Wyevale

 I went into Hereford to buy some train tickets, and do some other necessary business, and have a look for some new boots.  Sadly, nothing caught my eye, but I did run into two lovely ladies who recognised me from my blog.  Since there was a while to wait until the next bus home, they offered me a lift.

On the way, they wanted to pop into Wyevale Garden Centre.  I haven't been there for years, so I was quite happy to have a look round with them.  Also, I had been thinking of buying a dwarf plum tree for my garden, and they said there was plenty of room in the back of the car for it.  They even let me use their discount card to buy it.

So thank you Penny and Liz for the lift home, the garden centre, and the interesting conversation.  I'm really glad I bumped into them! 

The Secret Language of Trees

 The last part of the Tree event on Saturday was the film at 7pm, The Secret Language of Trees.

The Parish Hall was full, and the film was fascinating.

It talked about how trees can communicate with each other through their root systems, exchanging chemicals with other trees nearby to warn of predators so that the other trees could defend themselves more quickly, and about how the shared root system could keep stumps of felled trees alive.  The trees also share nutrients to help weaker trees, and can "decide" together when it's a good year to produce lots of acorns or beech mast or other seeds.  (This year has been a very good year for acorns locally - they were everywhere on the Offa's Dyke walk.)

They also talked about "mother trees", which are important to the health of a lot of other trees around them, and how plantation firs or other evergreens do better if there are birch trees in the mix.  They talked about using horses to pull the felled trees out of the woodlands rather than heavy machinery that compacts the soil, and lots more.

There were scientists and tree experts from Canada, including an indigenous woman who is also a scientist, who talked about the importance of indigenous knowledge of how their local forests grow, and a forester from Germany, talking about how German forests are managed.

After the film there was a Q and A session with four of the trustees of Botany and Other Stories, and the son of one of the trustees, who is also, I think, a soil scientist.

They spoke about the importance of sourcing local trees or seeds to replant woodlands - one of the problems of sourcing the cheapest trees from abroad is that they can import diseases, like Dutch Elm disease.  Also, they are less likely to be well adapted to the local conditions if they come from the other side of Europe.

In the Midlands, the National Forest scheme is trying to link together scattered patches of woodland, which will be good for biodiversity as animals, plants  and birds can move more freely between their habitats.

When talking about commercial forestry, they agreed that monocultures are a bad thing, and selective felling of mixed woodland is better, though they were doubtful of the possibility of scaling up horse power to commercially viable levels.

A Swedish lady who has recently moved to Hay talked about her time living in Scotland, where she had seen selective felling of trees targeting the trees described as "mother trees" in the film, which is very bad for the health of the woodland.

They talked about the need for long term planning, and for forestry and agriculture to work together - hedgerows are very important for biodiversity, for instance.  Leading on from the walk in the afternoon, they talked about the need for sensitive intervention in woodland - you can't just leave trees to do their thing, because woodlands in the UK have been subject to some form of management for centuries.  There is also the problem that about 75% of woodland in the UK is now privately owned - state owned woodland has quietly been sold off bit by bit.  So where once the Forestry Commission could implement a policy across the country, now there has to be a lot of negotiation with private owners of woodland.

And it's no good just planting a bunch of trees anywhere - around Birmingham there is a lot of heathland, a valuable habitat in its own right, which is destroyed when trees are planted on it, and it's not the best place to put the trees, either.

One of the trustees said she had been working in the sector since around 1978 - and things were improving, but there is still a long way to go!

So there was a lot to think about, coming out of the meeting, and a lot of expertise on the board of trustees of Botany and Other Stories.  It's quite reassuring that people with that expertise are getting together to do positive things. 

 

Tree Walk

 I'm back from a few days away (I had an awesome time in Manchester) and I still have a lot to say about the Tree event on Saturday (which seems like an awfully long time ago now!).

At 2pm, there was a tree walk down the Offa's Dyke path, starting from the Treehouse Cafe just over Hay Bridge.  The day was wet, and cold, and grey, but still about 20 people turned up.  There was some talk of doing an adult talk and a children's talk, but they decided to just go with the adult talk, and let the kids tag along.  If they got bored, there was plenty to do in the woods along the path, where there are a lot of outdoor games set up.

I'd been expecting a walk that pointed out the different types of trees, and one person had brought along a tree recognition booklet - but it wasn't really about that.

One of the trustees of Botany and Other Stories was there to talk about problems like ash die back - there are a lot of ash trees on that stretch of the riverbank.  One of the dying ash trees is right next to the cafe, covered in ivy, and they're trying to save as much of the tree as they can because the ivy is really good for biodiversity, nesting birds, insects and so on.

The owners of the land, who are actually doing the management of the woodland, were along for the walk, and they pointed out the strip of land that they can't touch to manage it because it is an SSSI.  Apparently, back when the UK was part of the EU, the Welsh Government could get EU grants for wildlife if a certain amount of riverbank was designated as SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).  So, there is nothing actually special about this bit of woodland, but it was there to make up the numbers - and they can't touch it, unless it's to pull out the Himalayan balsam, or thin out sycamore trees, which are counted as invasive.  So it's basically just sitting there.  Meanwhile the woodland around it, which is being managed, has enough light to the ground to encourage flower species that indicate ancient woodland, like bluebells and celandine, and wood anemone, which make the woods look so beautiful in spring.

Coming out to the (slightly flooded) meadow, we were experiencing a completely different environment.  For the past couple of years, the owner has been mowing the meadow.  They tried other ways of managing it, but nothing really worked well - now, though, the clear stretch of meadow between the trees supports a lot of insects in the summer, and there is enough space for the swallows and martens to get a long flight path to eat the insects, so that's working very well.  

They also pointed out a couple of saplings, just in the water.  These were elms - but sadly, since Dutch Elm disease wiped out most of the elms in the country in the 1970s, any elms that do start to grow get to about the size that these trees are, and then die.

It was rather sad to learn that the woodland that looked fine at a casual glance actually had a lot of dying trees in it (and there's nothing they can do to stop ash die back or Dutch Elm disease), but at the same time, it's a hopeful sign that the woodland is supporting 76 species of birds, along with everything that the birds eat.

There was also a bit of discussion about what sort of woodland we want to see in the future - what sort of trees should be planted to be more resilient to disease and climate change, and so on.

It was a fascinating walk - worth getting my feet wet for!  (I wore a pair of boots that I thought were waterproof.  They were not.). 

Cabinet of Curiosities Pop up Exhibition

 Yesterday morning I went down to the Parish Hall for the first part of a day of Tree-related activities.  

Chairs were set up in the centre of the hall for the film later that evening, and round the walls was the exhibition on the theme of trees - and also into the kitchen.  Some of the exhibits came from the main Cabinet of Curiosities collection, like the selection of woods that go to make a piano, and there were also quotations from people who came from all round the world, talking about their favourite tree.  

Tim the Gardener wrote a poem about elms, a big part of his childhood - but when he went back a few years later, they were all gone because of Dutch Elm disease.  A Chinese lady wrote about gathering kapok blossoms, and there was a chap from Soweto remembering jacaranda trees, as well as a local little girl talking about climbing her favourite hazel tree.

Earlier in the week, Pierre had come into the Cinema Bookshop to look for The Word for World is Forest by Ursula Le Guin.  We couldn't find it for him, but there were several other forest and tree related books as part of the exhibits.  There was a whole section on cider apples, for example. 

There was also art - botanical illustrations of pears by a group of children, and leaves, a wire figure decorated with leaves and dried flowers, and some of the figures from the Cabinet of Curiosities including my favourite, the Queen of the Night.

It took some time to go round and appreciate it all properly, and meanwhile Francoise was introducing people to each other - which is how I came to meet Carrie from the Tourist Information office, who was interested in my knowledge of local ancient monuments.  She's looking for anything she can find to make visitors' time in Hay more interesting for them. 

T is For Tree

 Botany and Other Stories are holding a pop up Cabinet of Curiosities event on Saturday.

It's all about trees.

From 10.30am to 7pm, there will be an exhibition at the Parish Hall (exhibitions are normally at the house on Oxford Road, but that is being renovated at the moment), with botanical illustrations of trees and leaves, and all sorts of other interesting tree-related things.

At 7pm, there will be a film, also in the Parish Hall, called The Hidden Language of Trees, followed by a Q and A session with a panel.  Matthew Prior, a journalist, will be the facilitator of the panel, which will be formed of Jeremy Armstrong, Jenny Dicker, Imogen Cripps and Emily Warner.  These are all trustees of the Botany and Other Stories charity.

There will also be a walk along the Offa's Dyke path, starting from By the Wye Glamping.  There will be a children's version and a more scientific adult version, observing the trees along the river in the context of climate change.

I've got my walking boots ready! 

Willow Tree

 

I took the first picture before I went away, and the second one yesterday.

It's sad to see old trees felled, but sometimes it is necessary. 

Sacred Spaces

 Alan from the Local History Society was going round with a plastic bag full of the new booklet compiled by the Brecknock History Forum, so I bought one (cost £5).

It's a list of 100 lesser known sacred spaces across Breconshire - they have included some interesting standing stones, as well as Christian places of worship, and they have also included places which have been demolished, and others that have been converted to other uses.  There are good photos for each entry.

Hay is represented by two entries around St Mary's Church - what is supposed to be an effigy of Matilda de Braos, and the Gwynne Memorial stone.

The entries are also marked to show the presence of ancient yew trees - a red label for a tree over 800 years old, and a green label for a 'veteran' tree of over 500 years old.

There are also maps to make it easier to find the churches, chapels and standing stones, together with map references and the What3Words code e.g. radiates.enthused.frog for St David's Church, Tirabad, the only Georgian Chapel in Wales.

I've been to quite a few of the places mentioned, back when I had access to transport and we went church hunting in our little blue van, but there are plenty of places here I didn't know about and would like to visit some time.

The Cabbage Leaf Looks at Trees

Last week, my friends from Botany and Other Stories came round to deliver the latest issue of The Cabbage Leaf, the newsletter/magazine about nature that they produce (we were careful to stay 2m apart!).
This time, there was an extra note attached:
"When this issue of the Cabbage Leaf went to print, the global coronavirus pandemic had already hit Great Britain.
This state of emergency is leading to unprecedented changes to daily life in uncharted territories.
Still we will not forget that, more than ever, many other issues still matter, the climate crisis being one of them.
Best wishes to everyone during these unsettling and challenging times."

The theme of the Spring issue is trees, and the letter 'R', standing for Reforestation and Rewilding and Richard Booth. There's an interview with local scientist Emily Warner, who is studying for a PhD at Oxford, studying the benefits of reforestation. She also writes for Little Toller Books, a small publisher specialising in books about rural life and local history, where "Seeking the trees: a rewilding diary" can be found in their online journal The Clearing.
There's an article about the Golden Spruce, a tree sacred to the Haida Indians in British Columbia, which was chopped down in 1997.
There are statistics about trees - such as the number of trees cut down every year to make virgin paper for the production of books in the US (30 million!).
There's also an article about Tree Preservation Orders, mentioning four of the five trees by the Old Library and the pollarded lime trees on Broad Street.
Borja Montego Moraga, who lives in Clyro, has contributed an article for the Plant of My Land column - on Spanish olive trees.
And the Children's Corner on the back page talks about the Tree of Jesse in Abergavenny church.
The 'R for Richard Booth' part of the publication is a separate 8 page supplement, collecting many quotations about and by the King of Hay, including a poem by Chris the Bookbinder, who edits Quirk poetry magazine. I think my favourite quotation from Richard in the booklet is on the front page, where he's talking about all the books published about Princess Diana, and finishes:
"One starts life by thinking civilisation is turning trees into books and finishes it by thinking that a tree is better as a tree."

Lime Tree Preservation

I happened to notice a yellow sign tied to a post as I walked along Broad Street this morning. It seems that the five pollarded lime trees along Broad Street have just been granted a Tree Preservation Order.

Tree Preservation

I've just heard that four of the five trees on the Old Library site now have Tree Preservation orders on them. Three are birch trees, two at the end of the site by the parking area for the solicitors and one on the grassy area near Brook Street Pottery. The other is the big cedar tree between the bench and the old Poetry Bookshop. It is hoped that this will preserve the green area for the public.

Hot Day in Hereford

I had a few errands to run in Hereford, and there was a garden festival going on in the main square when I wandered through.

There were plant stalls, and Friends of the Earth and the local wildlife trust, and it was all very pleasant.

While I was there I popped into the Old House - while I still can. It's under threat of closure by the County Council, along with all the other museums run by the Council in Herefordshire. Apparently, though, they may have a problem if they want to close the Old House down. The last time the building was used for a commercial purpose, it was owned by Lloyds Bank, and when Lloyds moved to other premises, they gave the building to the Council in trust, to be used as a museum. This means the Council can't sell it, and can't use it for any other purpose....
The chap I was chatting to also told me that it was the City Council that organises things like the garden festival and the History Day that I was involved in the other weekend. "Not a lot of people realise we've got a City Council as well," he said.
Meanwhile the fourteen lime trees by the roundabout, where the new shopping centre is being built, are still there - the Highways Agency wants to cut them down, though doing so wouldn't improve traffic flow or have any other benefits I can see, and removing them takes away even more greenery from a town centre that is fairly treeless already. Last night about 50 people turned up to hug the trees and protest about it, and the BBC were there to film a report about it.
I would have gone into the Library to see the exhibition on River Life they have on at the moment, but I ran out of time.