Monday 7 April 2014

Tree Following: the Larch 5

Today I thought I'd look at what's growing underneath the larch that I've chosen to study for Tree Following.

Here's what it looks like as you approach it

quite a nice green undergrowth, though as you get closer, you can see there are patches of bare earth, covered only with fallen needles

there are sone celandines growing in the undergrowth, along with ivy, nettles, at least one species of umbellifer and a small leafy plant that remains a mystery to me, but I'm sure I'll recognise it when it comes into flower.

Also in the shade of the larch, there's a young sycamore tree and a couple of other trees too. 

There was no sign of the long tailed tits that I watched building a nest in the tree a couple of weeks ago, but a chaffinch was perched nearby with a mouth full of either nesting material or food for a nestling.

for Tree Following

Here's a clearer photo of some celandines, growing in the hollow of another tree in the Dells to give you a better idea of what they look like

Meanwhile it was wonderful to hear and see the first blackcaps, arrived back from their winter in Africa. One of my favourite bird songs. Some blackcaps spend the summer in the UK and winter in Africa, others spend summer in Scandanavia and winter in the UK. Some may even be resident in the UK.....

Lovely also to see blue tits checking out the nest boxes that I helped the Water of Leith Conservation Trust put up in the Dells last year.

and finally from today's walk:

the old dog's grave -
newly scattered ashes
and fresh flowers.

for NaPoWriMo

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

16 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

Whatever else may be growing you may be sure the nettles will thrive. Last year I made nettle soup with the young growth. It was alright but I shall not make it again.

Crafty Green Poet said...

You're right there, weaver. i had nettle borse once, porridge with nettles in it, not sure i'd have that again, never had the soup though.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

So much beauty in trees. The bark, the birds, the squirrels, and memories. Everything.

Naquillity said...

i'm enjoying the tree project through you and Caroline. you're both very observant. and so many great images from one tree. thanks for sharing them. hope all is well. have a great week~

Little Miss Titch said...

there will be some interesting times for that tree,xx

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

Fascinating to see how different the trees are that people are following!

Dartford Warbler said...

Have also made nettle soup a couple of times, but it was just too strong and too green somehow. I`ll stick to spinach!

Good to see the young growth underneath your tree. Especially the celandine - I do love them.

HELENE said...

A majestic tree you have chosen to follow, thanks for the tour :-)

Unknown said...

Nice photographs. Everything looks so wonderful and green. I am sure it will be very exciting as it starts to bloom.

RG said...

Quite a bit of observation! That larch shelters a large world. Here, that English Ivy is an invasive and we convene large work parties in the fall, winter, and early spring to pull it and try to get it out of our protected areas! Always fun to do ...

Crafty Green Poet said...

Rabbits' Guy - that must be hard work! Ivy is really difficult to remove. Even here, where it's native we often neeed to reomve it when the growth gets too strong ...

Pete Thompson said...

This is lovely. I really like the intimacy that you create with the tree and its surroundings - I'm pleased that I'm not the only one who likes to have this closeness and affinity with trees.

Rambling Woods said...

You are really closely following your trees... Great to see all the growth...

Caroline Gill said...

I wonder if those Blue tits settled on their 'des res' nesting box?

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Caroline, I've not seen the blue tits at that nest box again, though that isn't definite proof that they're not using it....

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

It's interesting how following a tree with hard-to-reach branches encourages us take extra-notice of what grows beneath it.