Our hedgerows are adorned with many large white trumpets at this time of year; these beautiful flowers will be from one of our Bindweeds.

They are cursed by gardeners and farmers because of their tenacity, they are very difficult to get rid of and will blanket a large area if they are given the chance, but Bindweeds are an important part of our nature web because they are a food source for many invertebrates including bumblebees and moth caterpillars.

As the name suggests, Large Bindweed Calystegia sylvatica is the most prominent in the hedgerows. It is not native but introduced as an attractive garden flower from the Mediterranean. As with other introduced species, it has got out of hand and its arrowhead shaped leaves smother everything as it climbs over hedgerows and fences.

The slightly smaller but native wildflower Hedge Bindweed Calystegia sepium has many natural predators to keep it in check. You can tell the Great Bindweed by the green bracteoles at the base of the flower which are described as inflated, they remind me of the power dressing shoulder pads of the 1980s.

The name Bindweed comes from the habit of the plant winding itself around taller more robust plants to reach the light and attract pollinators. From a snail’s eye view looking up towards the sun, Bindweed usually twines anti-clockwise, even in the southern hemisphere. Other climbing plants such as Honeysuckle and most runner beans spiral clockwise.

Beautiful to look at but a serious agricultural weed, Field Bindweed Convolvulus arvensis has much smaller flowers tinged with pink as it trails and scrambles about among the long grass of Alma Field and Margaret’s Meadow. The pink flowers of a fourth species, Sea Bindweed Calystega soldanella, were seen on the beach occasionally according to the 1849 Flora Sidostiensis, but it prefers sandy and sandy shingle beaches and you need to go to Exmouth or Branscombe to see it now. It has small kidney shaped leaves instead of the arrowheads of the other species.

As a nectar source, the flowers attract bees and hoverflies and hedgerow butterflies such as the Gatekeeper. The leaves are the food plant for Plume Moths and the impressive Convolvulus Hawk Moth. Bindweeds can be a nuisance but they deserve to be allowed their place.