Bracken and Bilberry

The disappointment of the thrushes who regularly picnic on the bilberries at the end of June is down to their delayed ripening. Invisible is not exactly accurate but few people notice them in their green state.

Some can be found beginning to blush but not enough yet to persuade anyone to bring along their jam jars.

SWT who are always looking for a justification for their management have claimed that their ineffective and ultimately ineffectual actions against bracken are to conserve the bilberries. In some 12 years of management it can hardly be said that this is working the way they claim. Bracken has been occasionally slashed and pulled and at other times sprayed with weedkiller in attempts to halt a natural progression which would itself lead to bracken control through more tree cover.

Bracken is often portrayed as a villain. Yet rarely do we hear voices raised in its defence. After all it's a native plant and not its fault that managers have removed the other native vegetations that would balance or hold back its presence through competition. Other ferns have elegant croziers at their growing tips while bracken does things differently. These mostly symmetrical motifs are often strikingly dramatic.

Bracken is also home to a number of animals and insects and even other plants, not well known.

Deer relish the cover it provides.

A delightful small climbing plant, Climbing Corydalis, has become well established in a bracken bed in one part of Blacka.

Other creatures make use of it too.