Sunday, March 01, 2009

Budding hawthorn

A couple of days ago when I was looking for rabbit damage I noticed that the hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) seedling in Medlar Wood was already showing green and ready to burst.

20090227 South View & Metre 017

This is several weeks ahead of normal bud break time despite the fact that it has been a fairly cold winter.

However, I am sure this is not global warming.  Maybe young plants for some reason come into leaf earlier, though I cannot see how this could be an advantage.  It would seem to make them more vulnerable to hungry browsers and late frosts.