March

Colour is coming to the hedgerows , with primroses and daffodils bringing touches of glorious bright yellow. Blackthorne blossom and the first cuckoo flowers are here by the end of the month.

Birds are beginning to look for good nesting sites amongst the shrubs and undergrowth.

Butterflies are emerging from hibernation - the Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock are both seen now flying and settling on the sunny side of hedges and walls.

 

Our hedgerows are important, giving shelter to farm animals and wildlife, slowing wind speeds and decreasing soil erosion. They also supply firewood and valuable timber.

 

 

Hazel is a common hedgerow plant, a native shrub that  was once an important economic crop. It had many uses: pea and bean sticks, hurdles, clothes pegs and kindling. The flowers are produced from January to March.

The male flowers are the well-known, long yellow  catkins that swing in the breeze and scatter their pollen. The female flowers are on the upper sides of the twigs, bud-like with crimson tassels waiting to be dusted with pollen and fertilized. Hazel nuts ripen in early September and are a valued food source for birds and squirrels as well as humans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

images from top: blackthorn blossom, daffodils, hazel catkins

 

 

 

 

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