April is one of the best months to enjoy an abundance of colour in the countryside, the spring flowers are on full show yet to be hidden by the long grass and bracken.
One of my favourites is the early purple orchid.
You can find this in abundance at the Pendower end of Treluggan along with a sea of blue bells and common violets at the Curgurrel end. There is a small clump on the Dodman near the watch house and a good show at Lambsowden.
It was more common in the past but due to changing agricultural practices and development it has suffered a decline.
The early purple orchid has a scent akin to lily-of-the-valley. It has many local names including adder’s meat, bloody butchers, red butchers, goosey ganders, kecklegs, kettle cases and kite’s legs. The dried tubers have been used to make a drink called Saloop or Salep by grinding them into flour, and mixing with hot milk or water, honey and spices. This was popular in the nineteenth century among manual workers probably owing to wholesome and strengthening qualities. It probably originated from the similar Middle Eastern drink, sahleb
Another favourite is garlic mustard. The main reason being that it is one of the food plants for the very attractive orange tip butterfly. A Spring time butterfly with beautiful underwing. Only the male has the orange tip to its wings and is an excellent example of a combination of warning colouration and camouflage. They feed on a variety of other brassicas and carry the distasteful bitter mustard oils from these in their bodies to deter predation.
At one time people used garlic mustard in sauces, with bread and butter, salted meat and with lettuce in salads. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was used as a flavouring in sauces for fish and lamb.
Another Spring flower you can’t fail to miss is greater stitchwort as it adorns the hedgerows with delicate white flowers. The name “Stitchwort” itself comes from the once-held belief it cured side-stitch caused by exercise.
One of its local names is “popguns” as its seeds fire off noisily when ripe. It is also known as Poppers.
Other Spring time butterflies to look out for are Brimstone. Large yellow butterfly that lays eggs on alder buckthorn and feeds on a variety of spring flowers. Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell will be emerging from hibernating over winter in sheds and wood piles. And the Holly blue can be seen flitting around the ivy and holly bushes.
We hope you can get out and enjoy the delights of Spring. For more information please email roseland@nationaltrust.org.uk, follow us on Facebook, National Trust Roseland, and Instagram Roselandranger.