The sloe is the blue-purple fruit of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).  It is a wild plum and close relation of damson, bullace and cherry. 

Blackthorn is a common hedgerow and woodland edge plant.  Sometimes known as Mother of the Woods it is a beautiful and characteristic feature of the British landscape. It’s easy to identify as blackthorn is the first shrub to flower in the spring.  Look out for white blossom on leafless hedges during late March and early April.  Although the blackthorn is the last shrub to bear its fruit each year (mid-September to late October), nature is quite simply saving the best till last.

Since the sloe fruit is produced on second year growth, blackthorn hedges and thickets that are left to flourish uncut, provide not only an ample source of sloes, but an ideal nesting site for hedgerow birds like Yellowhammer and Bullfinch in the tangled mass of branches and thorns.  These wild hedgerows also provide excellent foraging ground for hedgehogs and a home for many moths and butterflies.

When the countryside was “enclosed” in the 16th and 17th centuries, blackthorn was a favoured plant due to its vigorous growth and the sharp thorns – though sloe pickers love to hate those thorns, they were good at keeping stock in and people out!