Definitley May

 

Oilseed Rape

May seems to have brought us four seasons in as many days, including a traditionally cold, wet Bank Holiday, but things are warming up. Bright blocks of yellow oilseed rape fields colour the horizon, dandelions daisies and buttercups add charm to lawns and meadows.

Buttercups and a Burdock

Hawthorn is in blossom; the hedgerows are full of campions and other wildflowers. This floral profusion brings with it the insects, including everyone’s seasonal favourite, the vivid butterflies. Ransoms and Wild Garlick are still available, adding flavour to your cooking, along with Alexanders and other umbellifers belonging to the Apiaceae family.

Hawthorn Blossom

If you are interested in common umbellifers, beware of the deadly poisonous and terribly common, Hemlock and Hemlock Water-Dropwort – AKA Dead Man's Fingers or Fools Parsley due to the similarity of the leaves. If you are new to foraging, spend time (allow four seasons) identifying the different stalks, leaves and flowers, before eating anything you are unsure about.

Butterfly

We should not be surprised that nature has many toxins, and you should only ever eat things that you are sure about. This is one reason I focused solely on fruit and nuts when initially foraging with my son and daughter, when they were young. They were, however, soon able to spot Elderflowers, from a distance.

Elderflower (background) and Hemlock Water Dropwort (foreground)

Elder is truly the gift that keeps on giving. It is fascinating for many reasons but my main interest in May, is the blousy flowers and sweet citrus aroma. I make Elderflower Champagne every year, while my daughter always make Elderflower cordial. These drinks are simple to make, delightful to drink and last throughout the Summer months as a thirst-quenching sunshine staple. Later in the season I harvest Elderberries and make Port wine, to last throughout the Winter months.

Elderflowers

Time flies when you’re having fun, and it seems unlikely that, in the next month, we will be  celebrating Midsummer, while eating delicious ripe Cherries plucked from trees, but I assure you, we will.

Celebrating Midsummer 2025

Finally, I note that NASA has spent billions and billions of dollars, to send a rocket around the far side of the moon, but it was a bit too dark to see anything. A simpler, more affordable way to be the first human to witness something unique, is to bite into a freshly picked, zesty apple (or even one bought in a supermarket). It constantly surprises me; how few people have not eaten fresh fruit straight off a tree. Go now! Do it yourself, and celebrate the miracle that is nature.

Campions and Ransoms

Purple Reign

Bluebells

March filled our world with vivid shades of green. April now introduces a different colour pallet. Birds are more vocal, singing to attract mates or proclaim territory, and starting to build nests.

Wisteria

This month is more commonly known for enchanting woodland displays of Bluebells, and wisteria wrapped cottages, but you cannot eat these plants.  

Cherry Blossom (White)

April also brings us Apple and Cherry Blossom. If you are familiar with these trees, you can be sure of where the first fruit (Cherries) will turn dark red and ripen in June. Similarly, with Apple blossom, you can easily spot where the trees are, but they might not be ready to pick until later in the year, around September.

Apple Blossom (Pink)

Japan is so famous for its cherry blossom season that it has created a tourist over-population problem. Fortunately (for some perhaps) in the UK, most people don’t even notice it ;-)

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Incidentally, the song, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White – is quite misleading! Cherry trees with pink blossom are often ornamental hybrids, bred purely for the flowers not the juicy fruit we all desire.

Jack by the Hedge

More significantly, my favourite foraging edibles in April are Wild Garlic, Ransoms and Jack by the Hedge, commonly known as Garlic/Mustard. These tasty plants are often easier to detect by their pungent smell, particularly in woodland settings. The leaves are very simple to collect and make easy additions to cooking. The flowers or buds can be pickled to make tasty capers. You should not dig up the bulbs but leave them for next year.

Rhubarb

Our purple sprouting broccoli is looking and tasting very nice too. Also, I’m now on my fifth Rhubarb crumble! I noted that the stalks in the garden were quite thin this time, so I gave the plot a copious watering. We’ve had three months of rain followed by three months of no rain at all, making gardening more complex. We should be recognising signs of Climate Change, as well as signs of Spring.

Ransoms

Everything's Gone Green

Garden Grown Grapes

The Urbane Forager Project encourages active travel, reduces reliance on commercially transported food, and strengthens environmental stewardship (Mansbridge Community Orchard). It also supports public health: spending time outdoors, connecting with nature, cycling or walking between sites, and engaging with local green spaces all contribute to better mental and physical wellbeing.

Spring Moss, For Fun - Not Eating

By teaching others to identify, harvest, and use urban fruit, the project highlights important scientific concepts including seasonality, biodiversity, ecological cycles, and the environmental impacts of food production and transport.

Wild Garlic

To help people with early tree identification and mapping, I created the free seasonal id cheat sheets, which can be downloaded as pdfs or printed off. The Urbane Forager: Free Seasonal Tree id Sheets.

Seasonal Garden Broccoli and Cavallo Nero

Blossom spotting is one of my favourite ways of locating future fruit; I like it partly because of the joy it brings after the bleak days of Winter, but you need to be quick off the mark. The flowers often do not last long and are soon replaced by the bright green of new foliage. The Plum bloom has already faded and next on the menu will be Apple, Pear and Cherry blossom.

We Pick Hundreds of kgs of Free Apples

Needless to say, other options are available, and yes, there is indeed an app for that. Falling Fruit draws on cutting-edge citizen science collaboration. I contributed early mapping data to FallingFruit.org, a global, crowd-sourced fruit map built by an international team of scientists and developers. This open-access platform now allows anyone to find and contribute geospatial data via smartphone, expanding public engagement with ecological information. The Falling Fruit map/app is currently being re-developed and updated, so we should see some improvements soon.

The Falling Fruit Map/App

In slightly less technical language, you can click a button and locate fruit and nut trees, as well as other edibles, close to your location. You can also discover the condition, abundance and seasonality of the nutritious food sources. The app also makes it simple to photograph, locate and  contribute your own discoveries, for others to find.

Rhubarb

Tangentially, Rhubarb crumble is another of my seasonal favourites, it has been growing strongly in our garden and I've already made (and eaten) two tart and tasty treats. I like to add a small amount of ginger to make it perkier still (as recommended by Delia Smith).

Another Crumble

Spring Forward

One of Springs unexpected delights is the sight of Catkins, caught in sunlight, hanging in a hedgerow or dappled woodland, like golden rain. Catkins are tree flowers, commonly a Hazel tree, so later, around September there will be Hazel nuts to gather here.

Hazel Catkins 

The 2026 vernal equinox occurs on March 20, marking the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Equinox means equal periods of night-time and daylight; the tilt of the earth also brings us closer to the sun. We get longer hours of warmer sunlight up until the Summer solstice. Nature adapts according to the increase in temperature and the dwindling hours of night.

Plumb Blossom

One of my favourite and most apparent signs of Spring is the sudden blossoming of Plum trees and the related Blackthorn. Plum trees in city gardens and roadsides are suddenly filled with dramatic shows of creamy white flowers. The blossom also has a distinctive smell, which reminds me of marzipan (made from almonds, and also related), you can even taste it in a plum flower. One of my long time hobbies is the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun and this name translates as "Beautiful Springtime" and the plum blossom is a related symbol. The key thing with plum blossom is remembering where it is, plums in many varieties and colours could be there later in the season. Blackthorn, which is more common in countryside hedgerows, will supply us with Sloes later in Autumn, allowing us to prepare everyone's favourite Xmas liquor, Sloe Gin.

Magnolia Blossom

Another tree that flowers in urban gardens at this time of year, is the stunning Magnolia, their big blousy flowers are showy but also eminently edible, giving a distinctive tase of ginger. There are lots of different Magnolia recipes including various teas and biscuits.

Ransoms

Less showy but just as tasty plants that appear in abundance in Spring include Wild Garlic and Ransoms, which you normally smell before you see them, typically covering woodland banks or in damp hedges the leaves and flowers can be used in many cooking applications including salads, pesto or just for added flavour in a meal.

Alexanders

Alexanders are an often missed Spring hedgerow gem. Tasting akin and related to the carrot family, it has edible leaves and flowers. The delicious flowers can be fried in batter, the leaves can be fried in butter with wild garlic, a tasty supplement to any meal. A word of caution, you need to be very careful with plant identification, if you are unsure, don't pick it. Several very common but extremely poisonous plants (Hemlock and water Hemlock Dropwort spring to mind), can look very similar to the untrained eye. I spent a year observing the differences, through the seasons, before venturing into eating these plants.

Beautiful Springtime

The Regeneration Game

 

Every year (normally at the back of January/February), after I realise the days have got a little bit longer, there comes a day when I feel the warmth of the sunshine on my face. This year I happened to be sitting on a Barbra Hepworth sculpture, eating my lunch. There was a break in the clouds, the sun had clambered high enough to heat my skin.

At moments like these, I sometimes reflect on our distant ancestors worshiping that golden orb and ponder why they dragged those monolithic rocks across the countryside, to create calendars on their landscapes. We cannot understand their mindset, which is part of the beauty and mystery of these unknowable monuments. However, with careful observation we can see a natural calendar in the seasons of plants, trees and weather.

The ground was muddy and saturated du to recent heavy rainstorms. I had noticed that crocuses had flowered under a large oak tree and fresh daisies were tracking sun’s light. Other plants were beginning to send forth green shoots to compete for energy in the form of sunlight.

Interestingly, plants don’t wait until the days get longer, they count the nights getting shorter, combined with a subtle shift in temperature and the fact that there has been a steady period of cold temperatures. During last Autumn, some people reported detecting a “Second Spring” (trees and plants flowering unseasonably for a second time), but plants are opportunistic and will take any chance send out extra seeds to improve their chance of colonising.

Climate scientists have consistently warned about the effects humans are having on the Earth. Warmer wetter winters combined with hotter drier summers, with more droughts and flooding have long been predicted as a result of human induced climate warming. Now gardeners and other people who enjoy nature, are starting to notice subtle shifts in the seasons, and understanding the difference between climate and weather.

Albion, a Spring Song for Blighted Briton by, The Garden Wall. Enjoy!

You might even notice that the songbirds have started to sing, shouting out to rivals to demonstrate their territory.

The Urbane Forage Re-Boot Spring 2026

The Urbane Forage Re-Boot Spring 2026 

Hello foraging fans.

You will be pleased to hear that we're re-booting the Urbane Forager blog.

Growing your own food.

Making your own drinks.

We will start posting in earnest in the Spring of 2026. We never stopped, we simply got busy with our family and other projects.

Growing your own food.

I'm posting some images of this year's various harvests to show what can easily be achieved, as an introduction for new followers.

Feel free to ask questions.

We will be seeking out sponsors to help further our engagement and arranging public foraging walks in the city.

 2024 - Blossom Walk and Volunteering Opportunities in Mansbridge Community Orchard

TBA