Blackthorn

This is the shrub that in Europe will turn many of our hedgerows and scrub areas white over the next few weeks. It is blackthorn prunus spinosa, a very common wild shrub. The flowers appear before the leaves and the blackish/bluish berries - sloes - arrrive in the autumn. If you bite one it will dry the inside of your mouth instantly. Some people put gin with them to make sloe gin, but I prefer tonic and lemon with my gin.

The other common thorn, hawthorn, doesn't flower until May but its pretty green leaf shoots are starting to appear in hedgerows now.

Early spring has started to arrive!