My hornbeam in late February…
I didn’t plan to post another Loose and Leafy tree following update so soon after the last, but I got the urge to go and visit my hornbeam again and the resulting pictures don’t warrant a major posting, so I will get it off my chest before moving on to a “proper” visit on another day.
I had been slightly worried that the tree might be felled, after spotting men with chainsaws on my last visit to Llandaff Fields…
Workman with chainsaw in Llandaff Fields, March 18…
Hopefully they were just cutting off the low and potentially dangerous boughs from the biggest trees, but I was steeling myself for the worst and trying not to feel miserable and grief-stricken at the prospect. Never get too attached to a tree!
Princess tied to a very weedy tree in the George and the Dragon story – an 1866 painting by Edward Burne-Jones (my favourite Pre-Raphaelite) – but not one of his best!
Anyway, I had been watching the much smaller hornbeam I pass on the street every day and it was getting along nicely and I didn’t want to miss any new green leaves on the much bigger and older tree I am following.
Very poor picture of the street hornbeam’s leaves yesterday…
The only opportunity I was going to have to go and visit before work was yesterday. I knew it was going to rain, but I stubbornly persevered. I had also decided that this time I would catch the same bus up to the park gate as I had been catching back down into town on my last two visits to the tree.
From where I live the bus is only hourly and it’s only one or two stops, but steeply uphill. It was the rush hour and I was at the stop 10 minutes early and then the bus was 10 minutes late. It was bucketing down with rain and there was no shelter so I couldn’t even read a book (Kindle).
I had my “proper” digital SLR camera with me (stupid idea) and its bag, which had hardly ever been out of the house, got soaked.
Anyway. I got on the bus and looked out for the landmark just before the stop I needed. I never spotted it. Then I did see a bus stop and told the driver aaargh, I’ve missed my stop! The next one isn’t far, he said. Easy for him to say, when he has “wheels”.
So I got off and started walking back. I didn’t seem to be in the right place. I was in a warren (possibly not the right word) of posh old houses.
The warren of posh old houses on a lovely summer day (not yesterday) – from Google Street View…
It carried on raining. I juggled my umbrella, work bag, camera bag and phone to look up Google Maps. Not altogether successful. I saw familiar street names but as it was so overcast I couldn’t see the sun so didn’t know which way was south.
I changed direction several times and saw buses I didn’t expect to see but eventually thought I knew where I was going. Just to check, I asked a very nice man who was fixing his van. Phew! Yes I was going in the right direction.
So I found the fields again, from the opposite direction to usual, just as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled all around. Oh dear, best not to stand under a tree in a thunderstorm!
A spectacular image of lightning by Justin Moraczewski on DeviantArt
But I am over-dramatizing. It was only sheet lightning and wasn’t overhead (yet).
Anyway, now I had come this far, I just wanted to check if the tree was still there, take pictures of its leaves with my long lens (as the branches are so high up), and get out of there.
Hooray! It was still standing. But the ground was muddy, the light was very poor and I had to juggle to use my “proper” camera. So it was very disappointing. I took about three pictures and none is in focus. A good camera does nothing for a poor photographer and I would have been better off sticking with my wonderful Olympus compact camera. For the record, here are the pictures…
Hornbeam leaves and catkins, April 2, 2014…
Zooming in doesn’t make it any clearer…
And another out-of-focus shot of the hornbeam leaves and catkins, April 2, 2014…
I was slightly disappointed that the leaves were not that far on, compared to the small hornbeam alongside the street. I took some pictures of that on my way home in the evening, with my macro lens. Another failure!
Streetside hornbeam catkins yesterday…
The other news is that I think I have identified “my” tree on an aerial view from Google Maps. I don’t know when the image was taken, but it clearly shows the hornbeam with a side branch, which I think may be a bough that was lopped off in the last few years and where saw-marks can still be seen.
The hornbeam I am following – aerial view from Google Maps…
One thing I HAVE learned. The bus I caught UP the hill does not go along the same route as the same bus coming DOWN into town past the park. I hadn’t noticed that it turned off on to another road just after I caught it. There is a whole stretch of main road with no bus stops on that side. Drat! Next time I will be walking up the hill again. People with “wheels” just don’t understand…
What an adventure! The tree, at the end, is still there – but my breath was held all through. Buses are maddening that way. I was once waiting at a stop I’d used before and saw the bus approaching – but it turned down a side street. I thought it would do a little loop and reappear up the same road. It reappeared alright – but from another road further along. In effect it had driven round behind me. Alternate buses? numbers A and B? Don’t know – just that I was still there and it wasn’t.
I knew you’d understand!
All the best 🙂
It was very brave of you to make your way through rain and storms and unpredictable buses to say hello to your tree. We haven’t had any rain for days here. But we do have ‘killer smog’ according to the Daily Mirror. No I don’t read it; I saw it in the supermarket.
I think stupid rather than brave! But I started to tell myself it doesn’t matter about the pictures, I just want to confirm the tree is still there…
They say the “killer smog” is going to blow away in the next 24 hours. It hasn’t properly reached South Wales and I think the wind is turning around to the usual south westerly now. And with all the rain we have had here, surely the desert sand would have washed out?
No need to qualify your Daily Mirror reading – I am a newspaper journalist working for the same group as the Daily Mirror, so I would encourage anyone to read any newspaper!
All the best 🙂
Only The Guardian is allowed in this house! If I want to read The Daily Telegraph which I like on Saturday for the gardening section, I have to smuggle it in and hide it.
Yes I think the ‘killer smog’ is passing over today. We can breathe again for the time being.
Fortunately as journalists we are broadminded – we read the local papers every day, plus Guardian, Independent, Times and Telegraph, and then the Sunday equivalents. We skip the tabloids, but do get the free Metro during the week, which is pretty tabloid-y. You should see our newsagents’ bill!
Best wishes 🙂
You didn’t exactly choose a convenient tree to follow did you – glad to know it’s still there though – I am sure you felt your adventure was worth it despite all the set backs.
Thank you for commenting.
My days are usually all the same, so it’s good to have a little adventure, don’t you think?
All the best 🙂
Did you at least get a good night’s sleep after that harrowing adventure, knowing that your tree was still there? Our local transit system uses Google maps to plot a route, give directions and indicate bus stops. Perhaps yours does the same? You have to love Google maps, with its street views and aerial views.
Yes thank you, slept well – I was just being paranoid for a moment there!
And yes, the bus company DOES use Google maps, but when I was clicked on the route on their website I didn’t realise it was two different clicks – one for the incoming and one for the outgoing. All has become clear now!
Best wishes 🙂
I am happy to know the tree was still standing upon your return. It is truly a grand old tree!
Thank you – I must try to work out how old it is at some stage. It could well be Victorian or Edwardian…
Best wishes 🙂
I’m editing the list of followers on the Loose and Leafy Tree Following Page
http://looseandleafy.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-is-tree-following-and-list-of-tree.html
to give an idea of where the trees are. (County and country.) I know I know what county in Wales you are but my mind has gone blank.
Great idea.
Cardiff 🙂
This is also the name of the county these days.
Thanks Pat. I’ve added that in now. (Hadn’t realised Cardiff is a county as well as a city.)
Yes, Cardiff, Cardiff, so good they named it twice…
🙂
Glad your tree was still there Pat! Loved the painting of the princess 🙂
Shaz
Thanks Shaz.
I have always been a fan of Edward Burne-Jones (who featured a lot in Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia) – but as I said, this is not one of his best and it is a VERY weedy tree – more of a sapling, really.
All the best 🙂