Wild arum

 

One of the earliest woodland plants to appear in spring is the Wild Arum with its spearhead shaped leaves.  Its scientific name Arum maculatum means 'spotted lily' and the leaves are often, but not always, spotted black. 

A place for wild things



 

This is the view, on a January afternoon, from the pylon which stands incongruously in the grassland at Filnore Woods.

 

While our intention is to provide a place for wild things, it is very much with people in mind.  We want you, whoever you are, to come closer to nature.

 

So this view combines both the natural and the man made.  A path through the grass between two areas of woodland leads down to an ancient hedge.  Beyond it in the middle ground we can see the roof of the Leisure Centre on the left and the Industrial Estate on the right.  In the distance is the mighty River Severn, with the Forest of Dean a hazy presence on the far bank. 

Human habitation and natural habitats form a complex mosaic, a sort of sustainable co-existence.

Hazel catkins again already

 

Hazel catkins are already golden with pollen in some places at Filnore. 

 

Some bushes are further forward than others and in the shady parts of the wood the catkins are still dormant.

 

 

But in sunny places the hazel bushes are decorated as if for a late Christmas.

Dangerous trees

 

The silver maple tree in the foreground had a dead stem branching off from the base.  Already in April 2012 it had been marked with an orange spot to show it was ready to be removed.

 

But somehow we never got round to doing it and now the windy weather has removed it for us.  In the photos below, taken from the other side, you can see the broken stub and the long, dead stem leaning against some other trees.

  

                                                   

This was now slightly more risky to walkers so the stub was shortened and the broken stem was taken down and made into a sort of bench for weary walkers or those who just want to sit, listen and look.

 

 

The other, larger, leaning silver maple tree shown in the photographs will also have to be taken down eventually as toastools of the velvelt shank fungus have appeared, showing that there is some decay in the stem.

 

 

Harts Tongue Fern

You might not recognise this as a fern but it is the Hart's Tongue Fern, (Asplenium scolopendrium) . 

 

 

The strap-like fronds (as we call the leaves of ferns) last through the winter and new ones uncurl in the spring.

 

                      

Although it will grow in any soil, it prefers limy conditions and will even grow in the mortar of walls.   Where you find it growing you can guess that the soil is probably alkaline.

 

Recognising winter trees

Some trees are just as easy to identify in winter as they are in summer.  Silver Birch trees have a slender drooping shape with very fine twigs.

 

 

But the white bark is an even clearer indication that they are birch.

 

Other trees with distinctive bark are the aspen with its diamond shaped LENTICELS or breathing holes, and the Cherry with lenticels in horizontal bands round the trunk.

Some, like the Bird Cherry below, are harder to recognise but looking closely you can see the little orange lenticels.

 



Here's the wrinkly bark of an old Elder tree with moss growing all over it.

 

One factor that makes bark recognition more difficult is that the bark changes as the tree gets older.  Rather like humans, as a tree gets older it loses the smooth skin of youth and gets more wrinkly and characterful.  In the pictures below you can see the contrast with the smooth bark of a young hawthorn and the more flaky bark of a mature hawthorn.



And on the hawthorn shown below you can see both kinds of bark on the same tree.

Brambles are evergreen

HAPPY NEW YEAR. 

Please follow the blog every few days through 2015.

Any helpful suggestions or comments to filnorefriends@gmail.com.

 

Read on . . . .

 

When we think of winter evergreens, it's holly and ivy and fir trees and pine trees that come to mind, but the humble bramble also keeps its leaves on through the winter. 

 

 

Each leaf is made up of 5 leaflets, all on thorny stalks with hidden thorns on the veins on the underside of the leaf. 

 

It's a prickly character and a very successful coloniser of open ground at Filnore Woods. 

 

Although the leaves are still green now, they are beginning to get brown spots and will gradually turn browner and browner until the new leaves pop out in spring.