why find your gorse?

I love Gorse. Gorse makes me smile. Gorse is not always pretty. It has spikes and when cut hard it’s dead underbelly looks rotten. It’s ugly and beautiful at the same time, like a hyena. It glows wild in my part of the world and from the beginning of November to the end of May the glens and hedgerows of County Antrim are aflame with yellow flowered, coconut scented Gorse. It’s a long flowering season and even during the rest of the year its flowers can come sporadically hence the saying,  When Gorse is out of bloom, kissing’s out of fashion.

Ulex Europaeus – Gorse is native to Western Europe & North Africa and due to unthinking colonisers it’s now an invasive species in parts of North America, South America, Australia & New Zealand. Gorse, like finding your way in life, can be problematic.

So why do I love Gorse? Because I do. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

And I started to express my enjoyment of the glen covered hills of Gorse by exclaiming “Gorse” at first sight of the flowers come autumn. If driving with my wife, she would then return the call and we would Gorse back and forth like a couple of Seals calling for cod. Click to hear the call of the Gorse!

The years went by, Gorse calling became a yearly ritual. We had children and when they were wee they too would exclaim Gorse at the first sight of Gorse flower on a drive or walk. Now they’re teenagers, less so enthusiastically if at all, but I think I still catch a smile when the Gorse chant cometh!