Life and Death

 

           One of the great privileges of owning our small bit of land lies in being able to watch change happen. There are the seasonal changes through the months with nature showing its different faces as the year progresses; the diurnal changes as light levels change and produce different soundscapes and viewpoints. Then there are the longer term processes of change as trees grow, seed banks open up, species appear and disappear. I have noticed for several years that two special trees have started to slowly but surely decline. Whether this is due to disease or just old age is impossible to determine. One of the trees is a rather fine Scots Pine whose canopy has been getting thinner and thinner, and now looks very bare. Pine trees begin to rot very quickly once dead so this one will have to be felled in the not too distant future. The other tree is a fine Sessile Oak, probably over 150 years old. It has had bracket fungus growing from its base for all the time we have known it and now the canopy is looking suddenly bare of new leaves. This week I noticed that there are a few noticeable splits in the bark and an ooze of sap from inside the tree; not best signs. By contrast oak trees take a very long time dying so there is no rush at all to fell it and it is after all one of a small number of oaks in our section, and much admired.

        Change is a constant too in terms of species. Birds are becoming quiet now as most have finished breeding. Sadly we may have lost Turtle Doves from the wood as this is the first year that I have not seen or heard them. I hope this is just a temporary change in their fortunes. As Summer moves on, new plants and invertebrates appear, replacing the early insects and flowers; those Bluebell days are long gone. There is always something new to spot and something now gone to miss.

Still around, the Spotted Flycatcher.

Blueberries starting to change colour

Just flowering now on the track, the tiny Lesser Skullcap,

The dead Scots Pine looking very bare

The Oak in decline, its canopy looking thin

A sap ooze, signs of decay and change inside the trunk

Just appearing, a new kid on the block - a White-legged Damselfly