Home > What we record and why > Species we record > Trees > Ash > Budburst

Budburst

The winter buds are a matt black colour, shaped like the tip of a crosshead screwdriver and arranged in opposite pairs on the twig.

As the black buds swell you might see green inner bud scales. Record ash budburst when the colour of the new green leaves is just visible between the scales of the swollen bud.

Not to be confused with: flower budburst. Some of the black buds contain reddish-purple flowers and these buds tend to burst first, before the leaf buds burst.

If you have recorded ash events before, please continue to record on the same tree.

Expected date range: late March to mid May

Available historic data: our dataset starts in 2000 

Just right

  • Photgraph of ash budburst
    (Pete Holmes/WTML)

Too early

  • Photograph of ash budburst too early
    (Judith Garforth/WTML)

Too late

  • Photograph of ash budburst too late
    (Kylie Harrison Mellor/WTML)

Not to be confused with

  • Photograph of ash male flowers
    Don't confuse ash leaf budburst with the female flowers (Judith Garforth/WTML)
  • Photograph of ash male flowers
    The reddish-purple male flowers of ash tend to burst before the leaf buds (Judith Garforth/WTML)