This year the Orchard has been at its most prolific yet, and not just the fruit trees. The pollen & nectar seed mix that was sown last autumn consisted of red clover, alsike clover, bird’s foot trefoil, and fine grasses such as fescues, bents and meadow grasses. The appearance of the Orchard was transformed when they started flowering as it finally looked as if it belonged to someone.

During the summer months bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies, field grasshoppers, moths, 7 Spot ladybirds (and their pupae) have all been sighted and recorded. Some bumblebees have been identified e.g. Red-tailed, Common Carder and Garden. On one occasion I found a shield bug (Picomerus bidens) attached to the bottom of my trousers. Kestrels are regularly sighted hovering over the Orchard. This autumn I have seen 6 different mushrooms/toadstools but have not yet identified them.

Of course the fruit trees are the stars of the show, and boy have they been showy this year! In the spring there was a beautiful display of blossom, followed by a stunning crop, both in                          Apple blossom in the spring            colour and quantity, of fruit. Whilst carrying out the summer pruning of the first 30 trees, (this being the first year I have attempted this procedure), I became aware of 2 trees (from the third 30) that appeared to have died. On closer inspection there was evidence of fresh growth from about 6ins above the rootstock union. I suspect that this was due to previous rabbit/hare damage causing die-back. They were quickly pruned back to the new growth, and it will be interesting to watch over the next few years how long they will take to recover.

What a harvest we have had! We collected windfalls and picked from the trees for over 6 weeks, and thank you to the couple of volunteers who were able to assist me. Both the quantity and quality of the fruit has been overwhelming. The first 30 trees were allowed to fruit unhindered but the second 30 were restricted to 5/6 fruits per tree. Katy (dessert) was the first to

     An early fruiting variety ready for harvesting        be harvested, quickly followed by Howgate Wonder (culinary). Some of you may remember that last year just one of these apples weighed-in at 1lb 5oz. This year the new record is 1lb 7oz! The harvesting continued apace with Egremont Russett (dessert), Yorkshire Aromatic (culinary: first raised, in Scotland, in the year I was born – it is the youngest variety we have!), Carlisle Codlin (culinary), Bramley’s Seedling (culinary), Grenadier (culinary), and Ellison’s Orange (dessert) whose well balanced sharpness/sweetness was much appreciated by Jenny Walton and Jim Reid. The parentage of this variety that was first raised in 1904 is: Cox’s Orange Pippin x Calville Blanc. Rosemary Russett was another favourite of discerning volunteers. Even though we only have one tree I am most encouraged by its prolific nature.          Dennis doiong a little summer pruning

It quickly became apparent, not only to me, that we could end-up contributing to an EU “apple mountain” as we do not have any storage facilities at present. At this moment we received an offer from a local organic farm shop. Julia & Clayton of “Manic Organic”, at Fleet Street Farm, Southport Road, Scarisbrick, asked if they could sell some of our apples as “local produce”. This request was speedily expedited and a consignment of Carlisle Codlin, Yorkshire Aromatic and Katy were duly delivered to them.

Fiona Taylor, Jenny Walton and I continued to sell to fellow volunteers, members, visitors to the reserve, friends, neighbours and family. Members of the “West Lancashire Wildlife” group were eager buyers, as were members of the local U3A table tennis group. You all know who you are – thank you! Yorkshire Aromatic appears to have been the hit of the season. We have had more

                    A Burnet Moth on a thistle head                           repeat orders for this variety than any other, and the feed back we have received mentions the “lovely flavour”, and the fact that it does not turn to “mush” when it is cooked.

Unfortunately there were some negative aspects: the “bad” was the breaking of at least seven branches due to the weight of fruit, and during the winter pruning I will be making a detailed inspection of all the trees that will be allowed to fruit next year.   

The “ugly” was the amount of fruit we lost due to wasp attacks. In the main the two earliest varieties; Discovery, of which we never had a single apple to try, and Katy were the worst affected. As we use organic principles in the Orchard we expect to take some “hits”, but next year I will be keeping a close 

watch on those two in particular. Another thought for next year is that we will have 60 trees fully fruiting, and another 18 will be partially fruiting. This means we have less than 12months     Wasp attacks led to a fair amount of fruit loss

to develop a strategy for coping with more than double the amount of fruit we harvested this year. Help!

Dennis Walton