Regular readers of my daily posts will know that I was up at the old racecourse in Groenendaal a couple of days ago. The main reason for the visit was to see how the blackthorn was progressing. There is a large thicket near the former finishing line, marked by the Royal Pavilion.
They stand in the open, receiving plenty of light, and some had already begun to budburst on still leafless branches.
On the 18th of November I wrote about the Swerte Dorens, a well-known landmark until the early 1900s near the Merry Horse on Avenue Brassine. It must have been a striking feature: a thicket of blackthorn, wreathed in white in early spring and heavy with coveted sloes in the autumn. No trace of it now remains. My suspicion is that the forest was once more open there. Blackthorn is no lover of shade, and as canopy cover increased under more careful management, it could no longer thrive.
Up on the racecourse, though, stands what might be called the De Nieuwe Swerte Dorens. Perhaps Stevens, on whose maps the old landmark appears, would approve. He despised the racecourse and would surely have rejoiced at both its passing and the appearance of the Blackthorn copse, with its echo through the ages.