Beechcombings - The Narratives of Trees - by Richard Mabey

The beech trees in Edinburgh have looked particularly beautiful this autumn, like these in Craiglockart Dell

 Beech isn't actually native to Scotland or in fact to much of the northern part of mainland Britain. It in fact only made its way into the country just before the Channel formed between Britain and mainland Europe and is only native in the southern parts of the country. 

 Beechcombings, by well known nature writer Richard Mabey, looks at the history of trees in the British landscape, with specific reference to beeches. He tries to put human history into the perspective of the much longer timescale of woodlands. He also balances the history of natural woodlands with different forms of woodland management and with his own experience as a manager and owner of a small woodland. 

Ageing trees provide valuable habitat for a large number of lesser plants, invertebrates and birds that feed on the invertebrates and in fact disease organisms:

'ageing, coexistence with parasites, entrenchment, are not 'diseases'. They are ancient arrangements trees have made with their environments. More worrying would be trees which appeared entirely 'healthy', unnibbled by insects, abandoned by fungi. What would that say about the toxicity of their surroundings?'

The book explores in some detail the differences between natural woodland and managed forestry and the value of both of these. There are challenges for natural woodland to develop along natural lines, given the 'new enemies - human, animal, fungal, atmospheric - that were not there in prehistoric times'. 

There are interesting discussions about the motivations behind woodland management - desire for control, aesthetics, cultural significance, ecological ideals. But maybe we can learn from natural woodland regeneration, more than we realise: 

'Trees have evolved through aeons of climate change. Collectively they know how to cope with it. We don't, and need to learn from solutions that they may only be able to express in unmanaged and unmanipulated situations. Their ancient, inbuilt diversity is not available from nursery-grown stock.'

Beechcombings by Richard Mabey, published by Chatto and Windus. 

Beechcombings very much complements Landskipping by Anna Pavord which I reviewed here. 

Tree Following Update

The tree I'm following for this year's Tree Following challenge is a horse chestnut in one of the local graveyards which we have walked through almost every day since lockdown began and since it was relaxed (and now has been tightened again). A lovely tree to study and here's the latest: 

The tree looked particularly fine in it's autumnal colours in October sunshine 

and here is a photo of the tree from the roadside! It seems impossible to get a photo that does justice to both the tree and the church so I concentrated on the tree!

Next year's buds are already showing on the tree, the potential for new growth is always there.!

By 30 October, the tree had lost a lot of leaves but still looked magnificent with the sun shining through it

and by 5 November, almost all the leaves have fallen

though those that remain are beautiful

and today the tree is almost bare

For Tree Following and Nature Notes.

I Can Now Use a Sewing Machine!

 As many readers of this blog will realise I sew quite a lot, but so far it has all been by hand! So when, earlier this year I was given a sewing machine I quickly signed up for an introductory sewing class with Edinburgh Sewcial Club. Then COVID_19 happened, we went into lockdown and classes were all postponed. 

However, recently the club started up classes again and yesterday I was able to attend! Fewer participants in a socially distanced studio, window and door open for full ventilation, everyone wearing masks, lots of hand sanitiser and no shared materials or equipment, this was a COVID secure class (or as secure as you can get in these pandemic days). 

It was a very enjoyable class, I learned all about how to set up and use a sewing machine, though the machines in the studio are different than the one I have, but mine is too heavy to want to carry it down three flights of stairs, into a taxi and then down a flight of steps and through a building into the studio). I made this lovely cushion using floral fabric I had taken along and some striped fabric in complementary colours from the studio

which looks lovely on my comfy chair in our living room 

You can see more photos from the class on the Edinburgh Sewcial Club Facebook page here. 

Today I wanted to consolidate my learning by inspecting my own machine, which is a Singer 5805. 

I was able to easily find the manual online and worked out how to thread the machine. However, the machine is missing the spool cap, so I can't as yet sew anything (the spool cap ensures that the spool of thread doesn't fall off the machine.) I know the part is available from US based Etsy stores but £12.00 postage for an item that costs about £2.00 is very steep, though I'll pay that if necessary! 

Actually, I did learn to use a sewing machine in Domestic Science classes at secondary school, but that's a very long time ago and I had forgotten everything.  

Edited to add: I remembered there is a sewing machine shop (David Drummonds) at Haymarket in Edinburgh so that's where I went to buy the spool cap. It's a good place to go if you need a new machine, parts for an existing machine or if your machine needs to be serviced. It's good to support local businesses particularly in these times of uncertainty.

Autumn sunshine

 It's beautiful today, and we enjoyed the autumnal sunshine on our walk round the local cemeteries. 

This beech tree is particularly lovely at the minute 

Several redwings and other thrushes were flying around this tree and the surrounding holly bushes, but moving around too quickly to be caught on film. 

This red admiral butterfly was much slower than the thrushes and so Crafty Green Boyfriend was able to get this photo 

and there were still a few hoverflies on the ivy flowers, including this Eristalis sp. 

Scotland isn't under lockdown at the moment, though daily life is restricted in a tier system (where restrictions vary depending on the number of local cases) and there is of course no guarantee that cases of COVID won't increase in the future leading to another lockdown.

Sunshine at Silverknowes

 I met a friend for lunch in a restaurant today (while we're still allowed to do that). Beforehand I went for a walk along the fields at Silverknowes. The fields are looking beautiful in the autumnal sunshine 

A roe deer was grazing in this field, though I don't think it's in that photo! 

Across the road from the fields, the sun caught the white trunks of these silver birch trees in the golf course
 

This whole area is a haven for curlew and other wading birds when the tide is high on the nearby Firth of Forth. Today there weren't many birds in the fields or golf course as the tide was very low

Edinburgh Agroecology Co-op have ambitious plans to 'transform' the fields into a local food hub. On first look the plans (which you can see in some detail here) are exciting and seem to promise a nature rich future for the site, but on closer inspection it seems clear that the project hardly factors in the fact that the fields are already vital for considerable numbers of wading birds, many species of which are in drastic decline in the UK. Wading birds that currently spend time on open, undisturbed fields will not be able to adapt to spending time in urban food gardens, busy with people planting and harvesting food. If you share these concerns, and want the project to include space for wading birds in its plans (or have other feedback on the project) then you can respond to their survey here.

Landskipping by Anna Pavord

Landskipping is a history of the British relationship and attitudes towards landscape. It begins with changing attitudes in the 18th century towards the picturesque in landscape and takes in maps, access to the countryside, artistic approaches to dealing with scenery, local distinctiveness in landscapes, agricultural changes, landscape tourism and conflicts between agriculture, conservation and tourism. 

Pavord offers insightful discussions about how much agriculture has shaped the British landscape and although I think she overvalues agriculture here it is a refreshing counterweight to the increasingly popular re-wildling attitude that agriculture is necessarily a bad thing for the landscape. 

She also muses on the particularity of landscapes, the importance of local distinctiveness in architecture and field boundaries (which is being eroded all the time) and the way that different people are drawn to different landscapes:

'..when we leave our settled places to explore landscapes that are not our own, are we consciously looking for certain things? Or are we unconsciously imprinted ... with an idea of what a pleasing landscape should be?'

It's a thoughtful, beautifully written book, with some stunning descriptive passages: 

'In early Spring, the colours on the hill are more dun, more fused together than they are in the Autumn. With the big trees in the gulleys bare of leaf, the hanging fringes of lichen on their branches, a strange sulphurous pale green-grey...' 

As a resident of Scotland, and frequent visitor to the Highlands, I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the Scottish Highlands, with it's admiration for stormy weather, seeing rain as a 'wild, liberating catalyst.'

Well chosen examples of landscape art mark the beginning of each new chapter of this fascinating book, which is a great read for anyone interested in the British countryside.

Landskipping by Anna Pavord published (2016) by Bloomsbury. 

Fighting Sparrows and More Fabulous Fungi

 Today, Crafty Green Boyfriend had a 'volunteering day' off work and chose to officially accompany me on my voluntary patrol of Colinton and Craiglockart Dells along the Water of Leith. (He occasionally comes along with me unofficially on a bank holiday or similar). So he helped me pick litter and record wildlife.

Before we even left our street we had spotted something amazing. Two female house sparrows were fighting very aggressively, with about five other sparrows following them and chirping loudly. 

I have no idea why the two birds were fighting like this. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know in the comments below! 

The Dells are beautiful at the moment, with all the autumn colours, specially the beech trees

We were delighted to see this grey heron perched on a fallen tree trunk near the weir

and of course there were lots of fungi around. 

Orange peel fungi just starting to emerge

Shaggy ink caps 

Turkey tail - this photo shows the young fungi at the left of the photo and older fungi to the right

and candle snuff fungi