An Enchanted Place

On day 249 of 365 Days Wild I spent some time with the hazel tree in the meadow hedgerow.

There were raindrops still clinging to many of the catkins after the downpour that we’d had earlier in the morning. I couldn’t resist photographing them. Catkins are the male flowers of the hazel tree. They make their appearance in the Spring and are also known as lamb’s-tails.

I thought at first that these little pink tufts were buds starting to open. It seems that they’re are actually the female flowers, from which hazelnuts would develop if they were fertilised by another hazel tree. I’ve never noticed hazelnuts in this stretch of hedge so there must not be another one anywhere else nearby.

Have you spotted any catkins in the hedgerows yet? Let me know in the comments below.