This is Crataegus monogyna, my that rolls off the tongue doesn't it ? Fortunately, it is more commonly known as Hawthorn. It is a native plant which usually grows as a shrub. I have a hawthorn hedge at the bottom of the garden. It was planted, probably by a farmer, to separate gardens from his field. It was a substantial hedge, having been double planted, in two rows. Unfortunately, when the bulldozers moved in, prior to houses being built on the field, they removed one row of the hedging. Sad to say, the remaining hedge is really struggling; now competing with a leylandii hedge that the new house owners have planted on their side of the boundary.
This photo though, is of the hawthorn tree that also grows at the bottom of the garden. Hawthorn is an excellent plant for wildlife. It attracts a large number of insects, over 150 different species, who in turn attract many birds. I have a wren currently nesting in a hole in the tree. In late summer, blackbirds and fieldfares eat the berries. It is said that waxwings are also partial to the haws, but I have not had any waxwings in the garden, at least not yet anyway. But I have had a visit from a very noisy family:
Yes, a family of starlings have discovered the garden. The youngsters, and there are lots of them, are very greedy. But they do look cute too. And the blue tits ?
Strange goings on today. This morning, one of the parents was flying back and forth from the box with food in its beak, but not appearing to feed anyone in the box. I've seen this behaviour before, when the parents are trying to entice the young out of the box, but I don't think these youngsters are anywhere near ready yet. Glad to report that normal service resumed later in the morning, with both parents feeding and removing white sacs too.
When we had bluebirds in our birdhouses, it was non-stop feeding. I read that baby birds eat insects even if, as adults, they are seed eaters. So I'm guessing your hawthorne tree is a regular bug supermarket for the blue tits.
ReplyDeleteThe hawthorn is usually a bug hotel, but with the cold wet spring this year, it's not providing enough food just yet. The blue tits are supplementing their diet with fat squares, which they usually ignore at this time of year.
DeleteHi Crystal - this is a great posting - Hawthorns are great - I once read a blog a while back now when I first started out and learnt that you know when the flowers on the Hawthorn have been pollinated... is when the flowers turn to a pinky colour - a great tree for wildlife - thanks for visiting my blog - I think this is your first visit and will look forward to return visits to yours. You'll have to forgive me if it's not on a regular basis as I run a gardening business and it's a very busy time right now.. lovely to see the birds in your garden too - we've had one Blue Tit family fledge already and have another not far off plus Great Tits also not far off - have noticed they often fledge when the weather is wet - less predators around perhaps? Have a good week..
ReplyDeleteWould you believe it, our blue tits have fledged in a heatwave this year. Last year they fledged in unseasonal gale force winds.
DeleteHi Crystal,
ReplyDeleteHooray for hawthorn......such a beautiful tree.
How sad that part of the hedgerow was destroyed.....senseless.
Yuk, leylandii, poor hawthorn will struggle with that one:(
Love your Starlings, they are scarce here sadly. I see a few, but not as many as I used to!!
Glad the Blue Tits are back on track and look forward to seeing the juveniles.
We're being overrun with starlings at the moment, got about four large families visiting. And the noise !!
DeleteI really enjoy watching birds this time of year. They are so active in and around the garden. I didn't realise hawthorn had such a tongue twister of a name. I have it in the hedgerows as well and it's lovely in flower.
ReplyDeleteThe hawthorn in the hedgerows near here is looking spectacular at the moment, absolutely smothered in flowers.
DeleteI don't have any hawthorn in the garden itself but the hedges in the field that backs on to our garden are just coming into blossom. I can remember bringing branches into the house when I was a kid but they stink something awful - I think it is considered bad luck to bring them indoors. Lovely to see your blue tits - although we feed the birds because we love to see them the cat next door is getting very adept at catching them - a chaffinch and gold finch last week - I took the gold finch off him but it was too late. Just think if every cat took a bird a day - how many birds would we lose a year - it doesn't bear thinking about!
ReplyDeleteMy neighbour has a cat, but it only ventures into our garden after dark. It's not keen on my dog.
DeleteI love Hawthorn - and I love it more with each passing year.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 6 years old, Waxwings visited our Hawthorn. I can remember having to sneak out of the house to school and artists and photographers populating our front lawn. I hope Waxwings visit your Hawthorn - if not, at least you know that you are providing a valuable food source to many other creatures.
I'm going to pay more attention this autumn. Apparently, waxwings look very similar to starlings from a distance.
DeleteHi Crystal, I'm very envious of your Hawthorn, I would love to have it in or very near my garden!
ReplyDeleteThe Starlings are very entertaining to watch particularly the juveniles and sooo noisy :-) That's a lovely photo! I once had a juvenile stuck inside a fatball feeder!!! Thankfully, we managed to free it with a small pair of wire cutters and it seemed to be ok.
I look forward to seeing the Blue Tit family eventually :-)
I think I need some earplugs in the garden. The starlings have got noisier.
DeleteSo lovely to watch the parent birds, beaks stuffed with twitching bugs.
ReplyDeleteTrue, especially when they catch a big juicy one.
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