When the wild roses bear their fruit in autumn, this is the best time to identify them. You are lucky if you find flowers and fruits on the same bush.
Why are wild roses so valuable? The bluebottle gathers the pollen of wild roses as food in June, as do many other insects. The wild roses often grow on cairns. Here the weasel finds a welcome hiding place from enemies and a place to breed. As a predator, the weasel catches small infants such as field mice and makes it easier for farmers to control mice. The red-backed shrike usually builds its nest in a dense thorn bush. From an exposed vantage point, it spies and catches large insects. It spits these prey on thorns or spines to crush them or keep them as a stock. In June, the common rose gall wasp lays its eggs in the leaf buds. The leaf cells react with a peculiar tissue enlargement, the gall, in whose chambers the larvae develop.
Use and harvesting of rose hips
Wild rose fruits are harvested whole from mid-September to the end of October. For further use of the butts, coring is necessary.
