#british woodland

[mostlyuk]

North Wales by Catherine

[monstersandmaw]

Introvert and Extroverts

(C) Do not use, edit, reupload

[feudaldoodle]

Day fourteen of posting my photography! 📷

This was a lovely piece of woodland in the autumn whilst I was on holiday in Exmoor National park, it was somewhere between Luccombe and Horner!

As you can see, the colours were just gorgeous and everything was glowing gold in the sunlight ☀️

[fairmaidnelly]

🦢

[thunderstruck9]

Chloe Le Tissier (British, 1984), Trodden Verdure, 2014. Oil on linen, 140 x 230 cm.

[aisphotostuff]

Common Chaffinch Norfolk Woodlands.. by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: Male chaffinches are colourful birds with an orange-pink breast and cheeks, grey-blue cap and orange-brown back. Females are much duller brown with hints of green and yellow.The Chaffinch is one of the most widespread and common birds in Britain and Ireland. Its patterned feathers help it blend in when feeding on the ground, so it's easiest to see when it flies, as a flash of white on the wings and white outer tail feathers is revealed. It's shy when it comes to bird feeders, preferring to hop about under the bird table or under the hedge. You'll usually hear Chaffinches before you see them, thanks to their loud song and range of calls

[saryoak]

[illustratus]

Soldiers in woodland near Ypres marching along 'Regent Street', 1915

by Fortunino Matania

This was drawn by Matania whilst on a visit to the front line in 1915 and was accompanied by a further written report from the artist in the same issue. The scene depicts relief soldiers marching through 'Plug Street' or Ploegsteert Woods 8 miles from Ypres on the 'Regent Street' back to the front line trenches. Many of the main thoroughfares and trench links were given nicknames such as 'Regent Street', 'Rotten Row', 'Warrington Road' and 'Hellfire Corner'. The nicknames were painted on wooden signs which were hung for reference as can be seen clearly in this illustration with the sign board nailed to a tree.

[keepingitneutral]

“Sleeping With Dandelions”

Lewis Newman recently won first prize in the Animal Portraits category of the 2023 British Wildlife Photography Awards, capturing a sweet image of a female fox moving through a woodland that has been partially destroyed by industrialism with a face full of dandelion floaties

© Lewis Newman/British Wildlife Photography Awards

[thepastisalreadywritten]

By Connor McGovern

16 October 2023

We’ve a lot to thank the trees for. Other than their vital role in the ecosystem, they’ve played an important part in mythology, agriculture, industry, and medicine since humans first walked the Earth.

Remarkably, a good number of the UK's most ancient trees — most of them yews and oaks — still stand today as living, breathing witnesses to centuries of British history.

We take a look at some of the UK’s most fabled trees — and the intriguing stories that surround them.

1. Ankerwycke Yew, Berkshire

Yews are guardians of churchyards throughout Britain. Many represent the oldest and most storied tree specimens.

Few are more spectacular than the Ankerwycke Yew, in the village of Wraysbury, near Staines-upon-Thames.

Measuring 26ft in diameter, it’s a botanical behemoth that’s believed to be around 2,500 years old, making it one of the oldest trees in Britain.

It long outlived the now-ruined St Mary’s Priory, a Benedictine nunnery whose grounds it stood in, and some even believe it to be the true site of the signing of Magna Carta in 1215, rather than Runnymede on the other side of the river.

Its intrigue doesn’t end there — it’s also alleged to stand on the spot where Henry VIII wooed a young Anne Boleyn. If only trees could talk.

2. Isaac Newton’s apple tree, Lincolnshire

Numerous trees are cited as being the very one that inspired the young physicist to investigate the theory of gravity.

But the apple tree in the grounds of Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham, has arguably the greatest right to this claim, with a scion planted (and still growing) at Trinity College Cambridge, where Newton once studied.

While the apple story is probably the stuff of scientific myth, it’s almost certain that Newton would’ve been familiar with the tree — which today is at least 350 years old — as it’s the area in which he was born and raised.

The county is also home to another of the country’s stalwarts: the Bowthorpe Oak, reputedly the UK’s girthiest oak, with a hollowed-out trunk so wide that it’s said to have hosted the Earl of Bowthorpe’s parties.

3. The Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Tree, Dorset

Beneath the boughs of a 350-year-old sycamore in the village of Tolpuddle, a small group of agricultural workers gathered in 1833 to lament their poor working conditions and paltry wages — only to be arrested, tried, and sentenced to penal transportation in Australia for seven years.

The six men became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and after much public outcry, they were pardoned and returned to England.

Their cause was a key step in the workers’ rights and unionist movements. It is remembered in the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival; a memorial plaque sits beside this great tree.

4. Fortingall Yew, Perthshire

Widely believed to be one of the oldest living trees in the UK (and indeed in Europe), the Fortingall Yew spills over its walled enclosure in a village churchyard like a great shower of dark green needles.

Some experts estimate the tree to be the ripe old age of 3,000, which would make it date as far back as the Bronze Age — some 1,000 years before the Romans had even come up with the name ‘Caledonia’ for Scotland.

The sheer age of the tree means that over time, the trunk has split that it now resembles several smaller yews, rather than one sole, mighty plant.

The future of the Fortingall Yew, however, is precarious, with souvenir-seekers stealing needles and branches, and so compromising its health.

Ongoing conservation efforts that preserve the tree’s DNA by planting saplings in other Scottish churchyards will be key to maintaining its history.

5. Spanish chestnut trees, Herefordshire

Of all the ancient trees at Croft Castle, near Leominster (including the 1,000-year-old Quarry Oak), most noteworthy are perhaps the huge Spanish chestnuts.

Planted in one grand avenue, their origins are believed to hark back to the battle with the Spanish Armada in 1588, when chestnuts were salvaged from the wreckages and planted here at Croft.

In fact, the planting arrangement is said to represent a flotilla when viewed from above.

But it’s at ground level that the trees truly amaze, as they’re almost fantasy-like in their size and contortion.

Take time to admire the gnarled, grotesque trunks and the twisted branches reaching towards the sky.

6. The Chained Oak, Staffordshire

This old oak in scenic Dimmingsdale is now bound in rusty chains.

Local legend has it that in the early 1800s, the Earl of Shrewsbury was accosted by a beggar as he was passing by.

He snubbed the old woman, and in retaliation, she placed a curse on his family that held that every time a branch fell from the oak tree a member of the Earl’s family would die.

That night during a storm, one of the branches fell from the tree and — lo and behold — a relative of the Earl died.

Seized by paranoia, he chained up all the branches to prevent any more falling from the oak.

Even today, as you approach the tree through the thick woodland, there’s a mysterious air to this gnarled old giant.

Just moments away at Alton Towers, the legend is the inspiration for Hex — a psychological hair-raiser of a ride set within the Alton Towers building itself.

[mostlyuk]

London, England, UK

[monstersandmaw]

Early Autumn in the beechwood

(C) do not use, edit, reupload

[pagansphinx]

Arthur Hughes (British, 1832–1915) • The Long Engagement • 1859 • Birmingham Museums Trust

[fairmaidnelly]

[thunderstruck9]

Arturo Di Stefano (British, 1955), Compound Ghost, 2007. Oil on linen, 64 x 47 cm.

[aisphotostuff]

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER London by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: The great spotted woodpecker is a striking black-and-white bird with a very distinctive bouncing flight. Adults have a deep red patch under the tail and males have a very clear sugar-lump-sized red patch on the back of the neck. It spends most of its time clinging to tree trunks and branches..Well a nice surprise as i walked back and could see 2 large birds in the distance and got treat the light was not that good so only got a few shots..they were in a small tree so was easy to spot them..