Mistletoe – it’s a semi-parasitic plant, meaning it grows on a host tree and feasts on its water and nutrients. Not so romantic, eh? While it’s visible all year round, it gets its berries through October to May. Look up through the winter when the host trees have lost their leaves and you’re most likely to see it in orchards, parks and gardens. Good places to see Mistletoe include Wales, the West Midlands and the South of England. It is much rarer in eastern and northern England, and Scotland. While being poisonous to humans Mistletoe berries are an important food source for the birds below.
Mistle thrush: This bird is so named because of its strong preference for mistletoe berries. It helps spread the seeds by eating the berries and the seed often sticks to its beak or passes through its gut.
Blackcap: These birds, including migratory ones that now overwinter in the UK, are very effective at spreading mistletoe seeds. They eat the fleshy part of the berry and then wipe the sticky seed onto a branch, making it very efficient at germination.
Fieldfare and Redwing: These winter visitors are also thrush species that eat mistletoe berries, arriving in the UK from October.
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