Blackthorn

Tuesday 22nd February 2022

I have a research assignment to do this semester. I am going to be measuring the nectar supply from Blackthorn in hedges on the RAU site over a four week period. I went out to check the hedges today and found one bush with flowers open!! Thats very early in the season. Luckily the rest were still at bud stage but I will need to start my data collection on Monday next week - there will definitely be lots more flowers out then. I am comparing flailed and non flailed hedgerows - not suprisingly the flailed hedgerow appear to have no buds forming at all at the moment - they might be quite quick to count!

The nectar from Blackthorn is really important - it is one of the first flowers that comes out on agricultural land and provides nectar for queen bees as they start to build their nests. It will be an interesting study.