Ray Colliers Country Diary – Bird Cherry

Bird Cherry 31st August 2009

Bird cherries were spectacular earlier in the summer when the long, hanging bunches of small white flowers fill the air with an almond fragrance. Each of the flowers have petals 6-9mm long forming elongated crowded heads with up to 35 flowers and up to 15 cm long. The leaves are widest at the middle, rounded and narrowed towards each end and are light green with fine, regular teeth. The bark is smooth and dark greyish brown and has a strong, rather offensive smell. Like other cherries there are horizontal marks on the bark that is often peeled. Timber from the tree has a reddish brown heartwood and white sapwood. The cherries, called ‘hags’ in the Highlands are black , globe shaped and more or less round in cross section.

The trees are scattered through the Highlands but there are large gaps in such places as the flowe country of Sutherland and Caithness. It is not native to any of the Western or Northern Isles but has been planted in a few places. Bird cherry has been found much further north than the wild cherry and is found in moist woodland and scrub , sides of burns and shady, rocky places. They occur in a wide variety of soil types but avoid very dry areas and very acid conditions. It is a favourite in tree nurseries as it is relatively easy to grow and in the last two decades tens of thousands have been reared and planted in new and old woodland and gardens and parks. One feature of the tree is its ability to form dense thickets. In some areas the leaves are often eaten by so many small ermine moth caterpillars that the tree can appear leafless.

The tart taste of the cherry is due to its richness in tannin but birds seem to love them and trees may easily be stripped. One of the reasons birds like them is their small size at 7-8 mm in diameter so they can easily be swallowed by even small birds such as robins and warblers. Other birds are fond of them such as blackbird, song thrush and mistle thrush. In contrast the foliage is poisonous to stock, especially goats. Some years ago there was a rookery in a large dense mini woodland of bird cherry on the banks of the River Nairn just south of Inverness. The use of this type of tree by nesting rooks must have been unique but although the stand is still there the rooks were shot out.

In the old days there were medicinal uses for various parts of the tree such as the bark being used as a tonic and as a sedative for upset stomachs. At once time pieces of bark were hung outside doors and put into drinking water as a guard against plague. The tree is classed as common around Inverness and is characteristic of the river banks such as Glass, Conon, Carron and Alness plus others. John Miller in his “Trees of the Northern Highlands” mentions fine displays along the road from Ardgay to Croick and along the road to Glen Affric. There are a number of local names such as hag cherry, hawkberry or hag berry from the tree’s old Norse name “ heggr”. The Gaelic name is “Fiodhag”. Despite how widespread it is in the Highland it does not seem to have been used as one of the plant badges of the Clans. With its attractiveness, ease of growing and the early blossoms attracting so many insects, including butterflies, the future for the bird cherry seems assured.