Tree following 4: Knowing when to leaf…

Green leaves on the hornbeam

At last it seems like Spring – although there is still a slight nip in the air. I went for a wonderful morning walk in the fields to visit the hornbeam I have been following for Loose and Leafy.

The first time I visited, I walked across muddy rugby pitches; the second time I walked up along a steep main road; the third time I took a bus and it went the “wrong” way. This time I got it right, starting at a slightly different entrance to the fields and sticking to the footpaths.

I was relieved to find

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Tree following 3: Slightly disappointing…

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…

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Tree following 2: No, it’s NOT a beech…

The tree I am following, pictured this week…

Well, I hoped this tree-following lark with Loose and Leafy would be educational – and I have already been gobsmacked on just my second visit to the “random” tree I chose in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff.

In my first bulletin, I foolishly said I thought it was a European beech (Fagus sylvatica). Oh, how wrong I was!

Fearing I might

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Death and new life in the mid-March garden

Magpie (Pica pica) eating a mouse, perched on an ash tree in the garden

Spring is coming to my garden but as well as the usual new life bursting out all over the place, there are some losses, too.

I think the blackbirds are nesting outside my window – I saw a female taking a beakful of grass into a spiky Mahonia bush. But I fear it won’t give enough protection, as the magpies and crows are already

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Tree following 1: Life’s a beech (or is it?)…

The tree I intend to follow – which I think might be a beech…

There you go, I’ve revealed what species I think it is – the tree I intend to follow. I believe it to be a European beech, Latin name Fagus sylvaticus (meaning “beech of the forest”). Although of course I could be wrong!

I told how I found this tree in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, in my last blog post, “First find your tree“.

So here I will mainly just show you photographs (lots) of

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First find your tree…

Which tree to choose?

Nature has a spring in its step this week – and so do I, thanks to Lucy Corrander over at Loose and Leafy, who is coordinating a “tree following” project over the next year. Last time I looked, she already had more than 50 people joining in – and I have decided to sign up, too.

This isn’t my first OFFICIAL post for that project, this is about how I located THE tree I have decided to follow…

My first thought

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Signs of spring between the storms…

Cherry blossom sprouting on a roadside tree

After months of rain and gales, with floods and falling trees, this week has been comparatively calm in Wales. Winter probably hasn’t finished with us yet, but at last there have been real signs of spring.

I noticed catkins and cherry blossom on roadside trees as I was walking home in the dusk the other night, so took my camera with me next morning. They must have

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Signs of spring in January…

Dark pink hybrid hellebore in the garden in January

We have had a LOT of rain here in Wales, but at least so far this winter has been mild. You may recall that December still felt like late autumn.

As we near the end of January, there are signs of spring. The hellebores have

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The wetlands of Penclacwydd

The start of the Millennium Wetlands at WWT Llanelli…

I did say I would share some more pictures from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Llanelli, a couple of weeks ago when I showed you the birds themselves.

These images are from the wild area of the estuary, beyond the grounds where

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Fair weather and fowl in midwinter

Coscoroba swan (Coscoroba coscoroba) from South America

It seems a long time ago now, but on Boxing Day we visited the WWT Wetlands Centre in Llanelli, where we are members. The weather was glorious and

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