For Tree Folliwng this year I'm following one of the several wonderful old silver birch trees on North Merchiston Cemetery in Edinburgh. Crafty Green Boyfriend and I started walking round this cemetery (and the nearby Dalry Cemetery) every day for our #DailyExercise during the first UK lockdown last year. And we're still doing the same walk almost every day as lockdown continues!
We had a lot of snow in February this year and the tree looked beautiful
We've found overwintering insects around the cemetery (including a number of ladybird species) and eggs (probably of the December moth) in the cracks on the bark of several of the trees in the two cemeteries. So I looked closely at the bark of this tree
The bark is wonderfully crinkled and cracked but so far I haven't found any overwintering insects or any obvious insect eggs in there. Which doesn't mean they're not there, insects could be overwintering in inaccessible parts of the tree.
There are several silver birches in the cemetery, the photo below shows two interesting trees, the one on the left is young and still growing straight, the one on the right is gnarled with age.
Here's my silver birch soon after the snow melted in mid February
The tree started to bud in February, these photos below were taken on25 February
and this is what the catkins looked like at the beginning of March
10 comments:
There is a huge London Plain Tree not far from me which I think is the biggest tree in town. I always wonder how old it is
I don't think we have that tree here. Was it a Sherlock Holmes mystery title?
Hi Simon, I often wonder how old certain trees are, and what history they've lived through!
Rabbit's Guy - I've not heard of that Sherlock Holmes title if it was.
Such a great tree. I admire the idea of ‘tree following’ and knew I’d first read about it on a favorite blog, but I had forgotten where. Next month ends the first time in decades that we've been in the same place for a whole year and could actually do it. I’ve been taking pictures of our daughter’s black walnut tree every month and even used the term without knowing who to credit for teaching it to me! Hope to do a wrap up next month.
Lovely snowy photos, very atmospheric.
You're so right about the bark - it looks very gnarled and characterful!
I love the texture of bark - it is so tactile, strong yet flexible. Lovely snowy photos :)
Such character in the gnarled tree, I like it!
Trees do look rather magical in the snow. Good to see the catkins forming. xx
Hi,
Beautiful trees. Love the crinkled bark, have a great day!
Sorry I'm a bit late commenting!
Thank you for contributing again - interesting you mention several ladybird species - I only ever see Harlequin invaders nowadays.
Catkins are wonderful at this time of year...
Take care :)
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