treeblog - All posts tagged: unusual

The beautiful, beautiful Loch Tay, seen through my sunglasses. Seven of us stopped in a log cabin up there for three nights last weekend (April 15–18). On the Friday we hired a couple of boats and spent the day motoring around and fishing. It was a good time, even if our trawling wasn’t successful.

The harbour at Milton Morenish. The mountain in the background is Beinn Ghlas, a Munro in the Ben Lawers Range.

The big tree in the centre of the foreground is the famous Mother Beech - a tree with a special place in my heart.

This mahoosive Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) stands by the road between Milton Morenish and Killin. What a tree.

Not far away was this curiosity: a perfect ring of tree stumps. Who planted a ring of trees and why? Who cut them down? I do love being intrigued by these little mysteries.

On the Saturday we had a walk up to the Falls of Acharn, a series of small waterfalls and pools around one giant waterfall. This photo shows one of the pools. As you can see, there wasn’t much water coming down the falls, so all the interesting rock formations were revealed.

This is the same pool on the 4th of August 2009, the last time I was up at Loch Tay. What a difference!

…and the same view in August. Back then it was a noisy, scary, raging beast of a river; now it’s a gentle trickle!

And here’s the main waterfall, seen from across the gorge. More rock than water...

The Bernhard Langer Tree Shot

A couple of Mondays ago I was at Fulford Golf Club (near York) for a stumpgrinding course with a legendary forester. As we arrived at the course, he told us a brilliant story about a famous golfer who was playing a tournament there a few years ago. On one of the holes his ball got stuck in a tree, so he climbed up the tree, took his shot, and went on to place second!

Here’s a photo and the story in Langer’s own words, lifted directly from his autobiography (Bernhard Langer: My Autobiography, 2003).

Langer calls it an oak tree, but you can see from the leaves and bark that it’s actually an ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Whatever, it’s still a fantastic, almost iconic, image.

In 1981 I became a world-famous golfer in a rather amusing way. I was playing in the Benson and Hedges International at Fulford. On the seventeenth hole I hit a nine iron to the green, pulled it left and it hit a big oak tree, to the left of the green. I heard the ball hit two or three times but did not see it come down. Seconds later the spectators started laughing and, sure enough, the ball was lodged in a little indentation in a branch about fifteen feet up!

I was in contention – finishing second in the end. My only concern was how to play the hole best… The worst option was to go back and take a ‘stroke and distance’ penalty. Dropping a ball at the green side was a better option, but still with a penalty. The best option, if it were possible, was clearly to play the ball from where it lay. I considered the options, looked where the ball was and decided that I might be able to hit it onto the green.

The hardest part was getting up the tree, getting a stance, and especially not falling out of the tree as I hit the ball! I managed to succeed in hitting the ball onto the green, leaving myself a putt for par. The crowd went absolutely crazy. Unfortunately I missed it, but at least it was only one dropped shot.

My only concern was to get the best score on the hole, and it was a bonus that there was a TV camera behind the hole – remember, in those days they only covered the last few holes. It was shown on TV around the world and, as I was pretty much at the beginning of my career, I was in some places better known for climbing the tree than for my golf!

…

I had my first experience of playing in the USA in 1981 when I was invited to play in the World Series. I was leading with six holes to play but could not quite sustain it. It was a good experience and boosted my confidence. That was shortly after the Benson and Hedges tournament and the tree incident.

I was amused to overhear this conversation between two people in the gallery:

‘Who is that?’
‘Isn’t he the man who climbs trees?’
‘What’s his name?’
‘I think it’s Bernard-something.’
‘No, it’s not. That’s Tarzan!’

Langer also recounts a different time when he hit a ball into a tree:

In fact my ball has stuck up a tree three times in my career. The second and third times were both in California, most recently at the end of 2001, and both Peter Coleman (my caddie) and I were in the tree, though Peter went higher. As I definitely could not play the ball this time, there was no point in my climbing up. It was a three wood that struck the ball high up in the tree, where it stuck maybe sixty feet up. You could see the ball from underneath but you could not get to it.

The next problem in this situation is that, under the rules, I have to be able to identify my ball. I could see it was a Titleist but every tournament player marks his ball in a particular way. I put two dots by the number. The referee said, ‘ If you are not sure that is your ball, you have to go back and replay the shot.’
I said, ‘I know it is my ball. I saw it go there and get stuck.’
He said, ‘Can you identify it?’
I said, ‘No, but I know it is my ball.’

So we got binoculars from someone in the crowd and with them we could see the two dots on the ball, and so I was allowed to drop it under the tree. After I declared it unplayable, we shook the tree and the ball fell.

Bernhard Langer: what a guy!

Exploded larch 2010

On Saturday I returned to Derwent Dam to check on the state of the exploded larch I discovered a year ago. Not a lot has changed.

Only fifty metres or so away up the hill was another toppled larch that I didn’t notice last year. This one didn’t look as if its demise was as explosive as the other; more of a folding than an exploding. Both prostrate trees are aligned in more or less the same direction: pointing uphill (south-east, I think). I reckon it most likely that they were just blown over in strong winds, perhaps even on the same day.

Exploded larch

On the 28th of February 2009 – over a year ago! – I went for a walk around the Derwent and Howden Reservoirs. I saw something in a plantation on the hillside: it was an exploded larch.

Aira Force: the money tree, the waterfall, & the GIANT spruce

Three weeks ago yesterday I was travelling back from a week’s stay in the Highlands. Seeing as the road passed so close to Aira Force near Penrith, a detour was made. I discovered Aira Force completely by chance with a load of my eco-mates in May 2008 when we day-tripped out of Center Parcs. It was an awesome little trip that made a lasting impression on me, and I’ve wanted to go back ever since. There are a number of highlights to a visit to Aira Falls: there’s the money tree, there’s the actual waterfall, there’s the beautiful bit of river above the fall, there’s the whopping huge Sitka spruce, and there’s the general ambiance of the place… All this can be taken in and enjoyed in a couple of hours, but if the weather is tozzing I’d be more than happy to spend a whole day there.

And there it is! The famous Aira Force Money Tree! It is a tree wrapped in coins inside an enigma. How did it begin? Who hammered in the first coins? Who remembers to bring a hammer and coins along? How long did it take to completely cover the tree in coins, and how long since it was covered?

A-ha! A bracket fungus growing (on alder? on hazel?) down by the beck. Q: What flavour are you? A: I think I’m a Laetiporus sulphurous - chicken of the woods, sulphur polypore. But I’m not sure. Can you help us, dear reader?

A-ha! Another bracket fungus, definitely growing on an alder this time (Alnus glutinosa)! Q: What flavour are you? A: I think I’m a Ganoderma, perhaps G. applanatum - artist’s conk - but I’m not sure. These days I am old and blackened, but have a look at me as I was last year:

The same bracket on the 14th of May 2008. Again, dear reader – can you help ID?

Aira Force itself: an impressive 20 m / 65 ft drop (force, from the old Norse fors or foss, meaning waterfall.)

Downstream of the fall, Aira Beck flows through a gorge. Some of the oaks growing on the steep slope above the water were festooned with epiphytes. This photo shows a section of trunk about thirty feet up covered with mosses and ferns. I’ve seen trees dripping with lichens, but I can’t remember seeing British trees covered in ferns to this height. Remarkable.

This gargantuan Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) grows with one tree-sized limb hanging right out into space over the gorge. I have yet to see the ridonculous dimensions of this tree done justice to by a camera. Even with a bloke stood at the base, you cannot appreciate the scale of this thing the way you can when you’re actually stood gawping at it. The spruce is apparently part of an arboretum planted by the Howard family of Greystoke Castle in 1846. Well big.

And if you’re in the mood, how about a bonus poem by William Wordsworth?

The Somnambulist
Composed or suggested during a tour in the summer of 1833.

This poem might be dedicated to my friends, Sir G. Beaumont and Mr. Rogers, jointly. While we were making an excursion together in this part of the Lake District we heard that Mr. Glover, the artist, while lodging at Lyulph's Tower, had been disturbed by a loud shriek, and upon rising he had learnt that it had come from a young woman in the house who was in the habit of walking in her sleep. In that state she had gone downstairs, and, while attempting to open the outer door, either from some difficulty or the effect of the cold stone upon her feet, had uttered the cry which alarmed him. It seemed to us all that this might serve as a hint for a poem, and the story here told was constructed and soon after put into verse by me as it now stands.

LIST, ye who pass by Lyulph's Tower
At eve; how softly then
Doth Aira-force, that torrent hoarse,
Speak from the woody glen!
Fit music for a solemn vale!
And holier seems the ground
To him who catches on the gale
The spirit of a mournful tale,
Embodied in the sound.

Not far from that fair site whereon
The Pleasure-house is reared,
As story says, in antique days
A stern-browed house appeared;
Foil to a Jewel rich in light
There set, and guarded well;
Cage for a Bird of plumage bright,
Sweet-voiced, nor wishing for a flight
Beyond her native dell.

To win this bright Bird from her cage,
To make this Gem their own,
Came Barons bold, with store of gold,
And Knights of high renown;
But one She prized, and only one;
Sir Eglamore was he;
Full happy season, when was known,
Ye Dales and Hills! to yon alone
Their mutual loyalty--

Known chiefly, Aira! to thy glen,
Thy brook, and bowers of holly;
Where Passion caught what Nature taught,
That all but love is folly;
Where Fact with Fancy stooped to play;
Doubt came not, nor regret--
To trouble hours that winged their way,
As if through an immortal day
Whose sun could never set.

But in old times Love dwelt not long
Sequestered with repose;
Best throve the fire of chaste desire,
Fanned by the breath of foes.
"A conquering lance is beauty's test,
"And proves the Lover true;"
So spake Sir Eglamore, and pressed
The drooping Emma to his breast,
And looked a blind adieu.

They parted.--Well with him it fared
Through wide-spread regions errant;
A knight of proof in love's behoof,
The thirst of fame his warrant:
And She her happiness can build
On woman's quiet hours;
Though faint, compared with spear and shield,
The solace beads and masses yield,
And needlework and flowers.

Yet blest was Emma when she heard
Her Champion's praise recounted;
Though brain would swim, and eyes grow dim,
And high her blushes mounted;
Or when a bold heroic lay
She warbled from full heart;
Delightful blossoms for the 'May'
Of absence! but they will not stay,
Born only to depart.

Hope wanes with her, while lustre fills
Whatever path he chooses;
As if his orb, that owns no curb,
Received the light hers loses.
He comes not back; an ampler space
Requires for nobler deeds;
He ranges on from place to place,
Till of his doings is no trace,
But what her fancy breeds.

His fame may spread, but in the past
Her spirit finds its centre;
Clear sight She has of what he was,
And that would now content her.
"Still is he my devoted Knight?"
The tear in answer flows;
Month falls on month with heavier weight;
Day sickens round her, and the night
Is empty of repose.

In sleep She sometimes walked abroad,
Deep sighs with quick words blending,
Like that pale Queen whose hands are seen
With fancied spots contending;
But 'she' is innocent of blood,--
The moon is not more pure
That shines aloft, while through the wood
She thrids her way, the sounding Flood
Her melancholy lure!

While 'mid the fern-brake sleeps the doe,
And owls alone are waking,
In white arrayed, glides on the Maid
The downward pathway taking,
That leads her to the torrent's side
And to a holly bower;
By whom on this still night descried?
By whom in that lone place espied?
By thee, Sir Eglamore!

A wandering Ghost, so thinks the Knight, 0
His coming step has thwarted,
Beneath the boughs that heard their vows,
Within whose shade they parted.
Hush, hush, the busy Sleeper see!
Perplexed her fingers seem,
As if they from the holly tree
Green twigs would pluck, as rapidly
Flung from her to the stream.

What means the Spectre? Why intent
To violate the Tree,
Thought Eglamore, by which I swore,
Unfading constancy?
Here am I, and to-morrow's sun,
To her I left, shall prove
That bliss is ne'er so surely won
As when a circuit has been run
Of valour, truth, and love.

So from the spot whereon he stood,
He moved with stealthy pace;
And, drawing nigh, with his living eye,
He recognised the face;
And whispers caught, and speeches small,
Some to the green-leaved tree,
Some muttered to the torrent-fall;--
"Roar on, and bring him with thy call;
"I heard, and so may He!"

Soul-shattered was the Knight, nor knew
If Emma's Ghost it were,
Or boding Shade, or if the Maid
Her very self stood there.
He touched; what followed who shall tell?
The soft touch snapped the thread
Of slumber--shrieking back she fell,
And the Stream whirled her down the dell
Along its foaming bed.

In plunged the Knight!--when on firm ground
The rescued Maiden lay,
Her eyes grew bright with blissful light,
Confusion passed away;
She heard, ere to the throne of grace
Her faithful Spirit flew,
His voice--beheld his speaking face;
And, dying, from his own embrace,
She felt that he was true.

So was he reconciled to life:
Brief words may speak the rest;
Within the dell he built a cell,
And there was Sorrow's guest;
In hermits' weeds repose he found,
From vain temptations free;
Beside the torrent dwelling--bound
By one deep heart-controlling sound,
And awed to piety.

Wild stream of Aira, hold thy course,
Nor fear memorial lays,
Where clouds that spread in solemn shade,
Are edged with golden rays!
Dear art thou to the light of heaven,
Though minister of sorrow;
Sweet is thy voice at pensive even;
And thou, in lovers' hearts forgiven,
Shalt take thy place with Yarrow!

Conifer found growing in man’s lung

A weird story was reported yesterday in the British tabloids and by Sky News (from where these quotes are taken) about a spruce or fir tree found growing in a man’s lung:

Reports say Artyom Sidorkin, 28, from the Urals region of Russia, is believed to have inhaled a seed which then sprouted inside him.

Doctors were convinced he had cancer after he came to them complaining of agonising chest pains and coughing up blood.

…

The 2in (5cm) spruce, which was said to be touching the man's capillaries and causing severe pain, was removed [via surgery].

…

Biologists are sceptical about a plant growing inside human body.

"It is absolutely impossible for a green plant to grow from this small seed inside a man's body. In order for a plant to start growing from the seed, it needs a lot of conditions - light, then water and certain temperature," said Olga Baranova, a university professor.

X-ray from the Daily Express story here. Video report from the Telegraph here.

Wood slick from the Sinegorsk comes ashore

Breaking news since yesterday’s post on the Sinegorsk’s mishap! From BBC News (follow the link for video of the timber washing ashore):

Large amounts of wood have washed ashore on the coastline around Ramsgate and Margate, Dover Coastguard said.

…

A spokesman said: "It is starting to come ashore now between Pegwell Bay and Ramsgate and up towards Margate.

"We have just received a report from a fisherman a mile east of Broadstairs to say there's a massive amount of it there.

"He said he'd never seen so much wood in his life."

This BBC ‘In Pictures’ page has several photographs of the beached timber that are worth a look. But so far Flickr disappoints.

The Sinegorsk is currently berthed in Southampton to undergo damage assessment and have its remaining cargo secured.

The Sinegorsk: another wood slick

On the 15th of January 2008 the Ice Prince sank in the English Channel, spilling 2,516 tonnes of timber (about half of its cargo), much of which subsequently washed up on beaches in the south of England. Just over a year later on the 19th of January 2009 the Russian-registered Sinegorsk, heading to Egypt from Sweden, lost around 1,500 tonnes of sawn timber in rough seas (BBC News, yesterday – video of the wood slick).

It is thought the wood slick will head towards Dungeness in Kent, or perhaps avoid the coastline and move up the Dover Strait.

…

Festival of the Trees 32
Another reminder about the next edition of the Festival, which treeblog will be hosting. Please submit your blog posts, photographs, poetry, works of art, articles, news pieces, bark rubbings* and anything else tree-related to mail [at] treeblog [dot] co [dot] uk, making sure that Festival of the Trees or FOTT is contained in the subject header. Alternatively, you can use the online submission form at blogcarnival.com. You do not need to be the author or artist of the content you submit. Although there is no theme this month, it would make my day if you submit something pertaining to a particular favourite tree of yours! The deadline for submissions is the 30th of January, so you’ve got just over a week to get to it!

* Not a single bark rubbing submission yet. What gives?

The Brown Brontosaurus Brush Mower

If you liked the Timberjack Walking Harvester, you’ll love the Brown Bronto. It eats trees!

Is that not proper mental? The Brown Bronto is manufactured by John C. Brown & Sons in the USA. According to the website,

The Brown Brontosaurus Brush Mower is a complete brush control system that performs year round clearing, even in the most difficult terrain. Running with as little as 18 GPM auxiliary hydraulics allows our mower attachments to be placed on just about any excavator, gradall, feller buncher, high-flow skid steer or custom machine.
...
Because of our unique design, with the appropriate hydraulics up to 15” material can be mulched and cleared while retaining the ability to still clear the small low-lying brush.

And if the monster in the YouTube video wasn’t enough, take a look at the Brown Bronto photo gallery. A wee Bronto ‘dozer and a double-Bronto train!

Plustech Oy Timberjack Walking Harvester

I first saw this a few months back. There are a fair few mentions of this thing across the internet, but most of them say roughly the same thing. The harvester is apparently a prototype developed by Plustech Oy, a Finnish subsidary of John Deere. However, I don't think Plustech Oy exists these days. They have no online presence at all, although I did find their (dead and gone) old site, plustech.fi, through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This is what they had to say about their harvester:

The walking forest machine is Plustech's best-known innovation. The goal of product development was a machine that caused minimum impact to the terrain.

The walking machine adapts automatically to the forest floor. Moving on six articulated legs, the harvester advances forward and backward, sideways and diagonally. It can also turn in place and step over obstacles. Depending on the irregularity of the terrain, the operator can adjust both the ground clearance of the machine and the height of each step.

The machine's nerve center is an intelligent computer system that controls all walking functions - including the direction of movement, the travelling speed, the step height and gait, and the ground clearance. The harvester head is controlled by the Timberjack 3000 measuring and control system. To further optimize machine operation, Timberjack's Total Machine Control system (TMC) regulates the functions of the machine's loader and engine. All control systems are designed for ease of use. The operator-friendly controls are incorporated in a single joystick.

P.S. treeblog Set A and Set B updates coming soon!

Aira Force Money Tree

I stayed with fifteen ecology buddies at the Whinfell Forest Center Parcs village in the Lake District from Monday to Friday. We had a right good time! Sun, swimming, beer, BBQs, badgers, and beer. On Wednesday, nine of us went on a bit of a day trip to Aira Force, a waterfall near Ullswater. The footpath to the fall runs through some woodland and along the way we saw an unusual sight. A fallen tree (beech I presume) covered in hammered-in coinage: the Aira Force Money Tree! I've heard about money trees before but I think this is the first one I've seen in the flesh. Did I hammer a coin in? No, and I kind of regret that.

I wonder how long ago the tree was cut down. And I wonder if the coin-hammering started while the tree was still alive.

Weird search keyphrases leading to treeblog

193 different search keyphrases entered into search engines in the month of January led visitors to treeblog. Some keyphrases made perfect sense, and those lucky searchers may even have uncovered some useful content over here. Example, sir? Well, 'cider gum' is one. 'fredville oak' is another. And 'why do oak trees retain their leaves all winter?' is another. But sometimes things aren't so logical. Some poor folk search for such-and-such and arrive at treeblog all wide-eyed and expectant, but probably leave empty-handed. Well, I at least hope they take some tree love away with them. So treeblog gets some apparently unrelated search keyphrases, and some keyphrases that are just weird.

Here are some of the weird ones:

Keyphrase: big woody trunks trees of course!
Google rank: Page 1, 3rd result down.
Well, at least we're on the right lines with this one. But an unusual statement. 'Big woody trunks' is strange on its own (and quite euphemistic), but add in an 'of course' and top it off with an exclamation mark and it's all got a bit weird. What does it mean? Can anyone shed any light on it?

And this is not the first time this search phrase, or a similar one at least, has led to treeblog. 'big woody trunks of course list' in November, 'big woody trunks of course' in October, 'big woody trunks trees of course wood' in September, 'big woody' and 'big woody trunks trees' in August, 'big woody trunks', 'big woody trunks trees of course' and the brilliant 'big woody turnks . tress of course' in July... It goes on, and I'm sorry but I can't stop until I'm finished. 'big woody trunks trees of course!' and (accounting for 3.9% of that month's search keyphrases) 'big woody trunks tree of course' in June, and in May 'big woody trunks trees of course', 'trees with big woody trunks', 'big woody trunks', and the tantalising 'big woody trunks chestnut'...

Is this the same persone searching over and over again? Is it the name of a band or some niche cultural reference? Sooner or later, someone will search for it again and come across this post. When you do, email please.
Why treeblog? In a post back in April, I wrote "I know gorse isn't technically a tree, but it can grow fairly big, woody trunks!"

Keyphrase: fire on the keizersgracht
Google rank: Not in the first 10 pages.
A fire on the what now?
Why treeblog? In a post on Anne Frank's chestnut tree, a quote from DutchNews.nl states that "The tree, which is officially listed, is situated in the enclosed courtyard between Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht." According to Wikipedia:

The Keizersgracht (literal English translation: Emperor's Canal) is the second of the three major canals in the city centre of Amsterdam, in between the Herengracht and the Prinsengracht. Alongside the canal are several monumental buildings. It is named after Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Keyphrase: i need a log cabbin in yorkshire dales for september 8th
Google rank: Page 1, 6th result down.
Is someone planning a walking break? This guy ain't messing about. He knows what he wants, where he wants it, and exactly when he wants it.
Why treeblog? A post about my field trip to the Italian Alps mentions log cabins and a post with some Scots pine photos mentions the Yorkshire Dales.

Keyphrase: when did conisbrough first get colonized
Google rank: Page one, 1st result!
I've no idea when Conisbrough was colonised. I do know that it has a large stone castle, and that I have visited said castle many years ago. It's a very nice castle and was made famous by Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, which I have been intending to read for a while. Visit the official Conisbrough Castle website's history page here. And as for Conisbrough itself, it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 AD and was probably settled by the Saxons several hundred years earlier.
Why treeblog? Conisbrough is mentioned in a post on giant oaks and 'colonized' is mentioned in a post on mycorrhizal fungi.

Keyphrase: no man is an island
Google rank: Not in the first 10 pages.
Can we stop now?
Why treeblog? Yes.

Wood slick

On Sunday the 13th of January at about seven in the evening the cargo ship Ice Prince made a distress call after getting into difficulties 35 miles off the Devon (England) coast. All the crew were rescued but the ship sank at about quarter to one Tuesday (the 15th) morning. The Ice Prince was bound for Alexandria, Egypt, and was carrrying 5,258 tonnes of sawn Swedish red and white timber. Most of this timber found itself in the sea... and now a lot is getting washed up on beaches!

This page on Flickr has some good photographs of the timber washed up on beaches, and this link leads to a BBC video of the 'wood slick'. BBC news articles here and here have more of the story.

Drunken trees (melting permafrost)

Earlier on this evening I came across this Wikipedia page on 'drunken trees'. I was intrigued by the title, and amused by this photograph:

According to this NASA Earth Observatory page where the image was originally displayed:

This is what the Siberians call a “drunken forest.” Permafrost that has not melted provides a solid foundation that holds trees upright. When permafrost melts, as it has here, the layer of loose soil deepens and trees lose their foundations, tipping over at odd angles.

That sums up the whole phenomenon in a nutshell. The Wikipedia article has more detailed information, so go and have a read!

One more thing. This Far North Science page has further interesting reading on melting permafrost. There is one ridiculous 'drunken trees' photo worth checking out (a shame it's very low-res).

The Great Flood of 2007

I promised photos; here are a few I took myself:

Taken close to the above photo. The red lines highlight the kerbs at either side of the road.

This silver (or downy) birch fell across a main road into Sheffield. About a dozen people helped to saw it up and clear it out of the way in the space of about ten minutes. Large sections of this road were knee-deep in water and a bit has since slid into the adjacent river.

The above photos were taken on Monday the 25th of June and give only a small taste of the devastation caused by the floods. The following photograph was taken on Tuesday the 26th and shows the same section of road as seen in the first two photographs once the water had mostly subsided. This particular road was just an inch or so deep in water, yet it was flowing with such ferocity that over the course of only a few hours it ripped up an impressive amount of tarmac and carried away quite a lot of road base.

treeblog hit by floods!

There has been no internet access at treeblog HQ since Monday (hence the lack of updates), due to what is likely to be known henceforth as the Great Flood of 2007. In the treeblog post on Monday the 18th of June, I wrote that "the worst of the weather now seems to be behind us..." Oh, how wrong I was! It seems to have hardly stopped raining this month, but last Monday (the 25th) was stupendously rainy. Our road was turned into a virtual river, with huge gashes carved in the tarmac, over a foot deep in places. But across much of the North of England, especially around Sheffield, the damage has been much worse. I'm sure anyone in Britain will know all about this, but for you abroad who may not have heard anything, it was bad. I will post some extraordinary flood pictures in a couple of days.

The treeblog trees have come through more or less unscathed. I fashioned a makeshift cover to keep them dry after they were literally swimming in rainwater by Monday afternoon. One of the poor cider gum seedlings had keeled over and was stuck, submerged, to the soil. I righted it as best I could and it appears to have recovered somewhat. More details forthcoming in the near future!

Word on the street: A third wave of cider gum seedlings!?

Search keyphrases leading to treeblog

During the whole of April, a total of 98 different search engine keyphrases led various users to treeblog. They varied from the obvious (treeblog) to the logical (scots pine tree) to the completely random (volvo). I hope that many of the searchers found what they were looking for on treeblog. For example, I hope that the person who searched for 'bald cypress pneumatophores photos' was not disappointed with finding this post on pneumatophores replete with a photo of a bald cypress and its pneumatophores! However, I get the feeling that the person who searched for 'about me it' probably didn't find the enlightenment they were looking for. I hereby seize this opportunity to provide answers to a few of the poor searchers who once upon a time couldn't find what they needed at treeblog. For the benefit of future searchers!

Keyphrase: how to pronounce photinia
A nice simple question. The answer? Foe - TIN - ear.
Why treeblog? The words 'pronounce' and 'Photinia' crop up in separate posts in February 2007.

Keyphrase: how many acorns on a two year old oak tree
Another simple question. There will be no acorns on a two year old oak tree. Sexual maturity is not reached for at least a couple of decades. The Conservation Biology Institute has data (Excel file) on its website for "tree species profiles for use in LANDIS [a forest landscape simulation model] based on existing literature and input from experts. These profiles are currently under review by science advisors". The age at which sexual maturity is reached in three oak species is given as Quercus kelloggii (California black oak) - 30 years; Quercus chrysolepsis (canyon live oak) - 20 years; and Quercus wislizenii (interior live oak) - 20 years. Why treeblog? The words 'oak' and 'tree' are quite numerous in posts from February 2007.

Keyphrase: nokia
Random. I can only recommend trying out the Nokia website.
Why treeblog? No idea.

Keyphrase: suckle blog
Why would anybody want to read a suckle blog? Why would anyone want to write a suckle blog? What the hell is a suckle blog? The best I can come up with is James Suckling's blog. He's quite the wine expert.
Why treeblog? The front page title is sometimes 'treeblog - suckle at this blog nipple'.

Keyphrase: cameraria ohridella
This information on the Forestry Commission's Forest Research site should be sufficient for all your Cameraria ohridella needs.
Why treeblog? Mentioned in a post about Anne Frank's Chestnut Tree. Cameraria ohridella (horse chestnut leaf miner moths) are a significant problem for the tree apparently.

Keyphrase: chestnut tree life span long
According to data on the Virginia Big Tree Program (a collaboration between the Virginia Forestry Association, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources) website... the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) has an average lifespan of 100 years and a maximum lifespan of 300 years. According to my Collins Field Guide Trees of Britain & Northern Europe (Mitchell, A., 1978, 2nd Ed., HarperCollinsPublishers), a 435 year old sweet chesnut (a.k.a. Spanish chesntut) (Castanea sativa) is still thriving; "probably the oldest exceeds 600 years".
Why treeblog? Mentions of Anne Frank's Chestnut Tree, a photo of a horse chestnut inflorescence, and various occurances of the other keyphrase words in posts.

Keyphrase: quotes about acorns and oaks
Here are three good ones from Thinkexist.com:

When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze

- Thomas Carlyle (Scottish Historian and Essayist, leading figure in the Victorian era. 1795-1881)

An ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from

- Henry Ward Beecher (Liberal US Congregational minister, 1813-1887)

Why treeblog? "Word-acorns falling from my finger-oaks".

Keyphrase: pictures of different acorns
The acorns in the following photograph (©Dave Hanson) from the Minnesota Tree Care Advisors website correspond with the follwing species: 1. Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak); 2. Quercus alba (white oak); 3. Quercus bicolor (bicolor oak a.k.a. swamp white oak); 4. Quercus rubra (red oak); 5. Quercus ellipsoidalis (northern pin oak).

Why treeblog? Various occurrences of the keyphrase words.

Tricotyledonous sycamore: first true leaves

Below is a photo of my tricotyledonous sycamore (taken by my father on Saturday), 23 days after I discovered it. Its first true leaves are now developing, and I am glad to see that there are three of them. As the tree develops, growth (branches, leaves and so on) will be trifurcate (in threes), as opposed to normal dichotomous (in twos) growth. Basically, this tricotyledonous sycamore is to a normal dicotyledonous sycamore what a four-leafed clover is to a normal three-leaved clover (Trifolium repens). I am interested to see whether or not its offspring will be tricotyledonous, although it's going to be quite a wait to find out.

Tricotyledonous sycamore!

Aaah, the humble cotyledon. The Oxford Dictionary of Biology defines ‘cotyledon’ thus:

A part of the embryo in a seed plant. The number of cotyledons is an important feature in classifying plants. Among the flowering plants, the class known as Monocotyledoneae have a single cotyledon and Dicotyledoneae have two. Conifers have either two cotyledons, as in Taxus (yews), or five to ten, as in Pinus (pines). In seeds without an endosperm [*], e.g. garden pea and broad bean, the cotyledons store food, which is used in germination. In seeds showing epigeal germination e.g. runner bean, they emerge above the soil surface and become the first photosynthetic leaves.

[* The endosperm is a nutritive tissue that surrounds the developing embryo in a seed.]

The sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) is a non-native yet extremely common tree in Britain. It is dicotyledonous and undergoes epigeal germination.

Out walking on the 5th of April, I spied a sycamore seedling with three cotyledons. An amazing mutant tricot! This is the second time I have seen one of these; the first was on a field trip in spring 2005. Back then I was amazed by my lucky find. Although I took it home with me, it rapidly perished due to a long day in the field with no suitable way to preserve it. Back to the 5th of April… This particular day I was walking down a country lane with my friend, and noticing all of the newly germinated seedlings in the edge of the road, I was reminded of my encounter with the tricot. From time to time I would glance into the edge looking for another – and as luck would have it, I found one! I wasn’t taking any chances with this one, so I left it in situ, returning later in the day to collect it. Behold!

'Root snorkels' - pneumatophores

Pneumatophores are specialized above-ground roots developed by certain species of plant that are advantageous for survival in waterlogged conditions. They take up oxygen and distribute it to the underground / underwater roots to enable aerobic respiration to occur. The bald or swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum) is a conifer native to the southeastern USA. Where this tree grows in swampy, waterlogged conditions it produces pneumatophores.

I personally find these roots a bit too freakish. I'm glad you don't see them in British woodlands (as far as I know...)!

unusual

Loch Tay and the Falls of Acharn

The Bernhard Langer Tree Shot

Exploded larch 2010

Exploded larch

Aira Force: the money tree, the waterfall, & the GIANT spruce

Conifer found growing in man’s lung

Wood slick from the Sinegorsk comes ashore

The Sinegorsk: another wood slick

The Brown Brontosaurus Brush Mower

Plustech Oy Timberjack Walking Harvester

Aira Force Money Tree

Weird search keyphrases leading to treeblog

Wood slick

Drunken trees (melting permafrost)

The Great Flood of 2007

treeblog hit by floods!

Search keyphrases leading to treeblog

Tricotyledonous sycamore: first true leaves

Tricotyledonous sycamore!

'Root snorkels' - pneumatophores

unusual

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