Common Gorse (Ulex Europaeus)

For those who have seen my recent landscapes this is a close up of the gorse you can see in the photographs.
Gorse (local Scottish name whins) is an evergreen shrub native to Western Europe and NW Africa where it thrives in sunny areas on well drained sandy soil. It can grow to about 6 feet in height, it has long spines (up to 1 inch) rather than leaves and flowers profusely during late April and throughout May. It thrives in poor conditions and can be used to help reclaim land where it's nitrogen fixing properties help to improve the quality of the soil.
It is very important to wildlife, providing early season pollen for bees and very safe nesting for birds.
In many countries it is considered a weed; it is very invasive and very hard to eridicate once it has taken hold in an area.