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When to pick sloes and how to make sloe gin

It's traditional to make sloe gin in autumn, ready for the coming winter. Here's an easy and delicious recipe for you to try, with our top sloe picking tips. It takes a couple of months to mature, so if you make it soon it'll be ready by Christmas.

Helen Keating  •  15 Sep 2020

Trees woods and wildlife

Pear, Plymouth

Rare, charming, foul-smelling. Plymouth pear was named after where it was found in the 1800s. Its fruit feeds wildlife, and its blossom, though beautiful, has quite a smell.

Practical guidance

Ancient woodland restoration - recovery of the wider ecosystem

Practical guidance on restoring the wider woodland ecosystem, transforming plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) through gradual and more rapid approaches, managing young stands, and operational considerations and constraints.

PDF  (4.76 MB)

Trees woods and wildlife

Nuthatch

Scuttling tree climbers. Look for these woodland specialists hurrying up and down tree trunks in search of food.

Trees woods and wildlife

Buckthorn, purging

Prickly and with the ability to purge. This plant’s common name harks back its use as a laxative. It’s a fierce, invasive species in North America.

Trees woods and wildlife

Fallow deer

A social, elegant species with a signature speckled coat and mighty palmate antlers. First introduced by the Romans, fallow deer became extinct in Britain until they were reintroduced before the Norman Conquest around the year 1,000.

Trees woods and wildlife

Beech, copper

Deep purple, distinctive, dramatic. Loved by some but loathed by others. You’ll often find this striking tree planted in landscape-scale gardens as a specimen tree.