to Britain by the Romans, who knew it as the pot herb of Alexandria because - and I wasn't expecting this - every part of it is edible. As a result it is frequently found where there were medieval monastry gardens, persisting where it was previously cultivated.
As I said it's edible and you can find all sorts of websites, with names like "lovely greens" and "eat weeds" which proselytise its consumption. The young stems are supposed to have a texture similar to asparagus and taste a bit like a floral version of celery. Indeed, it stopped being grown as a crop when celery was introduced here. When you chop the stems near the base they look quite like leeks. And this is what they look like steamed:
What would we do without our copy of the Collins Complete British Wildlife Photo Guide? Oh and Google and Wikipedia, of course. But you can tell there's no live sport on TV, can't you?
* Just like it says on the tin, 17 Jan 2017
** A weed by any other name, 28 June 2016
*** Natural History Museum, nhm.ac.uk, Bee-flies and false widow spiders confound public. 16 April 2014
**** https://lovelygreens.com/wild-food-alexanders/
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