Holm oaks and the Pontcanna wall

The Pontcanna Fields wall, on the right, is accompanied by maybe a hundred holm oaks

This is a blog post I have been mulling over for years but finally I have drawn together all my snaps of what I like to call the Great Wall of Pontcanna, which runs around Pontcanna Fields in Cardiff. Also fascinating for me is the fact that for its entire length it is accompanied by a row of evergreen holm oaks (Quercus ilex), which must be a century old.

Please indulge me, as many of you will not find this at all interesting and there are lots of pictures! But I have considered it a sort of journey of exploration, like the search for the source of the Nile…

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2016 tree following 12: The year of the oak

Frosted oak leaves on January 3, 2017

Before I turn my attention to a new tree to follow in 2017, I am looking back with fondness at the old oak (Quercus robur) I have followed throughout 2016 in Thompson’s Park, Cardiff.

I visited again on a frosty day last week but now it’s winter there is not going to be much change until it starts the annual cycle again in spring.

The only new observation was this spent firework from the New Year’s Eve festivities…

Firework shell under the oak on January 3, 2017

So here is a comparison of how the tree looked as the months passed in 2016.

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2016 tree following 11: Golden days before they end

Fallen oak leaves in December

Last month I was becoming a bit impatient with the oak tree (Quercus robur) I am following in Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park, as it seemed slow to take on autumn hues. But I knew that when the right time came it would all happen very quickly, so I have visited the tree twice this month. And what a difference a fortnight has made.

The following pictures were taken on November 25 and December 9 and where I can I put similar shots together for comparison. A fortnight ago the leaves were golden but now they are brown and more have fallen to the ground.

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2016 tree following 10: Gold among the green

Autumn leaves on the oak tree (Quercus robur) in Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park

I had hoped by now that the oak tree (Quercus robur) I am following in Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park would be gold all over, but it seems to be one of the last trees to change colour, along with one or two stubborn ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) I have seen around.

It has been a wonderful autumn for trees in the city this year, as we have had mostly cold and dry weather throughout October. See my other autumn blog posts here.

Most of the following pictures were taken on November 10.

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2016 tree following 9: Before the fall

A few leaves on the oak tree are turning to autumn gold

The oak tree (Quercus robur) in the middle of Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park is at last tinged with autumn colours – although it’s still mostly green and you have to make an effort to find the golden leaves.

Now we are past the equinox and the daylight hours are getting shorter there is a distinct nip in the air. This has been particularly noticeable in the last fortnight as we have had cold easterly winds, unusual in South Wales.

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2016 tree following 8: Still gall-watching

The oak shows no sign of autumn yet

As I suspected, the oak tree (Quercus robur) in the middle of Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park doesn’t know it’s autumn yet. When I visited it on September 9 it looked no different from a month earlier, apart from the fact that someone had removed the fallen branch.

Sadly I have had to give up totally on finding ANY acorns, despite the large size of the tree. They all seem to have been subsumed by wasp galls of various sorts, so I had to make do with inspecting those again.

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2016 tree following 7: Searching for acorns

Change and decay in all around I see…

Here’s my August contribution to the tree following project, which you can read all about here. The August link box is here.

The old pedunculate oak (Quercus Robur) I am following every month in the middle of Thompson’s Park, Cardiff, is changing, and not for the better.

When I visited the other day we had just experienced heavy rain and strong winds.

Even from a distance I could see there was a branch down.

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2016 tree following 6: It’s in the details

Sunshine through oak leaves, July 2016

It’s the height of summer and the pedunculate oak (Quercus Robur) in the middle of Thompson’s Park, Cardiff, is looking remarkably healthy for such an old tree.

Mostly it is one mass of leathery green leaves, so I had to inspect it closely for some time before I found anything to report.

I was eventually pleased to spot a few interesting details as well as taking pictures of the usual “general views”.

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2016 tree following 5: Summer greens

Oak (Quercus robur) in Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park, May 24, 2016

As I expected, the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) in Thompson’s Park, Cardiff, has now lost its fresh spring green colours and the leaves are dark and leathery. But the transformation has happened in just a fortnight, between my two visits this month.

Now that the tree has settled down for the “boring bit” of the year (in my humble opinion), I also looked under and around the tree to see what I could find.

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2016 tree following 4: From gold to green

New leaves on April 26 on the oak I am following in Thompson’s Park, Cardiff

As I hoped and feared, everything happened all at once in April to the oak tree I am following in Cardiff’s Thompson’s Park. I had planned to visit every week to keep track of progress but in the end I made only two visits, on April 26 and on May 10. And how different it looked on those two occasions.

On my first visit the leaves were gold and burgeoning. There were also many “catkin” flowers, but these had mostly fallen like furry caterpillars to the ground by my second visit.

Here are some of my pictures…

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