They’re best known for their rich, inky, dark fruits used to make a favourite wintry tipple – sloe gin.
Blackthorn is a hermaphrodite, meaning both male and female reproductive parts are found in one flower.
Blackthorn was long associated with witchcraft, and it is said that witches' wands and staffs were made using blackthorn wood.
Early flowering, blackthorn provides a valuable source of nectar and pollen for bees in spring. Its foliage is a food plant for the caterpillars of many moths, including the lackey, magpie, swallow-tailed and yellow-tailed. It is also used by the black and brown hairstreak butterflies. Birds nest among the dense, thorny thickets, eat caterpillars and other insects from the leaves, and feast on the sloes in autumn.