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Lockdown encourages us to keep local, but for many this has been rewarded with a new take on the close-by, the ordinary, in the natural world (even as nature is wreaking havoc) - such as the humble blackthorn.

New Generation Thinker Dr Lisa Mullen is fascinated by the beauty, cruelty and danger inherent in the blackthorn - flowers, spikes and fruit 鈥� the sloes whose alien green flesh dries the mouth, but combines with gin to make the perfect winter drink.

Not a 鈥榗harismatic mega 鈥� fauna鈥�, like the Giant Redwood, blackthorns dense, strong, dark wood, rippling with veins of toffee, plays an important role in holding our countryside together; dividing fields, feeding us and delighting in being one of the first to blossom in spring.

鈥淎 dense thicket, bristling with spines - you realise why blackthorn was used defensively as a dead hedge by the Saxon鈥檚, the true precursor of barbed wire.鈥� Roger Deakin

Blackthorn鈥檚 physical characteristics make it a popular baddie - folk lore depicts it as dangerous as well as useful. Robert McFarlane - a passionate advocate for nature 鈥� even describes the blackthorn as 鈥渢he widow maker鈥� - for its easily infected wounds.

Reliving childhood adventures in the Chiltern鈥檚, pretending to be the princess in the thorny bush, Lisa recalls dangerous, warning stabs from the blackthorns cruel spikes. She talks to Samuel Robinson, coppicer and woodsman, who knows the blackthorn better than most. For Lisa he sings a beautiful song about the blackthorn winter, the false spring, his dog鈥檚 violent encounter with a deer, and his own confrontation with death.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall
Music by Samuel Robinson - 鈥楤lackthorn鈥� - featuring Hannah Flynn
https://samrobinson.bandcamp.com/
And 鈥淲alking on Black Meadow鈥� by The Soulless Party