Nature notes

Dogwood trees might be small, typically no more than six metres and often just growing as mere shrubs in the understorey, but they have something for everyone. In spring, their clusters of creamy white flowers sustain pollinators. Then their lovely oval leaves, etched with exquisite curving veins, are home to various moth caterpillars. Their glinting black berries, known as dogberries are a sure sign that autumn is near, and will feed blackbirds, thrushes and a variety of climbing rodents. Humans are also included in the dogwood munificence. Come winter, their leaves produce a crimson blaze, and even when this display is over and all the foliage has fallen, the twigs turn bright red, lifting spirits in the gloom of the dark times. Jonathan Tulloch