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A Key Plant For Wildlife<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It features in John Constable’s famous picture, The Hay Wain. It made an important and powerful wand in the Harry Potter stories. Its pith has been used by watchmakers for many years. Its flowers are used to make a rural ‘champagne’ and the berries a jam and wine. Cultivars can be seen in many Wenvoe gardens. And there is much, much more we could write about this small tree which, if you have not already guessed it, is Elder.<\/p>\n In the Hay Wain you can see a small tree growing by a wall on the edge of the cottage and this has been identified as Elder, emphasising its importance to country folk. Herbalists used it – in the 16th century, Gerard recommended its seeds for those who were too fat. It was often planted close to cottages as it was believed to ward off the Devil but may also have helped because its ability to absorb water might have reduced the incidence of damp.<\/p>\n It is a key plant for wildlife, the berries consumed by more bird species than any other native tree although mammals tend to avoid them. It is second only to Ash in the number of Bryophytes (mosses and lichens) it supports. However, you should not see it in any of our orchards except for the Wild orchard. It is believed to inhibit the growth of sweet apples, plums and pears etc. so the recommendation is to avoid having it growing there. Our Wild orchard is made up of native trees which have co-existed with Elder for thousands of years and you will see Elder there growing alongside Crabapple, Wild Cherry, Wild Pear and Bullace.<\/p>\n Unspectacular and easily overlooked, Elder is a key plant in our countryside both for wildlife and for its rich cultural history. For more on this topic try articles by Jeff Ollerton e.g. British Wildlife vol 33, no. 6.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Key Plant For Wildlife It features in John Constable’s famous picture, The Hay Wain. It made an important and powerful wand in the Harry Potter stories. Its pith has been used by watchmakers for many years. Its flowers are used to make a rural ‘champagne’ and the berries a jam and wine. Cultivars can be seen in many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3aO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14318,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14318","url_meta":{"origin":12202,"position":0},"title":"Another Great Day At The Plant Sale","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd June 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Another Great Day At The Plant Sale \u00a0 Another great day at the Plant Sale which generated over \u00a31,600 for the Wildlife Group. Our thanks to Mike and Glenys Tucker for continuing to organise these events which not only raise funds but act as a social gathering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15345,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15345","url_meta":{"origin":12202,"position":1},"title":"Working With Forest School","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th April 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Working With Forest School The Group are delighted to be working with Forest School to hold a series of three junior workshops for those aged 7- 11. The first takes place on April 6th at one of our orchards and runs for three hours with a variety\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for May 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for May 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=421"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture11.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13002,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13002","url_meta":{"origin":12202,"position":2},"title":"Tuckers Spring Plant Sale","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 TUCKERS\u2019 SPRING PLANT SALE Saturday 69th April Once again, by popular demand, the Tuckers will be holding a Spring Plant Sale on the drive at 29 Vennwood Close on Saturday 29 April. So please mark the date and come to snap up some garden bargains. You can choose your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Event Notices"","block_context":{"text":"Event Notices","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=237"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15561,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15561","url_meta":{"origin":12202,"position":3},"title":"An Incredibly Successful Plant Sale","author":"Alan Williams","date":"25th May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group An Incredibly Successful Plant Sale After an incredibly successful Plant Sale run by Glenys and Mike Tucker, the Group benefited from a donation of \u00a32,132. Our thanks to all who supported the event, bought raffle tickets or plants and other produce, donated takings from their tables or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for June 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for June 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=422"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Wildlife-Group-281x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10165,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10165","url_meta":{"origin":12202,"position":4},"title":"National Meadows Week","author":"Alan Williams","date":"24th August 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We celebrated National Meadows Week in July with a 'walk and talk' around the Upper Orchid Field. We are fortunate to have this facility on our doorstep and it is well used by visitors, dog-walkers and joggers whilst providing a haven for wildlife. The UK has lost around 97% of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/OrchidField.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/OrchidField.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/OrchidField.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12478,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12478","url_meta":{"origin":12202,"position":5},"title":"Volunteers Welcome","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd November 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Our thanks to the Tuckers for contributing the proceeds from their sale of plant labels to the Wildlife Group. And the forthcoming Reindeer sale also involves a further generous donation which is invaluable to the work the group does. Costs the group incurs include insurance, purchase of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12206,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202\/revisions\/12206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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