Saturday 16 April 2011

Dalkeith Country Park



We had a lovely wander round Dalkeith Country Park today. It's a lovely area of woodland, the undergrowth a mass of celandines and bluebells mostly just a thought of blue mostly at the moment, but in a week they'll all be as fully in bloom as this patch was today.


The trees were full of birdsong. Some of the paths were shut off today so we took the opportunity to explore new corners of the Park.

We ended up though as ever at the magical ancient oak wood. These trees are wonderful gnarled ancient things. Some of them have fallen over but are still alive, though that have fallen and died are left to give homes to lichens and fungi and all sorts of invertebrates.

Relatively recently, the Country Park has started planting new oak trees, protected by the fencing you can see in the photo above. This was necessary as the woodland was no longer naturally regenerating as rabbits and cattle were eating all the oak seedlings.

14 comments:

Fracktoids said...

Thank you for the sharing...enjoy taking a walk with my camera here as well.

none said...

I love them all, especially the ancient oak tree. :) :)

JoMo said...

Beautiful sights. The lush green speaks to lots of raindrops just like here. Umbrellas are our friends :)

Anonymous said...

So velvety green! Exploring there must be great fun.

Caroline Gill said...

I think those Bluebells must be rather early; ours are at about the same stage, and we are a fair bit further south!

Carver said...

What a beautiful park to walk around. Wonderful sequence of shots. Thank you for taking us with you through your photography.

Glo said...

I think oaks are magical :) Looks like another fresh air filled lovely walk.

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Wonderful place!

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Juilette,

Your countryside looks quite a lot like New Zealand with the green pastures.
I loved coming along with you today, and seeing your gorgeous place, thank you and thanks for visiting me.

Happy Sunday
Hugs
Carolyn

Sandy's witterings said...

Looks like an excellent day out and not too far from the city.
I like oak trees but up this end of the world they're really just an occasional tree. It alway seems unusual to me when you see a wood of oaks in other places. Grand trees.

Anonymous said...

I would be so tempted to go inside that gate, it's very inviting.

Deb G said...

That gate/door captures the imagination...

PurestGreen said...

I adore Dalkeith park, especially in acorn season. Looks like a lovely visit.

Cathy said...

Ancient oak woods are amazing aren't they? We have one in the north of Bucks which we visit occasionally. The shapes of the branches are incredible. They must shrink as they get older too as they are mostly a bit stunted compared to other oaks I have seen. When I walk through this wood I feel as the hobbits must have felt in Fangorn Forest.

Our bluebells are not quite at their peak yet. I am waiting patiently..haha.