Kate Humble
We are delighted to reveal that a small part of the Springwatch Christmas Special will be filmed at West Bradley Orchards. Kate Humble and her crew will be spending a day with us towards the end of November to film a piece on mistletoe.
Yes. Mistletoe! Seasonal it may be, and an important habitat for several species including mistlethrushes and blackcaps, but we have mixed feelings about it.
Although we are pleased to say there is not a trace of mistletoe in our commercial plantings it does cause us problems in the traditional orchard. If you don’t keep a serious eye on it it can get away from you and rampage through the trees, eventually killing them.
The only solution is to remove the entire branch, right back to the trunk. Cutting out just the plant only makes the problem worse.
Happily for the BBC there is no shortage of mistletoe at West Bradley and we hope they will be able to capture some of the mistlethrushes in flight. Not many birds are attracted to the white berries so they are a reliable food source throughout the winter for those birds that do know about them.
Other creatures for whom mistletoe is an important habitat include the rare and endangered Mistletoe Marble Moth.
We hope we will be able to get across our message about the importance of managing traditional orchards properly for both diversity and productivity.
The programme will be broadcast in the Christmas schedules.
