November 2020

There is no plan(et) B. Earth is our only option. We either preserve it or lose it. I think it is amazing to listen to our oldest environmental campaigner, Sir David Attenbrough and maybe our youngest, Ms Greta Thunberg. Both are apparently in total agreement about the need for concerted global action by everyone to save our only available home, planet Earth. This is an area in which our children will take the lead.

Part of this planet is our garden in Uckfield, close to the border with Framfield. In this garden we have an exotic shrub originally from Mexico called Koeberlinia spinosa. This plant is also known as the crucifixion thorn due to its leaves taking the form of sharp thorns similar to gorse. As I write in early October, this plant is also covered by a mass of sweet smelling tiny white flowers that are providing a late crop of nectar and pollen for a large number of pollinating insects such as red admiral butterflies and bees. Many of the bees are buff-tailed queen bumblebees that have mated with a male and will soon go into hibernation below ground until early spring. After a long sleep underground, they will wake up and lay a few worker eggs to start their colonies. These female workers will start to collect pollen and nectar to provision the colony, fertilising the flowers that they visit as they go, leading to the crops of fruit and veg that we and other animals in turn will eat. After a while, the queen lays some male eggs which will produce suiters for queens produced from other colonies. Our queen will also produce some new queens to mate with suiters from other nests and so on. Additionally, many of these bumblebees will be eaten by insectivorous birds and other animals that make some kind of contribution to our global ecosystem upon which we all depend for every meal we eat, breath we take and waste we produce.

One of the joys of autumn that have stayed with me since being a child is seeing the red admiral butterflies visiting fallen apples, Michaelmas daisies and other autumn produce. Red admiral males are territorial and have to impress a female before mating. Many red admirals then migrate to warmer latitudes for the winter. Others hibernate until the spring. The female will usually lay her eggs on stinging nettles upon which her caterpillars will feed before pupating and becoming adults.