Nature notes: osiers

One of the most attractive-looking trees at the moment is the osier. It is a small willow with long narrow leaves. The leaves are still quite short, but the golden catkins, about the size of bumble bees, are ranged very close to each other on top of the twigs, like a line of lights. Osiers were once planted widely in “osier beds”. The long, pliant twigs were cut from the rootstock each autumn, and used for making baskets and lobster-pots. The beds were regularly flooded, and twelve months later, the twigs had grown as long again. The process could go on for years. On most hazel bushes, the dangling yellow catkins, or lambs’ tails, are withering away, though a few late-flowering ones can still be found swinging in the breeze. The hazel leaves are opening and will soon be large and round, with a sharp tip. The nuts will be ripe in September, if they have not been eaten when still green by squirrels.