Similar flowers to hawthorn, and they're often found together in hedgerows, but easily distinguished by blackthorn flowers covering the branches before the leaves.
Blackthorn is the almost exclusive food-plant of the caterpillars of the rare and elusive black hairstreak butterfly, with this particular woodland in the UK midlands being one of the few where they will emerge for a brief time in early summer.
Also known as sloe, more enjoyment will arrive with autumn when the long faded flowers are replaced by fruits used for making sloe gin.
