Remember how long and cold winter was? Now it’s payback time, with unusually rich pickings of autumn fruit and berries. Why?
So far 2010 has been a year of extremes – the coldest winter in 30 years, the first late spring since 1976, a heatwave in late June and the coldest August in 17 years.
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The upside is that this means the nation’s trees and hedgerows are bursting with fruit, berries and nuts.
Not only is this good news for orchard owners, home gardeners and foragers alike, it means birds, insects and animals can stock up before winter’s chill descends.
“This relates back to the wonderful late spring and – incredibly by modern standards – the long period of settled weather we had until mid-July, when the wheels fell off somewhat,” says Matthew Oates, the National Trust’s conservation advisor, who has kept detailed wildlife diaries for many years.
Throughout August an area of low pressure sat over or near to the UK, making it a cloudy, cool and wet month.
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“But we had nothing nasty all the way through May, June and early July – no gales, no late frosts, nothing. In this 10 to 12-week period free from foul and abusive weather, the trees had time to flower profusely, be amply pollinated and then set well with fruit.”
While early blackberries suffered in August’s rains, those ripening now are in plentiful supply.
Also abundant are apples, pears and the last of the plums – albeit perhaps a little weather damaged from the inclement turn last month – along with hazelnuts, rosehips and sloe berries.
“It’s a terrific rosehip year. Rosehips have about 1,000 times more vitamin C than oranges and lemons but we don’t tend to eat these now because of the preparation required. But they were a mainstay of World War II diets, with rosehip jellies and syrups.”
The hedgerows are also well-berried, dripping with spindle berries and the fruits of hawthorn and holly.
