Nature on our Doorsteps: The Mother of the Oak

Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into nature on our doorsteps and the beautiful biodiversity of its plants and wildlife.

JUICY ripe blackberries are noticeable in Bramble bushes along hedgerows or in rewilding places at the moment.

While many people welcome the thought of collecting blackberries for jams and tarts, Bramble also brings so many other benefits to wildlife.

A wide range of insects and their caterpillars or larvae feed on Bramble leaves, while bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and bumblebees visit its flowers throughout the summer and well into autumn.

Birds like wrens, blackbirds, and robins will build their nests in dense blackberry patches.

Blackberry bushes are sometimes referred to as The Mother of the Oak

Mammals like hedgehogs, rabbits, stoats, and foxes will also shelter under its twisted thorny stems.

Our ancient ancestors appreciated Bramble too.

It was valued as a food and a medicinal plant, and under Ireland’s ancient Brehon Laws, the penalty for anyone clearing a field of this plant was a fine of a year-old heifer.

There is also an old saying which suggests that ‘Bramble is the mother of the oak’.

This refers to the fact that a scrambling thicket of Bramble can act as a safe ‘nursey’ for developing tree seedlings like Oak.

It does this with the aid of a bird, the colourful Jay.

Jays will gather acorns from under an oak tree and carry them away to eat.

What the bird does not eat immediately will be stored for later.

The Jay does this by pushing the acorn into the ground under the edge of a Bramble patch.

If the Jay does not come back to retrieve and eat these acorns, they will germinate and grow into a seedling.

The thorny stems of the Bramble protects the developing seedling, keeping it safe from grazing animals like deer, horses, or cattle.

In this way, the Bramble nurses the growth of the Oak and increases its chances of surviving into a mature tree.

Given all the benefits Bramble brings to a wide range of creatures, including us, Bramble could perhaps be called the Mother of Many.

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