Distressing times for Damsons

There is a small corner of Cumbria which is at the heart of a fruit growing tradition stretching back two thousand years. The Damson was probably introduced to this country by the Romans. It's a type of plum which is especially prolific in the former territories of Westmorland, annexed by neighbouring Cumberland in 1974 under the rule of Heath the merciless.

The Lyth valley, which rather unusually runs from the south to the north, rather than east-west stretching up from Morecambe Bay into the Lake District, is one of the biggest damson producing areas in the country. In April the trees, and there are hundreds of them both in the hedgerows and in orchards attached to many of the local farms, are white with blossom. Damson Day is a celebration of this blossom held towards the end of the month.

The crop of fruit is normally harvested towards the end of August and into September. This year however it's a washout. According to the Westmorland Damson Association, which exists to promote the use of this fruit the harvest is down by about eighty percent. The trees, have to quote Helen Smith the secretary of the association, `had enough'.

They were assailed by fierce easterly winds in the spring when the blossom was forming, this icy blast put the pollinating insects off pollinating. The blossom was blown off the trees and the fruit failed to form properly.

The result is trees which are are literally aging before their time, or at least they are putting on their winter clothes long before they should. The leaves are already turning yellow and some of the fruit which has actually made it onto the tree is small and shrivelled.

The prematurely yellow leaves are clearly visible on this tree

This is a bad year but it isn't a disaster, yet. There is a Cumbrian damson mountain, not yet on the scale of Europe's butter mountain in the nineteen seventies. In freezers in several location across Cumbria and North Lancashire with much of last year's harvest. Quite a lot of this was bought by the Westmorland Damson Association as a part of their policy of ensuring that in the good years like 2007, enough is stored away for the lean years like this one.

What would really hurt would be if this years freezing east winds returned next spring. Those who use damsons for jam, gin, pies and sausages will probably be OK for now, but would struggle to survive a second barren year. These Damson famines happen from time to time, but climate change watchers will watch with interest to see if this becomes a trend.