Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

MAY is one of those months when nature seems to be in a hurry.

New species of flowers seem to come into bloom every single day and for those with patience there are breeding birds everywhere.

It is at times like this that all naturalists should take care to place the well-being of wildlife before our own excitement.

I almost failed to follow my own advice this week.

I was watching a pair of reed buntings chase each other among the branches of a blackthorn tree while I was trying to photograph the blossom.

Suddenly I was aware of a moorhen behaving in a surprisingly aggressive manner.

On looking down to the fringe of a pond I saw the moorhen's nest which was full to the brim with eggs.

I quickly took a couple of photographs before walking gently away.

Within a couple of minutes the moorhen was back on its nest. Not far away I found another clump of blackthorn and I was able to take my time to photograph the blossom.

The blackthorn tree, sometimes known as the sloe, puts out its blossom before the leaves.

This is in contrast to the hawthorn, also known as the whitethorn, which is now in full leaf.

The blossom will not burst, however, until the end of May and will not be at its best until early June. The sloe is related to the plum and its fruit is black and bitter. It does, however, add a pleasant and distinctive taste to gin.

Sloe gin is a wonderful brew and I know several people who say that sloe brandy and sloe whisky are equally pleasant.

The juice of the sloe is almost black and is very difficult to wash out. Before modern chemistry produced better dyes, the juice of the sloe was used as laundry marks and often sold under the name of Indian ink. One more Lancashire treasure which is sure to make its indelible mark is the wonderfully varied wildlife of the area.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.