Very impressive Beech and measured round the girth gives a possible 200 year old tree. The whole group of trees here is very attractive and the sheltered position will have helped them grow. I wonder who planted them.
On the other side of the little footbridge there are a few isolated trees; the illustrated Oak is difficult to age but has character. The bulge at the base is probably decades of adventitious buds trying to grow but constantly eaten by sheep. It produces a complex pattern of cell growth distinct from the normal tissue.
Very interesting post. A triangle of dry land has running water all around (occasionally) at the joining of the two streams here. It was always a favourite spot for picnics, the kids pleading to go to "Baked Bean". Now I think it's overgrown with bracken, like a lot of the slopes around here. Birds that were reliably present in spring were Ring Ouzel, Tree Pipit, Cuckoo and Whinchat, but not any more. Lizards were also regularly found here but again, reports of these at this spot have dried up.
ReplyDeleteMy largest group of Ring Ouzels were here on a late date in November; a pair and two juveniles feeding on Rowan berries.
There is a reproduction of a pencil sketch of the trees when quite slim on the cover of my edition of "A Springtime Saunter" by Whiteley Turner (1904)
Thanks for commenting Steve. Yes Blake Dean (on O/S maps it calls it Black Dean) has always been a popular picnic site. I have a photo of the tree in top photo, when the fallen trunk was still attached.
ReplyDelete