National Tree Week

From 24th November to 2 December the Tree Council promote 'National Tree Week' which is the start of the winter tree planting season (November to March) and volunteers and schools will be out and about putting that thought into action.  Winter also reveals the beautifully intricate structure of trees.

While in spring what is better than to gazing up into the sky through their branches  while taking in the glory of these yellow laburnum flowers.

Many make their home in trees.

The oak famously is home to a myriad of species and here is seen with a nicely snappy rhyme  'Plant a Tree in 73' postmark.

Recycled

At Wakefield Wharf hangs a jolly recycled figure, from the crown I think that he must be master of all he surveys, here rules King Scrap.

Closer to my home turf is Millom Park plantation consisting mainly of conifers (spruce, larch and pine) where there is extensive logging going on at the moment. Nothing goes to waste when one can build a series of what I can only describe as lean-to wigwams, a nice place to relax and shelter from the weather, made complete with bespoke log seating.  The past winter has been unusually warm, which I consider a good thing. although it does come with a downside when walking (or working) in the countryside, mud, and lots of it.

Not a problem when one can slice a tree up into steps and rise above it all.  |However the photograph was taken this month and things have changed considerably.  This spring we have had a long period without any rain so everything is extremely dry but it was still enjoyable to skip from smooth step to step up the path.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at R here 

      

Trees

Wouldn't you just know I had lots of words starting with the letter S to choose from for last week's ABC Wednesday, but this week, unless you are interesting in tractors, not so much.  So I turn to the tree and specifically those I have taken photographs of this October.  This first one just provides some background interest as I was actually attracted by the pollarded wood leaning against the wall. There are lots of woods around this area of South Lakeland and it was nice to observe that some are being managed by pollarding rather than felling.  The overcast sky on this day would eventually clear  

to be a sunny one, just in time to sit by a babbling brook.

Later I would pass by a rather more exotic tree whose shape are always fascinating, the Monkey Puzzle.

I hope the observation that it is going to be a very cold winter when there are lots of berries is not true because there have indeed been lots of berries this year of every hue.  This Rowan tree caught my attention against the white of the house and although it has a quite a lot of berries I have seen some Rowan carrying so many that the branches are bending under the weight.

Not so much the ornamental cherries, they are just floating among the leaves. I have started with the green of early October and finish with the colour of autumn as the month advanced and the days shortened.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at T here

Standing in Fields

Trees growing in rocks and thin soil but still sturdy as they grow towards the sun.

The sheep fill their days with nibbling the grass, the sun having warmed away the frost 

 

and the yearlings are just curious as I walk through their field. 

This is my sky.  For others see SkyWatch Friday

Autumn Ending

Rusland Beeches

The start of Autumn for me is always the tree of intense red that will appear on Barrow's Abbey Road, it will appear early and is the first sign of Autumn.  The trees in the Rusland Valley will still be green. The planet turns some more and by the first week in November the Rusland valley beeches will be the last to put on a show - it always feels like a grand finale (accentuated this year by the first snow appearing on the hills, but not seen in this sheltered valley).

With the water table so high after months of rain I even got the added benefit of part of the road being slightly flooded in the photograph.     

Autumn on the Water

Tarn Hows, Cumbria

A Woodland Walk Through Winding Wingnuts

Take a walk in the the woods and there may be more than moss and leaves growing on trees especially in Grizedale Forest, well known for its sculptures and art works scattered across its acreage sometimes on paths sometimes tucked away off the trails. One of the lower paths accessible for both walkers and wheelchairs has suddenly sprouted some brass wing-nuts.

   I wondered what they were when we turned the corner onto this path

And as they appeared to go through the trees, what was the purpose of the bowl on the other side.

I wondered if they turned, yes, they clunked I turned it round with no resistance.  I moved on if I had stuck with it until experiencing resistance then this would have happened:

What a super surprise I would have got if this sound had floated out into the summer air.  I discovered , thanks to the internet, that this is "The Clockwork Forest" by the art collective greyworld, only installed in October 2011. Its idea is that of the untold fairytale, and the secret stories and distant sounds of the forest.

So amongst the wind rustling through the leaves one could sit here and get someone to wind this up and let the tinkling sound drift on the air.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a walk through the alphabet from A to Z

ABC Wednesday - Uprooted

The uprooted tree has missed the old barn and is gently decaying amongst the foxgloves. 

This one may have been uprooted but its tap-root remains underground so being resilient and adaptable it continues to grow towards the sun while the sheep (whose hooves make them ugulates), take shelter from the midday heat.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey from A to Z

     

ABC Wednesday - Fir

The first colours of autumn are starting to appear, a fluttering of leaves are floating to the ground but the firs will remind us through the winter that the green will return. These three magnificent trees stand at the side of a field, this photo was taken in March so there is no surrounding colour, apart from the blue of the sky.

Sometime firs can provide their own colour. Technically I suppose this is not a fir but I'm considering its spiny leaves and cones can come within that generic title for ABC purposes.  This is a larch, the only common cone-bearing tree that looses its leaves in the winter. These pretty female flowers are sometimes called 'larch roses'.

And lastly a domestic fir,

looks like a leylandii that I poked my camera around to photo  this fabricated shed with its cheery façade.  Who lives in a house like this?

Follow the link over to ABC Wednesday to see lots more words starting with F

By River and Canal

The field have been harvested, the nights have turned cool and touches of colour are appearing in the trees.

River Kent, Levens Bridge

I went to see if the row of oaks at Levens were turning colour. The answer was, no, they were almost as green as summer with the leaf edges just starting to turn. Being English oaks they no doubt think it is still summer as the warmth is still in the air.
The sunny day tempted me on through woods, and along the Lancaster Canal near Hincaster where the water was so still that the reflections and trees almost merge.
You can walk a long way along this part of the canal so it is very popular with dog walkers. Both they and their dogs comes in all shapes and sizes.

On the way back the long haired goats were by the river bank. There were a couple of young kids of which this was one with its mother keeping her eye on it, or maybe not, they are not as skittish as sheep.
These are the Bagot goats, a rare breed brought into England around in the time of Richard the Lionheart, 12th century.
Reaching the end of my amble fell into conversation with someone I had seen on the other side of the river earlier in the day with a camera in hand. She was doing a photographic project on the River Kent from its source onwards. (Its a very short river, only about 20 miles long). The stillness of the day was a delight for her and was about to dash to Kendal to photograph the Kent as it cuts through that grey stoned town.

What and interesting project. This set me thinking which river I would choose. My favourite local river is the pretty Crake which runs from Coniston Water to the sea but is even shorter than the Kent. Perhaps this is something to do in those short winter days to come, brrr, what am I doing thinking of winter in October.