April - almost over already

... some more spring wild flowers from Weardale

Crosswort Galium laevipes Common along grassy road verges and in hedgerows. A plant of right-angles - square stems, opposite pairs of hairy leaves and cross-shaped flowers, typical of the bedstraw family

Cuckoo pint Arum maculatum can have a purple or a yellow spadix in the centre of the inflorescence. The yellow form is the least common here.

Pendulous sedge Carex pendula. One of our taller native sedges, all of which have triangular stems. The yellow tassels of stamens are the male flowers, the slender female flowers with stigmas ready to collect pollen are behind. There was one pendulous sedge plant by the pond in our garden when we moved in 40 years ago and It’s a prolific seed-setter and foolishly let it run to seed; every year I’m still pulling out its progeny - it leaves a long, lasting seed bank in the soil.

Red dead-nettle Lamium purpureum. Ubiquitous, in disturbed soil along field margins, with a long flowering period, so a good nectar source for bees early in spring

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale. Road verges throughout the dale have turned to gold in the last week of April

Cow parsley Anthriscus sylvestris coming into flower along hedgerows and road verges. It will be at its best in May

Crab apple in blossom and hawthorn (May) buds ready to open in a farm hedge. The ‘crab apple’ might well be from the discarded core of a culinary apple; genuine native crab apple is quite a rare tree now. DNA testing of trees is needed to be absolutely sure that they are the genuine article.

Cuckoo flower aka milkmaids aka Lady’s smock Cardamine pratensis. A lovely purple-hued example of a very variable species. My grandmother had the double-flowered version in her garden, which I’ve also occasionally found in the wild. Cuckoo flower is a food plant for orange-tip butterflies and is easy to propagate from basal leaves in early spring, before the flowers appear.

A taller, paler, more robust version of cuckoo flower

… and finally, ending April with a flourish, magnificent mature wild cherry (gean) trees at Wolsingham in Weardale. I don’t think I can ever remember them flowering so prolifically.