Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged hornbeam, Nature, Trees on May 30, 2020| 4 Comments »
It’s so easy to see holes in trees as the eyes of some huge pachyderm
It was inevitable when I walked around Llandaff Fields recently that I would encounter one of my favourite trees. Please indulge me while I give it a blog post of its own. This was the first tree I ever followed, in 2014. You can see all my previous posts about it here.
This is a record of my most recent visit… (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Trees, tagged Bute, Cardiff, hornbeam, Spring, Trees on May 29, 2015| 8 Comments »
These lovely leaves are so familiar to me…
Twice now I have chosen a tree to follow for a year, but even before that I had decided I really must try to identify more species, especially when the trees are bare in winter. At last I think I am getting somewhere.
This spring when I have visited Bute Park in Cardiff to check on my empress tree (a Paulownia tomentosa) I have also watched dozens of other trees come into leaf. There is one I thought I recognised from a distance, as (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Cardiff, hornbeam, Nature, Spring, Trees on March 22, 2015| 6 Comments »
Don’t look at the sun! 2015 eclipse through a tree – there will be lots of trees in this blog post!
I know it’s all so “yesterday” (or the day before yesterday), but Friday was an eclipse day here in the UK. The solar eclipse wasn’t total here in Cardiff, but we would get something like 85% coverage.
During the last good eclipse here, in August 1999, I watched from the office window, using special viewers, but this time I wanted to do it differently and I had a few plans. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Cardiff, hornbeam, Nature, Trees on December 31, 2014| 16 Comments »
First meeting with my hornbeam on February 25, 2014 – and I thought it was a beech
It’s New Year’s Eve and I must put my hornbeam behind me. It has been a great year of following trees and I can now identify more species than ever before – hopefully even without their leaves on.
But the special one was this hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and I must draw a line under it by bringing together its changing seasons. Thanks again to Loose and Leafy for this great tree-following project.
(more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged autumn, hornbeam, Nature, Trees, winter on December 11, 2014| 20 Comments »
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) on December 7, 2014
In under a fortnight it will be the shortest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere. Never before have I followed the changing seasons so closely – and it’s all thanks to Lucy Corrander and her Loose & Leafy tree following project.
This post features pictures from two visits to the hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, on the morning of our first frost on November 24 and on December 7. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged autumn, hornbeam, Nature, Trees on November 11, 2014| 14 Comments »
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, in November
I visited the hornbeam I am following twice this month, as I thought there would be a lot of autumnal activity and I didn’t want to miss anything. The first time was on October 20, a grey day just before the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo hit Britain, and the second time was on November 5 – a rare sunny day in a very wet week.
Just a reminder that this tree-following lark is a great project organised by Loose & Leafy, so thanks again to Lucy Corrander for that. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged autumn, Cardiff, hornbeam, Nature, Trees on October 12, 2014| 12 Comments »
At last the hornbeam fruits are changing colour…
Amazing to think this is my tenth blog post about the hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) I am following in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff. Thanks again to Lucy Corrander for setting up her Loose and Leafy tree-following project.
I visited on October 2, at the end of a long, dry, mild month. But I knew cold, wet and windy weather was coming, so I had (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged autumn, Cardiff, hornbeam, Nature, Trees on September 11, 2014| 11 Comments »
Hornbeam leaves and fruit, September 8, 2014…
Patience is a virtue I don’t have. But “my” hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) is in no hurry to embrace Autumn (which our transatlantic cousins call Fall). So my most recent visit to the tree in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, was a little bit disappointing.
Thanks to Lucy Corrander’s Loose and Leafy blog, a whole bunch of us are “following a tree” and reporting back every month on what’s been happening. I left my September visit as late as I could, in the hope of seeing a seasonal change.
I always say I love Autumn, but (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged hornbeam, Nature, Summer, Trees on August 10, 2014| 13 Comments »
The hornbeam on August 9, seen from the hedgerow…
I knew August could be a bit “boring” for the hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) I am following. But it was an assignation I had to make for the sake of Lucy Corrander’s Tree Following project, even though it was a rushed job on a Saturday morning when we had just returned from a couple of weeks away on holiday and I was in the middle of doing the laundry.
It was a rush partly because (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Cardiff, hornbeam, Nature, Trees on July 12, 2014| 22 Comments »
The hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) on July 10…
I thought by now that following a hornbeam in Llandaff Fields in Cardiff would be boring, especially as I wouldn’t expect much change in high summer. It’s my least favourite season, when the sheer weight of greenness everywhere grows tired – and tiring.
I usually visit between 8am and 9am every month, but to vary it a bit, I had planned to go at a different time of day, maybe on my way home one evening.
It never happened, as I have been so busy at work, so (more…)
The Squirrelbasket 