Whilst living in Dorset I visited the RSPB reserve at Arne many, many times over the years and one of the highlights for me was seeing the numerous rowan trees in flower in late may and then seeing them load with berries in September. There are a surprising number of them around the Shipstal area.
Rowan is normally found in dry woods on acid soils and the peat of the Dorset heaths certainly is acidic but rowan elsewhere in Purbeck does not seem common anywhere other than Arne.
I May the trees look really lovely with pure white blossoms and they are worth a closer look in their own right but they are also a haven for all sorts of insects and a closer inspection may reveal all sorts of interesting little creatures. On this flower head I found a longhorn beetle which I had never seen before.
Rowan is also known as mountain ash.
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