Edgeley Wildlife & Nature Reserve
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Edgeley Wildlife & Nature Reserve Today
Scrub
Brambles protect the nesting birds we love to see and hear, including thrushes, robins, long-tailed tits, finches and warblers. They also provide shelter for shy or threatened species found in quiet places, such as the woodcock, which hides at ground level, and dormice, which climb and nest among the stems.
Although blackberry plants swamp other species, they are a part of successional woodland growth, protecting saplings from grazing animals so they can grow up and succeed them. If you have enough land to grow woodland, this might be useful to know.
Bramble flowers are open, prolific and generous suppliers of pollen and nectar for insects – from bees, wasps and hoverflies to beetles and butterflies. Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Comma, Silver-washed Fritillary, Gatekeeper, Ringlet and Small Skipper are among the butterflies I’ve seen amongst bramble.
The berries form an important food for creatures great and small – from foxes, badgers and small mammals like wood mice and rare dormice to birds and insects. A few days ago I noticed a horse delicately picking blackberries with its lips, and dogs do this too.
The leaves are food for wildlife as well. Buff Arches, Peach Blossom and Fox moth (cuckoo food) caterpillars are amongst the many moth larvae that eat them, not to mention many fly and beetle larvae. You will see many spiders on brambles catching flies. I often wonder how they know to make their webs above the juiciest berries.
The leaves are food for wildlife as well. Buff Arches, Peach Blossom and Fox moth (cuckoo food) caterpillars are amongst the many moth larvae that eat them, not to mention many fly and beetle larvae. You will see many spiders on brambles catching flies. I often wonder how they know to make their webs above the juiciest berries.
We can use the youngest leaves in salads, apparently, as well as using the fruits in delicious jams and puddings. Brambles are used in traditional medicines, too.
We can use the whole plant as a protective fence or hedge component to keep large animal and human intruders out.
We can use the whole plant as a protective fence or hedge component to keep large animal and human intruders out.
Rowena Millar, The Wildlife Trusts
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Trees & Flora