Until July 2017, documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur so don't trust I'm always right. If ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say! Meanwhile . . . I've now moved to Halifax in West Yorkshire. Click on the link below to collect the new URL. Don't forget to follow there!

Sunday 17 March 2013

THE TREES GO ROUND AND ROUND

February 24th 2013


On March 14th 2010 I published a post called 'Take One Tree'. It it's a sycamore and I've been following its progress ever since - though 'progress' probably isn't the right word because it never seems to do anything. Even the ivy which was cut away last year is re-growing this. There's a Hart's Tongue Fern that never moves. There's an Arum maculatum that dies down and come back. There are celandines which used to flower with exuberance but have become a bit tatty and drab over the last few years. The ditch at the foot of the bank is a bit more silted than it was. And that's about it! It's not a very leafy tree and the leaves it does produce are very high up. But, still, I follow!


Then there's the clump of elderberry trees.

March 14th 2013
I began following them in December 2008 when I was still using the camera on my phone. I even gave them a blog of their own. (The Elderberry Log Blog been much neglected. Perhaps I should revive it.) At first,  I followed a particular whirl in the wood of one of the trees. This turned out to be a mistake because when the leaves had grew round it, it became impossible to photograph. It time, bits flaked away. So I switched to a crooked branch. (You can see the crook clearly in a post from August 2012 called 'Who Stole My Leaf'.) And now a bit of the crook has broken away so it's a crook no longer.

At first, I thought it had gone completely but 'our' shoots are still there, simply a little higher because, with less weight on it, the branch has sprung higher.

March 14th 2013



And now that it's March, our eyes begin to turn towards the hawthorn and blackthorn trees. Of the blackthorns, I've been specially noticing some young trees. On this one, you can still see the shriveled remains of last year's sloes.










And all the time there's gorse.

March 14th 2013
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Soft green buds.


March 14th 2013











And startling bursts of gold.


The years go round. They stay the same. They flake away. Things live. Things die. And live again.


Click HERE for previous Sycamore Tree Following posts.

I'm Following a Tree
Are You?
A Growing List!

Some people follow a tree for a year, some for longer.
There's a list of tree-following bloggers under a tab below the picture at the top of the page.
Over the next little bit, I'll be revising it and visiting tree-following bloggers to find out if they are still following their tree . . . or have stopped . . . or have moved on to a new one.

Meanwhile . . .
Joy at The Little House in the No-so-big Woods is setting off this year with a cedar elm. Her first post is Be careful, tree: there's someone following you!
(How's that for a title!)
and
Laura (who used to blog at Patio Patch) is following a London Laburnum on her new blog, Tell Tale Therapy.

Do you have a tree following post? If so, let me know, and, despite my profound inefficiency and erratic blogging technique - I'll endeavor to remember to put a link here!

11 comments:

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

I'm amazed that those little celandine's haven't been doing so well there.

I'm guilty for not writing up my tree posts though I've photographed the Red Majestic through all the seasons with a blog post in mind.

http://www.leavesnbloom.com/2013/03/whats-in-bloom-in-march.html

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed reading this and looking at the photos.
It also reminded me that it's been far too long since I last did a plot trees post! Flighty xx

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Rosie - looking forward to a tree post from Leaves 'n Bloom. Your photos are always good but the ones in your current post (What's in Bloom in March 2023) are phenomenal - really, really lovely).

Hi, Flighty. Good to know there will be more Tree Following posts from your plot! Looking forward to them.

Down by the sea said...

Hi Lucy, I was intending to carry on following a tree this year too, I will let you know when I have got myself organised!
Sarah x

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hi, Sarah. Do let me know when you've chosen your tree. You had a very interesting one last year.

Donna said...

I hope to be following in a few weeks Lucy...my trees are still being bombarded with cold and snow.

Gerald (SK14) said...

love those twisty old roots - got something similar in my camera right now but not downloaded yet

Gerald (SK14) said...

guess my last comment answers your second comment on mine - still following some trees - took another of the Foxholes Oak the other day with horses trekking by - they'll appear sometime - not sure when though.

Lyn said...

I couldn't see some of your lovely photos....I used my imagination!
I follow a bg horse chestnut. The tag is 'my tree' on my blog but I have not taken many recently! X

Pat Tillett said...

Great post! I'm not following a tree, but maybe I'll start. I have one in mind...

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I'd never heard of following a tree - but like the idea. I love the photo of the big tree -looks like an elf is in the center.