Wildlife And The Orchard
The information below is based on the chapter Sharing with Nature by Gail Vines which appears in The Common Ground Book of Orchards: community, conservation and culture (published by Common Ground 2000):
Had our forebearers set out to create havens for wild life, they could hardly have bettered traditional orchards. 'Domesticated' old orchards may be - but they're no less wild for all that. Orchards rarely feature in habitat surveys as they are 'neither woodland, grassland, hedgerow or wood pasture. Yet they can be all these habitats at once. At their best, orchards offer a patchwork of habitats attractive to an enormous range of animals and plants.
Had our forebearers set out to create havens for wild life, they could hardly have bettered traditional orchards. 'Domesticated' old orchards may be - but they're no less wild for all that. Orchards rarely feature in habitat surveys as they are 'neither woodland, grassland, hedgerow or wood pasture. Yet they can be all these habitats at once. At their best, orchards offer a patchwork of habitats attractive to an enormous range of animals and plants.
Biodiversity thrives in places that are themselves diverse, and have been that way for a long time. Old orchards are living signs of continuity in the landscape and even though the trees themselves are relatively short-lived, orchards may have occupied the same piece of land for centuries. As fruit trees are periodically replaced and replanted, a diverse melange gradually develops. Underneath the trees, a flower-rich grassland carpet evolves, reflecting years of grazing or hay-making. The combination proves irresistible to a myriad of pollinating insects which in turn attracts birds and bats, and much more. If the orchard is surrounded by an old and varied hedge, all the better. The hedge itself may contain locally distinctive fruit trees while it provides another refuge for nesting and feeding. The management rule of thumb is to avoid being overtidy.
Birds
A wide range of birds can be supported by traditional orchards including tits, finches, yellowhammers and blackbirds. In winter, fieldfares and redwings feed on fallen fruit.
In the summer, the overgrown cordons at Tewin Orchard, a reserve near Welwyn managed by the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust, are an attractive breeding habitat for a range of warblers, notably the garden warbler, lesser whitethroat, willow warbler and blackcap. Reed buntings visit in summer and winter, as well as occasional bramblings.
Little owls are closely associated with old orchards. The sparse trees and grassy turf of a good orchard resembles the traditional farm and parkland that are their favourite haunts. The owls have spread throughout England and Wales, though they prefer insects, earthworms and voles to small birds. If an old tree has rotted hollows that form suitable nest holes, and there's short grassland about for feeding, there is a chance you'll see a little owl even in daylight.
Old orchards can be rich in standing dead and decaying wood. The heart rot, hollows, holes and sap runs, which are rich in sugar and yeast, provide rich pickings for wild life. Woodpeckers feed on the rich invertebrate life, and find nesting holes, as do little owls, starlings, jackdaws, tawny owls and spotted flycatcher. Other frequent visitors may include pied and yellow wagtail, treecreeper, blackbird, woodpigeon and magpie.
Plants
Orchards, particularly those with apples, are often host to another source of winter fodder - the berries of the semi-parasitic mistletoe. A recent survey for the Botanical Society of the British Isles and Plantlife has confirmed apple as the favourite host of this useful and decorative species - indeed, apples are home to more than 80 per cent of mistletoes in the country.
Mistletoe particularly likes the open habitats of orchards, where it is a valuable resource for many overwintering birds. Berries develop through the summer months, first as green fruit and finally ripening to white. Not all an orchard tree's foliage is its own. Mistletoe, also has four invertebrate species associated with it - a moth and three bugs.
Ivy, where it grows on fruit trees, makes a first-rate wild life resource. A good roosting and nesting place, it also provides food at just the right times of year. Flowering late, in September and October, ivy supplies nectar to butterflies, bees and other insects when other sources have dried up, and then fruits late in March and April, to nourish desperately hungry wood pigeons, thrushes and small mammals. Some species of beetle are uniquely attracted to ivy blossom.
Lichens soon develop on trees where there is no spraying, especially where air quality is good. In recent surveys 26 species of lichen occurred in just one orchard.
Fungi
Giant puffballs and field mushrooms mysteriously erupt in late August and early September while bracket fungi grow on mature trees. Within older trees, a multitude of less visible fungi are hard at work advancing the process of decay which provides important habitats for invertebrates.
Mammals
Bats may roost in some of the old trees and fly in to eat the moths and chafers. Traditional orchards are an important component of bat landscapes, providing prey for greater horseshoe, brown long-eared and pipistrelle bats. Three types of uncommon bats feed in Tewin Orchard (Welwyn): the serotine, the noctule and the long-eared, the latter in particular feasts on the insects feeding on over¬ripe plums, at an important time before hibernation. Other mammals frequent orchards too, including fox, rabbit, stoat, weasel. Hedgehogs, hares, deer and badgers visit orchards in autumn and winter to feed on the trees' largesse.
Fruit is a particularly important source of energy for badgers in late summer and autumn, when the animls are trying to build up fat rapidly before winter. They are particularly fond of of sweet succulent fruit, picking off ripe blackberries from brambles neatly with their mouths. If badgers can visit orchards, however, they will happily eat whatever fruit is available - windfall apples in particular, but also pears, plums, cherries and peaches. Hares and deer may also venture into orchards at harvest tune.
Invertebrates
Apples rank among the top ten trees in their importance to plant-feeding invertebrates. A wide variety live or feed among the foliage of apple in particular, or as part of a wider predilection for plants in the rose family. The caterpillars of the eyed hawkmoths, commonly associated with willow, also feed on apple, pear and cherry. Adults are well camouflaged against apple bark until, disturbed, they display their bright-pink eyespots. Many predators living among the orchard foliage - such as lacewings, small soldier beetles and hoverfly larvae -help to control pests such as aphids and plant hoppers. Chemical pest controls kill predators as well as pests.
Mixed orchards producing fruit of many types can offer the best mix of habitats for some moths and butterflies. Big cherry or apple trees cast shade, but they are usually widely spaced to allow patches of open ground to encourage wild grasses and flowers such as vetches, which are important food plants for caterpillars or provide nectar for adults. Plum orchards can be particularly rich in sun-loving butterflies because they cast a much lighter shade then cherry or apple. By contrast, mature pears, being more upright than spreading in their growth, offer ideal conditions for speckled wood and orange tip butterflies and other dappled-shade-loving species.
In Hertfordshire, the diverse patchwork of habitats in old orchards provide ideal conditions for the stag beetle. These rare and impressive-looking insects specialise in feeding on nectar and pollen. As adults, they target wild plants that bloom in open grassy spaces such as orchard margins. They enjoy warm sheltered spots with plenty of flowers. The grub of a longhorn beetle is completely different. It requires cool, moist, decaying wood, ideally in contact with the soil. So if you want longhorn beetles in your orchard, these two very different sorts of habitat need to be close to each other.
Cockchafer beetles thrive in orchards. They remain common in the pastures of western Britain, but in some eastern counties, cockchafers are found only in old orchards because good grassland has been lost elsewhere. The cockchafer in turn provides food for bats.
Boundary hedges around the orchard provide protection from wind and frost, food and nesting habitats for many species of bird, and a home for natural predators of orchard pests.
Hedgerows around single-fruit orchards extend the nectar season. Hawthorn, for instance, is one of the best nectar plants and can extend the nectar season of early-flowering plum and cherry orchards. (Unfortunately, hawthorn can be a carrier of fireblight and so is not best for pear and apple orchards.) Bramble in the hedge provides both a good nectar source later in the year (July) once most other nectar sources have finished. The hedge can also support leaf-eating insects not present among the orchard trees.
The richer the botanical diversity of your orchard, the greater complement of insects that act as natural pest control agents. For instance, nectar-rich flowers such as primroses, cowslip, knapweed, scabious, fleabane and wild basil provide vital energy in the spring and early summer for a host of parasitic wasps which in turn attack pest species such as aphids. Research has also shown that orchards with rich plant communities are remarkably free of codling moth - whose larvae are maggots in apples - even though the orchards have not been sprayed. Most of the larvae are dealt with by the natural insect enemies, including various sorts of ground beetles. The beetles hunt down and eat the larvae as they overwinter in the soil. The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust will be able to offer advice on which plants work best in your neighbourhood.
Encouraging Bees to your Orchard
Not so long ago few orchards were without at least one beekeeper's hive. European honey bees make good pollinators of apple and other fruit trees especially when the worker-bees collect pollen to feed to the young brood. The light honey they make from the nectar of fruit blossom is said to have an excellent delicate flavour and fine aroma.
There are over 250 kinds of bee in Britain and the Honeybee and Bumblebee represent only a tiny proportion. The honeybee and bumblebee lives in colonies and belong to a group known as the social bees, the majority of other species are solitary bees.
All bees, are completely dependant on flowering plants for food in the form of pollen and nectar and in turn plants depend upon bees for pollination. Fruit growers rely on honeybees to pollinate their fruit blossom in the spring and it has been estimated that in Britain the honeybees' share in increasing the yield of crops and fruit is worth millions of pounds.
Honeybees are kept in hives from which we take honey and other bee products such as wax. Unfortunately during the past few years honeybee colonies throughout the U.K. have been decimated by a parasitic mite. This has serious implications for fruit production.
In Britain solitary bees are to be found in many gardens during the spring and summer months but go largely unobserved. Common species include the mason, mining and leaf-cutter bees.
The female solitary bee constructs a tiny tunnel in a lawn or wall in which she lays a single egg. Nectar and pollen is collected, made into a paste and then placed in the tunnel near the egg to serve as food for the developing bee. The tunnel is then sealed.
Solitary bees such as the mason bee can be attracted to fruit trees by supplying a bee nesting block of rough cut wood 30 cms (12 ins) long and 10cm x 10cm (4in x 4in) square filled with artificial nesting tunnels.
Holes 8mm (5/16ths) in diameter are drilled right through the block of wood. Tack a thin piece of plywood on the back of the block to seal off the ends of the tunnels. A block this size can accommodate about 80 or 90 holes of this diameter.
Attach a makeshift roof and fix a hook and wire so the block can be hung from a fruit tree branch.
A number of these blocks hung around the fruit trees will attract solitary wasps which will in turn pollinate the blossom while foraging for pollen and nectar to feed their young.
Birds
A wide range of birds can be supported by traditional orchards including tits, finches, yellowhammers and blackbirds. In winter, fieldfares and redwings feed on fallen fruit.
In the summer, the overgrown cordons at Tewin Orchard, a reserve near Welwyn managed by the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust, are an attractive breeding habitat for a range of warblers, notably the garden warbler, lesser whitethroat, willow warbler and blackcap. Reed buntings visit in summer and winter, as well as occasional bramblings.
Little owls are closely associated with old orchards. The sparse trees and grassy turf of a good orchard resembles the traditional farm and parkland that are their favourite haunts. The owls have spread throughout England and Wales, though they prefer insects, earthworms and voles to small birds. If an old tree has rotted hollows that form suitable nest holes, and there's short grassland about for feeding, there is a chance you'll see a little owl even in daylight.
Old orchards can be rich in standing dead and decaying wood. The heart rot, hollows, holes and sap runs, which are rich in sugar and yeast, provide rich pickings for wild life. Woodpeckers feed on the rich invertebrate life, and find nesting holes, as do little owls, starlings, jackdaws, tawny owls and spotted flycatcher. Other frequent visitors may include pied and yellow wagtail, treecreeper, blackbird, woodpigeon and magpie.
Plants
Orchards, particularly those with apples, are often host to another source of winter fodder - the berries of the semi-parasitic mistletoe. A recent survey for the Botanical Society of the British Isles and Plantlife has confirmed apple as the favourite host of this useful and decorative species - indeed, apples are home to more than 80 per cent of mistletoes in the country.
Mistletoe particularly likes the open habitats of orchards, where it is a valuable resource for many overwintering birds. Berries develop through the summer months, first as green fruit and finally ripening to white. Not all an orchard tree's foliage is its own. Mistletoe, also has four invertebrate species associated with it - a moth and three bugs.
Ivy, where it grows on fruit trees, makes a first-rate wild life resource. A good roosting and nesting place, it also provides food at just the right times of year. Flowering late, in September and October, ivy supplies nectar to butterflies, bees and other insects when other sources have dried up, and then fruits late in March and April, to nourish desperately hungry wood pigeons, thrushes and small mammals. Some species of beetle are uniquely attracted to ivy blossom.
Lichens soon develop on trees where there is no spraying, especially where air quality is good. In recent surveys 26 species of lichen occurred in just one orchard.
Fungi
Giant puffballs and field mushrooms mysteriously erupt in late August and early September while bracket fungi grow on mature trees. Within older trees, a multitude of less visible fungi are hard at work advancing the process of decay which provides important habitats for invertebrates.
Mammals
Bats may roost in some of the old trees and fly in to eat the moths and chafers. Traditional orchards are an important component of bat landscapes, providing prey for greater horseshoe, brown long-eared and pipistrelle bats. Three types of uncommon bats feed in Tewin Orchard (Welwyn): the serotine, the noctule and the long-eared, the latter in particular feasts on the insects feeding on over¬ripe plums, at an important time before hibernation. Other mammals frequent orchards too, including fox, rabbit, stoat, weasel. Hedgehogs, hares, deer and badgers visit orchards in autumn and winter to feed on the trees' largesse.
Fruit is a particularly important source of energy for badgers in late summer and autumn, when the animls are trying to build up fat rapidly before winter. They are particularly fond of of sweet succulent fruit, picking off ripe blackberries from brambles neatly with their mouths. If badgers can visit orchards, however, they will happily eat whatever fruit is available - windfall apples in particular, but also pears, plums, cherries and peaches. Hares and deer may also venture into orchards at harvest tune.
Invertebrates
Apples rank among the top ten trees in their importance to plant-feeding invertebrates. A wide variety live or feed among the foliage of apple in particular, or as part of a wider predilection for plants in the rose family. The caterpillars of the eyed hawkmoths, commonly associated with willow, also feed on apple, pear and cherry. Adults are well camouflaged against apple bark until, disturbed, they display their bright-pink eyespots. Many predators living among the orchard foliage - such as lacewings, small soldier beetles and hoverfly larvae -help to control pests such as aphids and plant hoppers. Chemical pest controls kill predators as well as pests.
Mixed orchards producing fruit of many types can offer the best mix of habitats for some moths and butterflies. Big cherry or apple trees cast shade, but they are usually widely spaced to allow patches of open ground to encourage wild grasses and flowers such as vetches, which are important food plants for caterpillars or provide nectar for adults. Plum orchards can be particularly rich in sun-loving butterflies because they cast a much lighter shade then cherry or apple. By contrast, mature pears, being more upright than spreading in their growth, offer ideal conditions for speckled wood and orange tip butterflies and other dappled-shade-loving species.
In Hertfordshire, the diverse patchwork of habitats in old orchards provide ideal conditions for the stag beetle. These rare and impressive-looking insects specialise in feeding on nectar and pollen. As adults, they target wild plants that bloom in open grassy spaces such as orchard margins. They enjoy warm sheltered spots with plenty of flowers. The grub of a longhorn beetle is completely different. It requires cool, moist, decaying wood, ideally in contact with the soil. So if you want longhorn beetles in your orchard, these two very different sorts of habitat need to be close to each other.
Cockchafer beetles thrive in orchards. They remain common in the pastures of western Britain, but in some eastern counties, cockchafers are found only in old orchards because good grassland has been lost elsewhere. The cockchafer in turn provides food for bats.
Boundary hedges around the orchard provide protection from wind and frost, food and nesting habitats for many species of bird, and a home for natural predators of orchard pests.
Hedgerows around single-fruit orchards extend the nectar season. Hawthorn, for instance, is one of the best nectar plants and can extend the nectar season of early-flowering plum and cherry orchards. (Unfortunately, hawthorn can be a carrier of fireblight and so is not best for pear and apple orchards.) Bramble in the hedge provides both a good nectar source later in the year (July) once most other nectar sources have finished. The hedge can also support leaf-eating insects not present among the orchard trees.
The richer the botanical diversity of your orchard, the greater complement of insects that act as natural pest control agents. For instance, nectar-rich flowers such as primroses, cowslip, knapweed, scabious, fleabane and wild basil provide vital energy in the spring and early summer for a host of parasitic wasps which in turn attack pest species such as aphids. Research has also shown that orchards with rich plant communities are remarkably free of codling moth - whose larvae are maggots in apples - even though the orchards have not been sprayed. Most of the larvae are dealt with by the natural insect enemies, including various sorts of ground beetles. The beetles hunt down and eat the larvae as they overwinter in the soil. The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust will be able to offer advice on which plants work best in your neighbourhood.
Encouraging Bees to your Orchard
Not so long ago few orchards were without at least one beekeeper's hive. European honey bees make good pollinators of apple and other fruit trees especially when the worker-bees collect pollen to feed to the young brood. The light honey they make from the nectar of fruit blossom is said to have an excellent delicate flavour and fine aroma.
There are over 250 kinds of bee in Britain and the Honeybee and Bumblebee represent only a tiny proportion. The honeybee and bumblebee lives in colonies and belong to a group known as the social bees, the majority of other species are solitary bees.
All bees, are completely dependant on flowering plants for food in the form of pollen and nectar and in turn plants depend upon bees for pollination. Fruit growers rely on honeybees to pollinate their fruit blossom in the spring and it has been estimated that in Britain the honeybees' share in increasing the yield of crops and fruit is worth millions of pounds.
Honeybees are kept in hives from which we take honey and other bee products such as wax. Unfortunately during the past few years honeybee colonies throughout the U.K. have been decimated by a parasitic mite. This has serious implications for fruit production.
In Britain solitary bees are to be found in many gardens during the spring and summer months but go largely unobserved. Common species include the mason, mining and leaf-cutter bees.
The female solitary bee constructs a tiny tunnel in a lawn or wall in which she lays a single egg. Nectar and pollen is collected, made into a paste and then placed in the tunnel near the egg to serve as food for the developing bee. The tunnel is then sealed.
Solitary bees such as the mason bee can be attracted to fruit trees by supplying a bee nesting block of rough cut wood 30 cms (12 ins) long and 10cm x 10cm (4in x 4in) square filled with artificial nesting tunnels.
Holes 8mm (5/16ths) in diameter are drilled right through the block of wood. Tack a thin piece of plywood on the back of the block to seal off the ends of the tunnels. A block this size can accommodate about 80 or 90 holes of this diameter.
Attach a makeshift roof and fix a hook and wire so the block can be hung from a fruit tree branch.
A number of these blocks hung around the fruit trees will attract solitary wasps which will in turn pollinate the blossom while foraging for pollen and nectar to feed their young.
