HOLM OAK - QUERCUS ILEX - TREE FOLLOWING

When the wind blows leaves turn upside down and show their lighter sides.

I'm choosing a tree to follow.

Each year, I choose a tree and see what it does:

when its leaves appear and when they fall

which twigs grow and which fall off

if it has seeds - and if it does to note if any germinate and grow into new trees

what its bark looks like - when it's wet and when it's dry

whether anything grows on it - like lichen

whether creatures sit on - insects, birds, butterflies

what plants grow round it and what they do.

And I invite others to join me - to choose a tree and to 'follow' it too.

Then I forget who's following what tree and lose the list and get it all wrong and muddle it up . . . but the trees (fortunately!) grow on - well, mostly they do. Sometimes bits drop off. Sometimes whole trees fall over or die.

So . . . I have two tasks. The first is to choose a tree. The second is not to lose the list.

For the first . . . over the next few posts I'll be looking at several trees, wondering which will be 'THE' tree for me this year. Then, having viewed the talent (as it were!) I'll say which one I'll specially follow.

For the second - I'll try the Linky system - which I've not used before so you may have to bear with me a little while I work out how to make it work. At the start, I'll put a Linky box in two places:

1. On the Tree Following page and invite you to put your name / name of your blog in that

2. At the end of every Loose and Leafy Tree post so you can link to your own posts about particular trees.

I'm just about to do a spate of tree posts so there will be lots of opportunities for you to give links to tree posts on your blogs while I get used to the system!

Then, when I've got the hang of that, I'll whittle it down to a Linky a month. This, for me, will be a challenge. People generally like things to happen on particular days . . . 

I find particular days a bit of a challenge . . . but . . . we'll see!

So . . . for my first 'Will I follow it?' tree, I've been looking at what I think is a Holm Oak - Quercus Ilex. Or, rather, to deviate from the point right from the start - a little grove of Holm Oaks instead of one particular tree.

They have tough, ever-green leaves, long acorns (when they have any at all - which isn't often) and pale trunks.

This tree is on a steep slope above the sea.
The ground is always dry. It makes a good place for children to play.

Photos of the Holm Oak were taken on 12th February 2014. (If it isn't a Holm Oak - tell me!)
Remember, you can also let people know about your tree posts through Tree Blogging

There's a part two with more about this tree HERE.

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The linky box here closes as soon as a new one is added to the blog. The links you entered are all kept - but to add another, you need to go to a box in a more recent post. (The current linky box is with the post for February 21st.)