Blackthorn blossom without a blackthorn winter?

 The first blackthorn aka sloe Prunus spinosa flowers opened in a hedge alongside one of my favourite walks in Weardale last week. This often signals the start of a 'blackthorn winter', a period of intensely cold north-easterly winds, but this year it looks like we might be lucky - the forecast for the next couple of weeks is for milder weather, warm enough for pollinators to be active. Last spring's blackthorn winter led to pollination failure and a very poor crop of sloes locally, and almost complete crop failure for the damson tree in my garden.

The blackthorn in this length of hedgerow is brutally cut back every winter but this is a tree that produces clusters of flower buds on the old wood that survives, that's almost completely coated in lichens. Blackthorn blossom in a carpet of grey and yellow encrusting lichens is a particularly attractive combination.

Pocket plum disease

 This summer there have been some spectacular local outbreaks of pocket plum disease, affecting sloes on blackthorn on the Durham coast near Hawthorn dene  and bird cherry fruits in Weardale. It's caused by the fungus Taphrina pruni, which induces the fruits to swell, become spongy and fill with watery fluid. In bird cherry (bottom picture) the normally spherical, shiny black fruits become banana-shaped. No seeds are formed inside these deformed fruits, instead there is an empty 'pocket'.

A slow start to spring

 It has been a hesitant spring here in County Durham, in the North Pennines, but a few wild flowers are beginning to bloom. Here are some from the first half of March.

Colt'sfoot, in Teesdale and beside the river Tyne in Hexham

Butterbur, beside the river Tyne in Hexham yesterday

Elm flowering on the edge of woodland near Wolsingham, Weardale

Yellow star of Bethlehem, locally rare, just coming into bloom during the first week of March, beside the river Wear near Wolsingham, Weardale. I've known this small population for over 40 years and it is increasing very slowly.

Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage, in Teesdale and at Hexham in Tynedale

Hairy bittercress, infesting my garden and already producing seed pods

Primroses in the snow in my garden

Wood anemones in woodland beside the river Tees at Egglestone

Barren strawberry growing in an old wall in Teesdale

Some early blackthorn blossom, from the beginning of the month

Cherry-plum at Willington in the Wear valley. The earliest blossom was damaged by freezing temperatures and snow

Male flowers of dog's mercury, in a woodland in Teesdale

Stinking hellebore flowering near Hawthorn Dene on the Durham coast, at the beginning of the month

Winter aconites flowered at the end of February and had run to seed by early March. These are in the churchyard at Wolsingham in Weardale.

Dog violets, flowering in my garden today

Blossom

From March until July, this has been the best for native tree blossom that I can recall in our part of the North Pennines. It started with sloe and is now coming to an end with elder. Here they are, in chronological sequence

Blackthorn aka Sloe

Wild cherry aka gean

Hawthorn

Bird cherry

Rowan aka mountain ash

Elder

Frothy

The first official day of summer, and up at St. John's Chapel in Weardale the banks of the river Wear are fringed with a frothy mass of blossom. 

In the background, bird cherry; on the left of the picture are the umbels of aniseed-scented sweet cicely; at the bottom right, sloe (aka blackthorn blossom). 

This is a picture that sums up the consequences of the cold, late spring for our flora, because although sloe typically flowers in April it's in full bloom here in June. Spring flowers have been held back to such an extent that many have been overtaken by the summer bloomers. 

The upside, as far as blackthorn is concerned, is that there are far more pollinators around now than there would have  been during its normal flowering period, so maybe there will be a much better sloe crop than last year, so it might be a vintage year for sloe gin. Always look on the bright side of life, eh?

Sloe blossom

Bird cherry blossom