What’s in a hedge?

report by Geraldine Lines, Blyth Woods Secretary

The highlight of my week at junior school was Sister Bernadette’s nature walks when we would roam the countryside identifying anything in our path and displaying our finds on the nature table. I felt like I had been transported back to those happy days at Grove Piece today when Blyth Woods organised a hedge exploration session.

Marie and John Rolfe set up an identification post with reference sheets, books, magnifying boxes and a laptop with attached microscope and we spent a couple of hours exploring the hedges from high to low and noting our findings. Experts were on hand to share their knowledge and the results will be published on this website under the Grove Piece menu.

I now know how to differentiate between dog and field roses, common and woodland (or Midland) hawthorn, prickly lettuce and bristly ox tongue as well as learning much more about local flora and fauna to make future walks much more interesting. We enjoyed hedgerow bounty at the coffee break with sloe gin, bramble and apple pies and berry muffins. Look out for future events – everyone is welcome.