Wednesday 26 October 2016

Very Important Trees!

I'm currently leading a series of walks along the Water of Leith, telling people about the natural history and the industrial history of the river. It's a fascinating river and I think everyone is enjoying finding more out about the area!

Today we were in Craiglockart Dell (part of the stretch of the river that I regularly look after for the Water of Leith Conservation Trust). The autumn colours were magnificent (they're a little further on now than in this photo, which I took last week. I don't generally take my camera on these walks to avoid it distracting me from leading the walk!)

The Dell is a wonderful area of woodland, described as ancient woodland as it has been consistently wooded since at least 1750, though it's not an entirely natural wood as many of the trees were deliberately planted by the owners of the country estates that used to own this land or in the case of the hornbeams the mill owners planted them as their wood is so hard and useful for making waterwheels.

Trees are so important to our landscapes, for keeping our air clean and for their aesthetic value! That's why the Woodland Trust is calling for an official register to classify, celebrate and protect the UKs best loved trees! You can find out more here!


9 comments:

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

The huge London Plane tree in Friary Gardens is our most magnificent Tree in town, I have decided. The trunk is huge, broader than the oaks of the old wood in Sconce park

RG said...

I great service you do to help more folks get out and understand the natural world and then for them to be more informed to help protect it

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Juliet,

Must be lovely to go on your guided walks and looks like a lovely river
Happy day
Hugs
Carolyn

sage said...

Sadly, I had two trees cut down today! One was in danger of falling over, having been uprooted in our hurricane and the other was a maple that was dying and once it was down I realized it was rotten at the core. We lost so many trees during the storm or those that had to be taken down afterwards.

Lynn said...

That's so lovely that you are leading that walk and I wish I could be there to walk with you all!

A Cuban In London said...

Fascinating is the right word indeed. :-)

Greetings from London.

Lowcarb team member said...

Now, if I was in you area I would love a walk along the Water of Leith.

All the best Jan

Magyar said...

__ I always like the feel of your walks. _m

birds fly
above this silent river
they converse

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I know I would enjoy being on a tree walk led by someone as knowledgeable as you are.