Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, on April 9, 1014 – horse chestnut…
On the way to visit the hornbeam I am following, I had to cross Llandaff Fields, in a different direction from previous visits. And as it was a glorious Spring day, I couldn’t help taking hundreds of pictures of OTHER trees.
There are enough here for several blog posts, even though I have whittled them down, but I have other Spring images waiting to be used, so I will give you these all at once.
Many candidates for tree following next year came up, along with some I can’t yet identify – perhaps you can help with those, at the end of this picture post…
Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)
There are SO many horse chestnuts in Llandaff Fields, many of them making avenues along the footpaths.
Avenue of horse chestnuts in Llandaff Fields…
New horse chestnut leaves and flowers, with remains of “sticky buds” bottom right…
The leaves sprout out absolutely everywhere…
Magnificent chestnut tree trunk – a very old one…
Some of the trees have more leaves out than others…
This branch looks rather oriental…
Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)
The tree on the left, which looks like only half a tree, seems to be a sycamore…
I am always a bit uncertain about the differences between sycamore and other Acers (maples). In fact I once blogged about my confusion.
There were many sycamores (I think) on my walk…
The branches on the sycamore pictured above were all very high up…
This similar tree seemed more accessible…
…and the flowers SEEM to be sycamore…
A fallen flower from the tree…
It had a great trunk for flowerless plants…
Lovely moss – I think it’s Pohlia nutans…
A fallen sprig of lichen…
I started to doubt my identification when I then found some much smaller sycamores, as the flowers looked different…
A much smaller sycamore…
Pendant flowers and sycamore leaves on the smaller tree…
I conclude now that the sycamore flowers begin upright and then start hanging down as the leaves come through and then the winged fruit develop. But I could be wrong and some of those pictured are maples?
Nearby in a hedge was a sycamore seedling…
Cute little sycamore seedling (at what stage does it become a sapling?)
Hedgerow trees
Also in the hedgerow were these…
Field maple (Acer campestre) in hedgerow…
Hazel (Corylus avellana) in the hedgerow…
Hawthorn hedge (Crataegus monogyna) – the “may” is out…
Oak (Quercus robur)
Mighty oak…
These huge oaks overshadow my hornbeam. I am assuming they are oaks by the old, dead leaves found around them and by the bark…
Are these tiny baby oak leaves (very high up in the canopy)?
The trunk of the oak…
Mystery trees
Then there are the trees I can’t identify – in some case because they are too far away for me to look at the leaves…
From a distance this looks like a classical English oak shape. But the oaks aren’t in leaf yet, are they? Or is it a beech? I have seen a beech hedge in leaf but not a tree yet…
I know there are a lot of ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) around, but their black buds aren’t breaking yet, at least in my garden. And the limes (Tilia cordata) are clothed in green, but I usually recognise their little heart-shaped leaves…
No idea!
No idea!
Do the red-brown tree tops give a clue? I was thinking copper beech, but I don’t know…
I sort of assumed the VERY tall one in the middle of this picture was a beech. What ARE our tallest-growing trees?
This little tree is also a mystery. It has a twisted trunk…
…and these are the leaves. I am thinking some sort of walnut, maybe? or something fruity? It hasn’t had blossom yet…
I wasn’t the only one interested in the trees…
Anyway, glad I’ve got all that off my chest. Hopefully the mystery trees will give more clues on my next visit.
I’ll be spoilt for choice if I follow another tree with Loose and Leafy next year…
The Squirrelbasket 
Superb photo’s Pat. I love trees and my favorite ones here are The Oak and the Chestnut trunks. I love all Conifers and the Weeping Willow tree. Nice post thanks for sharing
Thank you! I begin to think I have no favourites – I love them all…
Hope you are having a lovely Easter 🙂
I’m not very good at tree identification: I think I will come back to this post as a “field guide” from time to time. We are having a lot of purple grey cloud cover like the sky in some of your photos. It makes a beautiful backdrop for foliage in all shades of green.
I’m not very good either, but I have been saying for years that I must begin to identify trees in winter. Maybe this is the year…
Yes, the purple grey is great against the bright green. Better than blue skies, really.
Hope you are having a great Easter 🙂
Some magnificent and dramatic pictures here. And interesting – like horse chestnut leaves sprouting all over the place and the half-a-tree tree. What a magnificent park to explore.
Thank you. I so love the tiny chestnut leaves when you look at a mass of them from underneath. they seem to fill every available space in their race for the sunshine.
And we don’t even call it a park, really, just a “field” – I suppose because it is used for rugby pitches.
Happy Bank Holiday 🙂