Hazel - Corylus avellana

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Hazel - Corylus avellana
© Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature

Hazel is a deciduous, upright, multi-stemmed shrub. It produces catkins in early spring before the large, rounded, toothed, mid-green leaves appear. The male catkins are long and yellow, while the female flowers are much smaller buds with tiny yellow tassels. Reddish-brown nuts in a green husk are seen on hazel in the late summer and autumn; but these are generally eaten quickly by squirrels, woodpeckers, tits, nuthatches, mice or even dormice, which sometimes make their nests in hazel bushes.

Hazel responds well to coppicing, that is, cutting trees to ground level and allowing them to re-grow. It recovers rapidly to produce an attractive multi-stemmed shade-tolerant shrub. It can be coppiced regularly to produce a supply of long, thin stems for use in the garden as bean poles or flower supports - or even for making your own hazel hurdles! It is also a shrub that flower arrangers find useful almost all year round. The nuts can be eaten raw or cooked.

Hazel is found in hedgerows and woodlands throughout Britain. It makes an excellent component of a mixed hedge.

Animals

Bank vole, Buff-tailed bumble bee, Buff-tip moth, Common carder bumble bee, Dormouse, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green shieldbug, Grey squirrel, Honey bee, Jackdaw, Magpie moth, Moths, Nuthatch, Red mason bee, Red-tailed bumble bee, White-tailed bumble bee, Wood mouse, Yellow-necked mouse

Foliage	Green
Flower	Yellow, January to April
Moisture	(Average)
Sunlight	(Full sun to Part-shade)
Origin	Native