On their tree-mendous adventures in the Cevennes back in the spring, Ted and Jill find a wardrobe and walk through it into a magical landscape. They’ve never seen anything quite like this -lots of little, old, wrinkly beech pollards. It makes them think of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. How has it survived? perhaps because it is at the top of the mountain at over 1200m. When were they last cut, are they revered as part of the cultural landscape of this part of France? They will try and find out!
Ancient graffitti – a druid’s tale (Stonehenge tree stories no 1)
Lucy shows us ancient graffitti on an old beech tree. Her grandfather, a druid carved the original symbol and then returned every year and added the date. Its now hard to read the faded marks. Is it ok to carve graffitti like this on a tree?
‘Allo, ‘allo, a French pear tree
Jill and Ted were visiting Lac du Der, the great lake near St Dizier where it is possible to see many wonderful birds including cranes. At the centre near Port du Chantecoq is a lovely old pear tree. Birding and treeing – what a lovely weekend!
RSPB Champion Whitebeam
On a rather windy day in January, we went back to visit this whitebeam. Last April we were tree hunting and Ted spotted this ancient whitebeam near the path as we walked through the RSPB’s Garston Wood. We arranged to go back and visit with the RSPB reserve manager, Toby Branston, to discuss management options. Soon this old tree will have more light as the young ash around it will be reduced, pollarded or coppiced so there is a bigger gap in the canopy for light to reach it. Not too much opening up at this stage, little and often. If you would like to visit this tree follow this link to the tree record on the Ancient Tree Hunt http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/WoodlandTrust/Core/TemplateHandler.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2frecording%2ftree.htm%3ftree%3d36e5c882-f14a-49c3-b7df-d2c1a22c8cca&NRNODEGUID=%7b55082D75-C3A3-4924-895A-6C78A8193844%7d&NRCACHEHINT=LoggedIn&favourites=add&tree=f88c01dd-ed29-437c-a62d-0212637093fb
Layering old holly pollard
Tree Hunting down in the New Forest in an area called Crows Nest Bottom (where does that name come from?) we came across a remarkable layering holly tree. It makes you wonder if you could rewind the video back a couple of hundred years whether you could see the hollies are all joined together and one tree that has layered out across the wood pasture floor……Take a look from the other side
Old oak boundary pollard
Ted talks about a boundary oak pollard cut to the form of the tree. It looks just like many pollards we have seen across Europe from Portugal in the west to Turkey in the east. Its a piece of our European heritage. You need to keep your eyes open but they are more frequent in the British Countryside that you might think.
1st hunted tree of the day
Out on the trail today and the first tree is quite a find. A fat old extremely hollow ash pollard.
The tragedy of roadside trees
We found this vivid example of a tree that has been perceived as dangerous and a decision has been taken to fell it rather than manage it, probably by an inexperienced person on a visual tree inspection. We know this is not an isolated case – how sad it is that this is happening all over the country to important trees.
Hunting for big beech
Through the trees you can occasionally see something that looks BIG. Sometimes its two trees that merge together, but the excitement grows as you see its a very big ancient tree all of its own. In this case an ancient beech with a girth that we found out was well over 6m. How fabulous that such trees can be hunted, ‘discovered’ and recorded in many woods across the UK – what an adventure. Let it continue in 2011.
The atmosphere of Grovely Wood
Ted and Jill were walking through part of the enormous Grovely Wood on New Year’s Day hunting for trees. Ted was struck by the special atmosphere of a part of the wood.
