by David Feather
I think that we accept that a walk in the park is very good for our mental health. What is not so clear is that it is also good for our physical health.
Continue reading “A walk in the woods”A walk in the woods
Why do the leaves change colour?
There are three kinds of pigment in a usually green leaf: carotenes which are yellow, red and pink anthocyanins, and chlorophyll, which is the green that masks the other colours until autumn.
Salix
Salix is the genus name of willow, trees known and cultivated for millennia for their medicinal properties.
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Wednesday work party
by Ian Bushell
The weather was again kind to the working party: dry but not too hot. Another good turn out, just missing Sarah and Alan who are on holiday.
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Wood Wide Web
Researchers have discovered that the trees in a wood are connected by a network of mycorrhizal fungi that grow around and in their roots, a phenomenon they have called the Wood Wide Web.
Continue readingAcorns
Oak trees produce thousands of acorns every year. Somebody has worked out that an oak tree can produce ten million acorns over its lifetime. In a good year, they carpet the ground under the tree.
Read on:
Talking to Trees
by David Feather
“I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me.” This was part of a lyric to a song some of our older nature reserve walkers will remember. Well, there is a possibility that the lyric writer might have been mistaken.
Continue readingMayflower
Mayflower is the blossom of the hawthorn tree.
Continue reading “Mayflower”Blue Tits Delay Nesting
We have been watching pairs of blue tits house hunting in our oak trees since February and we predicted an early nesting season for the species. But this period of cold weather with frosty nights may have slowed things up.
Read on to find out why. . .Disease Resistant Elms
by Ian Bushell
In 2017 a White-letter Hairstreak butterfly was recorded in the park. These beautiful butterflies are the emblem of Wiltshire Butterfly Conservation group. They feed on English or Wych Elms, which unfortunately over the past few years have been ravaged by Dutch Elm disease, leaving dead gaunt trees within some hedge lines.
Continue reading “Disease Resistant Elms”Blackthorn
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is the earliest of our native flowering trees.
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Pussy willow
A goat willow’s flowers, or catkins, known as pussy willow because they look like furry grey kittens’ paws, appear in February, one of the earliest signs of spring in the park.
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Hazel
As always, the first flowers of the year are the hazel catkins: a familiar and friendly sign that spring is on its way.
Continue readingHeritage orchard
In February of 2014, the Friends of Southwick Country Park planted an orchard: thirty eight heritage apple trees of fourteen different varieties, in the southern end of the park. They have really beautiful names:
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Leaf-fall
It had been assumed that a warming climate would lead to a longer growing season for our deciduous trees, followed by a later autumnal leaf-fall. However, research has indicated that this might not be so.
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Misty Morning
photographed by Luiza Bell
Wood Wide Web
Our trees have internet!
Mast years
The park’s oak trees have produced more acorns this year than any of us can ever remember. These periodic bumper harvests are called mast years.
Continue readingWingnut
There is a Chinese wingnut tree (Pterocarya stenoptera) in the Arboretum.
Continue reading “Wingnut”Fly Agaric
This is fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) found, rather unusually, under a willow tree in the park; birch and pine are its preferred partners.
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Spindle berries
This year the park’s spindle trees have produced a bumper crop of poisonous, bright pink berries.
Disease resistant elm
We have precious elm saplings, resistant to Dutch elm disease, that will need to be planted out in the park soon.
Continue readingSalix
Salix is the genus name of willow, trees known and cultivated for millennia for their medicinal properties.
Continue reading “Salix”Oak gall ink
More about our oaks.
Continue reading “Oak gall ink”Planting whips in the car park
From Wikipedia:
A whip is a slender, unbranched shoot or plant. This term is used in forestry to refer to unbranched young tree seedlings of approximately 0.5-1.0 m (1 ft 7 in-3 ft 3 in) in height and 2–3 years old, that have been grown for planting out.
