Destructive gales rip into trees - creating some wonderful habitats!

An Oak tree with it's "crown" ripped out by recent gales

Happy New Year!

Well, the weather in 2014 has certainly started in a stormy fashion, carrying on from where it left off in 2013! Many hedgerow trees have had their “crowns” blown out and in the woods, many forestry trees have come down in groups over the last couple of weeks. It is very noticeable that it appears not to be constant strong winds that are the problem, but sudden powerful gusts that trees often can’t cope with.

The photo above is of a hedgerow Oak that had its top ripped out, (actually towards the end of last year) as did another two nearby trees. You can see exactly the path that the great gust took across the fields, as these trees are in different hedges, but in a distinct south westerly line with each other.

Within the woods too, there has also been plenty of action. I stood on a track today and counted at least 20 trees down in a 50 metre swathe through forest, but the trees each side of this destructive path seemed to be totally unaffected.

Now, any forester who  is reading this, please stop and go back to what you were up to before – the rest of you can continue!

This destruction is great! The trees that have come down will now let plenty of light onto the forest floor, allowing a flourish of woodland flowers to appear next spring, along with tiny little tree saplings. This will, in time produce wonderful, dappled glades within the wood, putting some diverse structure back into an otherwise rather uniform wood.

The two great storms in 1987 and 1990 delivered some of the best conservation management that English woods have received in recent times! Certainly since the practice of coppicing stopped as it no longer made money, and timber extraction ceased to be taken from much of our broad leaved woodland, because of cheap imported wood from abroad, British woodlands have become incredibly uniform. All trees are of a similar age, tall and with a leaf canopy that shades out everything that tries to grow below. The one thing that wildlife does not like as a general rule is for everything to be the same.

Many trees have also lost branches, which have been literally ripped from them by the vicious gusts of wind. Not only is this quite natural, but it will create superb places for birds to nest and bats to hide. The gaping wound left on the tree will allow fungi to get established, but while parts of the tree rot, other parts will re-sprout new growth.  Even those deciduous trees that have had their centres completely ripped out will be fine - they will re-grow and maybe, they will have even more "character" now than they had before!

The worst thing that can happen now, is that we all rush to go and “tidy” all this mess up within our woods! Leave it to nature to tidy up, it is more than happy to sort everything out – in fact it will positively thrive on the job!

      

Ash dieback - showing near you soon! (probably).

Mature Ash trees - such a part of our landscape

I clearly remember as a child when “Dutch Elm” disease hit this country. I was living just outside the village of Upton-upon-Severn in south Worcestershire, where the view from my bedroom window across the river Severn’s floodplain, was dominated by numerous large elm trees. Elms, along with giant Oaks, were the trees I was most familiar with and especially in the autumn, when the elms turned a golden yellow, gave real character to the whole landscape. The loss of these tall giants in a matter of a couple of years was a devastating blow to all who lived in the area and of course, this was mirrored across the country as a whole.   

So it is with real sadness that I now read about Ash die back disease (also known as Chalara dieback disease) which already appears to have become widespread across the country. The latest confirmed findings (As of May 13th 2013) which have been recently published are: Nursery sites – 23, recently planted sites – 295, wider environment, e.g. established woodland – 182.  Total: 500. In these figures, Wales has had its first cases in the ‘wider environment’ confirmed. 

The Forestry Commission has posted a video online showing the symptoms to look for at this time of year to check whether ash trees have Chalara dieback. The new video, further information about Chalara dieback including a map of confirmed locations, and access to Tree Alert are available from the Forestry Commission.

We will all have to wait and see how this new disease changes our landscape and what impact the potential loss of such a common tree will have on our British wildlife.

Lesvos - a cracking island!



Lesvos - green and wooded in many places

I have just returned from a great trip to the Greek island of Lesvos in perfect time to coincide with peak bird migration. The island lies just 7 miles or so off the Turkish coast and as birds follow the coastline northwards, they tend to pass through the island, often stopping to refuel before moving on.

The island is rapidly becoming well known by the bird watching fraternity and the only tourists I bumped into had an array of binoculars, telescopes and long lenses attached to cameras, immediately identifying them as “birders”. I consider myself a bird watcher rather than a birder – the later always seems to be in a hurry to move onto the next site to acquire another “tick”, whereas I am happy just to pootle about looking at the flowers (which where spectacular) and butterflies, as well as the birds. Having said that, I did meet many relaxed, pleasant folk, from numerous different countries, who were fully enjoying the wide array of wildlife associated with this undeveloped gem of an island.

I have always found April the most amazing time to visit the Mediterranean as it is so green and vibrant at this time of year, before the long hot summer days of constant sunshine turns everything to various shades of brown. It was a treat to constantly hear the rattling song of the Corn bunting from almost every vantage point, whilst gently purring away in the background came the summer sound of Turtle dove, two species that are in real trouble here in the UK. You only need to take a look at the little fields of poor quality, weed filled crops to see why they still thrive on this island.

I will undoubtedly return!!             





IVY - a great habitat!



Cut ivy stems

Why DO people cut ivy off of trees? OK, on the odd occasion it can completely envelope the canopy of smaller trees such as hawthorn, which is obviously detrimental, acting too as a large sail it can also help to bring the tree down. However, in most cases ivy does not adversely affect the tree; it is simply using it as a support, that’s all!

I was out walking last evening and stopped to watch two gorgeous little long-tailed tits feeding on ivy berries, which I’m not sure I have ever seen before. Usually they feed on insects, but due to this cold blast of weather that we are all experiencing at present, I expect any self respecting insect is hidden well away and difficult to find. Ten minutes later, I came across a tree that had had the ivy cut to stop it growing, no doubt in the common belief that it would eventually strangle the tree to death.

Ivy is brilliant in the fact that it is one of the very last plants to flower in the autumn, providing nectar for some butterflies and other insects which are just about to go into hibernation overwinter as adults. It then goes on to produce berries in the late winter, when all other berries have been eaten and so provides an important food source at a lean time of year. Ivy also provides shelter during the months when most trees become leafless. The first butterfly that we often see in the spring is the sulphur yellow brimstone, which cleverly hides away in ivy overwinter; by hanging upside down it closely resembles a dying ivy leaf!

Also, a number of birds such as the little wren, blackbird, song thrush, robin and spotted flycatcher all love to hide their nests away in an ivy clad tree.

So, let’s all give ivy a break – it is a fabulous habitat for a wide range of species!