Thread by @VLandMovement

#TreeTuesday #VLMTreeOfTheWeek 🧵
Tree No4, planted on land taken from dairy farming by the #VeganLandMovementCIC

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

Part of the cherry family this pretty tree is sometimes known as "Mother of the Wood" but it's commonly more famous for its berries ...

Flowering as early as late February (flowering from last year's growth & another reason not to cut hedges) & before its leaves are formed, its glorious abundance of creamy blossoms provides vital sustenance for bees after winter.

#Insects #Pollinators #savethebees 🐝🐝

The Blackthorn flowers are hermaphrodite meaning they have male & female parts in each flower. ♂️♀️

That makes this beautiful tree self fertile 🌸🌳

The dried flowers/berries were foraged for natural medicine & the bark for ink, it was also linked to bad luck & witchcraft, probably due to the length of its fierce thorns. It is said that witches were burnt on blackthorn pyres 😱🧙‍♀️🔥

Here is the Sloe Fairy to counter that 🧚‍♀️

Its dense, thorny branches can make impenetrable hedging. The thorns are vicious & provide vital protection for endangered nesting birds such as Thrushes, Nightingales & Turtle Doves. It is also a popular nesting choice of small mammals like the endangered Hazel Dormouse 🐹🐦

Blackthorn also supports an enormous variety of insects. It attracts moths such as the lackey and the magpie whose caterpillars thrive on the foliage.
🦋🐛🐝🐞🦗🕷️🪳

The rare Brown and even rarer Black Hairstreak butterflies are dependent on Blackthorn.

Here is a Black Hairstreak laying an egg on Blackthorn 🦋

#Butterflies

The Blackthorn's dark purple, inky-looking berries are enjoyed by Mistle Thrushes, Fieldfares & Blackbirds but of course they are better known as sloes & are eagerly foraged by humans to make #SloeGin🍸Please forage responsibly & remember who needs the berries more #wildlife 🐦🐹

Blackthorn's value to wildlife cannot be overstated.

Please consider joining @VLandMovement & help plant this & other native trees to bring back endangered wildlife on ecologically barren land removed from dairy🌱

#CompassionInAction #Animals #Climate

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