Happy New Year!
With the woodland looking naked and open, it has enabled us to see the individual trees which stand proud at the Trust.
As a result we have listed 5 prominent winter trees, some we thank the Romans for. We think , although some not classified as native, that they are the future of our weather warming habitat. Enjoy!
SESSILE OAK (QUERCUS PETRAEA)
This oak has been aged at about 250 years old. We are blessed with 4 trees of similar age, but this chap has a 6 metre girth.
This is our native true northern oak, the sessile oak towers in the woods, and is the north of England oak. Squirrels, jays and badgers love their acorns and caterpillars flock to eat their leaves, in fact 326 species of wildlife are found only on oak.
2 . CHESTNUT, SWEET(CASTANEA SATIVA)
We love this old lady. Although aged and worn, approx. 150 years old, she has be hanging onto life. A lot of her branches are dead, and the Greater Spotted Woodpecker has made the most of this degrading of timber.
Not a true native of the UK, in my eyes she has won her place, indeed she may one day be more prominent than the English Ash. We will be planting new trees in this year, 2023.
Sweet chestnut is native to southern Europe, western Asia and North Africa. The story of how sweet chestnut trees came to be in Britain is unclear. It has long been thought of as a Roman introduction, but science doesn’t definitively back this up. It may be that sweet chestnut trees are a far more recent introduction.
Today can be found commonly throughout the UK in woods and copses, especially in parts of southern England where it is still managed to form large areas of coppice.
3. WALNUT(JUGLANS REGIA)
Food of the gods, medicine for the people. Walnut was first introduced by the Romans who, like much of our native wildlife, valued its nuts.
We have a couple of these beauts; one in the Orchard in the shadow of the large Beech, the other in David's Wood. The latter is also a nest site for Tawny Owls, at present 4 owlets have been produced here.
Walnut is native from south-east Europe to south-west China.
It’s been widely planted throughout the UK and has naturalised in lowland Britain (helped along by hoarding squirrels), in secondary woodland and hedgerows; and on river banks, field-borders and roadsides. It prefers well-drained, fertile and alkaline loam and is found in large gardens and parks.
If you are a green woodworker you will realise the beauty of this chap. Again classified as a non native, I would really call this an English Walnut, the grain is beautiful.
4. CHERRY, WILD(PRUNUS AVIUM)
Again, a worn mother of a tree. No doubt a lot of the Wild Cherry around her are her offspring.
In Highland folklore, wild cherry had mysterious qualities, and to encounter one was considered auspicious and fateful.
Wild cherry has many cultivars and is a popular ornamental tree in gardens. Traditionally, cherries were planted for their fruit and also their wood which was used for making cask hoops and vine poles. The sticky resin was thought to promote a good complexion and eyesight, and help to cure coughs.
These days, cherry wood is used to make decorative veneers and furniture. The wood is hard, strong and honey-coloured, and can be polished to a good, shiny brown. The wood burns well and produces a sweetly scented smoke, similar to the scent of its flowers.
5 .ROWAN(SORBUS AUCUPARIA)
We have a variety of Rowan on the edge of the Flower Meadow, some ornamental, but non the less of importance in providing winter food for the birds, and a valued insect pollen food source.
The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of a number of moths, including the larger Welsh wave and autumn green carpet. Caterpillars of the apple fruit moth feed on the berries.
Flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinating insects, while the berries are a rich source of autumn food for birds, especially the thrush family, and waxwing. Our winter visitors; Redwing, Fieldfare, love the red berries, but the Mistle Trush is the one that defends the valued winter surviving berries, chasing off our resident Blackbirds.
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