Tree Weaver

“To English folk the mighty oak
Is England’s noblest tree;
Its hard-grained wood is strong and good
As English hearts can be.
And would you know how oak-trees grow,
The secret may be told:
You do but need to plant for seed
One acorn in the mould;
For even so, long years ago,
Were born the oaks of old.”
Cicely Mary Barker – The Acorn Fairy, 1895-1973.

In northern Thailand, a fossilized tree was discovered with a height estimate of 72.2 meters. This suggests that the ancient tree, which once graced a lush tropical forest, could have stood at an impressive height exceeding 100 meters, and its presence in the humid tropical environment dates back approximately 800,000 years.

FB Page – Blowing up History.

https://www.simonakeroyd.co.uk/about-simon.html

At Forestry England we’re committed to making changes at forests across the country that improve their accessibility and inclusivity. From working with communities local to our forests, we now better understand the range of barriers and are delivering a programme of improvements to address these. From Changing Places toilets to accessible trails, benches and play offers, discover the latest upgrades below.

Changing Places toilet facilities
A Changing Place toilet provides the space and facilities needed by people with multiple and complex disabilities who need the support of at least one assistant. Amongst other things, these toilets include a ceiling hoist system and a height-adjustable adult-sized changing bench.

By providing Changing Places toilets, we’re opening up our forests to visitors who may not previously have been able to visit due to their needs, giving them a safe and dignified toilet space.

Changing Places are now installed at eight of our forests, with another three due to be installed by the end of 2024 – at which point we will have more than doubled the number of Changing Places toilets in the nation’s forests.

All-terrain mobility scooters
There are a number of reasons why visitors may not be able to explore forests and woodlands on foot. For these visitors, using an all-terrain mobility scooter (such as a Tramper) allows them to navigate the different surfaces and terrains of the nation’s forests with ease, either by themselves or as part of a mixed-ability group.

We’ve added new all-terrain mobility scooters to a number of forests, including Delamere Forest (Cheshire), Thames Chase (Essex), Alice Holt Forest (Surrey) and High Lodge (Suffolk), allowing more visitors the chance to experience the benefits of time spent in the forest. With more still to be delivered, by the end of 2024 these scooters will soon be available to hire at 19 different forests.

How it works
Forests offer mobility scooter hire through Countryside Mobility or Outdoor Mobility schemes with prices starting at £2.50 per hour. Some forests have their own vehicles that you can use free of charge or for a small fee.

Inclusive play areas
Providing play opportunities suitable for a range of needs and sensitivities is an important part of providing accessible visits to our forests.

Designed to help everyone feel welcome and included, our inclusive play options can include natural materials, quiet zones, adapted and multi-height equipment and sensory features. New inclusive play areas are being installed at Fineshade Wood (Northamptonshire), Thames Chase (Essex) and Hicks Lodge (Leicestershire).

Pedal and Play trails
Our Pedal and Play trails were created especially to help cyclists aged 3-11 years old gain skills and confidence in off-road cycling.

New trails and skills hubs are being installed at High Lodge (Suffolk) and Hicks Lodge (Leicestershire). Non-standard cycles were considered in the design for these new trails, to make sure they can be used by people with additional access needs.

Resting areas and shelters have also been incorporated so that whole family groups can visit together – including those needing to rest or shelter from the elements whilst watching others play.

Accessible paths and trails
Widening and levelling uneven paths, removing physical barriers and obstacles and providing new trails have been a key part of opening up our forests to more visitors.

New trails that are suitable for wheelchairs, pushchairs and mobility scooters are being completed at forests across the country, from Chopwell Wood in Tyne and Wear to Abbeyford Woods in Devon.

A new, fully accessible footbridge was installed at Pages Wood, close to London, in July 2023. The previous bridge was narrow and in poor condition, making it difficult and unsafe for people to visit on foot. The new bridge has increased the connection of local people to their woodland, with over 11,000 people now using it each month.

Accessible benches and seating
Accessible benches and perches have been trialled at Haldon Forest Park in Devon and will now be rolled out at forests across the country. These provide seating at a mix of different heights for people of different statures, have handles to allow users to push up and out of their seats more easily, alongside having preferable back rest and seat angles.

Many of these bench options enable uses to transfer from wheelchairs or mobility scooters if they wish to do so. Accessible picnic benches will also start appearing in forests from autumn 2024.

info@forestryengland.uk

Delighted scientists from the National Trust confirm eight new shoots are growing from the stump of the iconic tree – 10 months after it was tragically felled

While the shoots are only between two and four centimetres tall at the moment, each could one day become part of a canopy for a regenerated tree.

As the shoots grow, the National Trust and Northumberland National Park Authority will continue to monitor them and extend the fencing around the area.

Northumberland National Park ranger Gary Pickles, who discovered the shoots, said: ‘I was first at the scene when the tree was discovered felled, and I remember saying hurriedly that it was gone. Now, I hope I can say that it’s back!’

Mr Pickles says he first spotted the new growth while on a routine check of the areas.

He says: ‘It was serendipitous that I decided to walk up to Sycamore Gap to recce a guided walk planned for September, almost a year to the anniversary.

Mr Pickles adds: ‘My job as ranger for Hadrian’s Wall Path is all about conserving the past. So, in my head I had consigned the tree to history and so I am amazed and delighted that it may have a future after all and is making a go of it.’

This new growth is possible because, even though the main body of the tree was felled, the Sycamore Gap Tree actually never died.

Instead, the trunk and root section continued to live on in the soil and scientists had hoped that it might be strong enough to put out new growth when the seasons changed.

Andrew Poad, General Manager for the National Trust at Hadrian’s Wall, said: ‘The tree was a mature, vigorous tree in its prime when it was felled so there was always the potential for the stump to regenerate and it’s fantastic to see the regrowth.’

The plan to preserve the legacy of the Sycamore Gap Tree will now require patience and careful monitoring of the young shoots.

Although the growth is a good sign, the tree remains in a fragile condition and the National Trust will take additional measures to protect the tree.

This includes expanding the fenced-off area around the stump to avoid soil compaction around the tree’s roots.

Mr Poad also asks that people refrain from scattering the ashes of their loved ones in the area either on the stump or on the ground.

While acknowledging that the area is ‘a special location to many people’ he also stresses that ashes could ‘significantly hinder the growing process by limiting the absorption of essential nutrients from the soil.’

The National Trust’s hope is that with careful protection the shoots will naturally grow and develop until a decision can be made about their management.

Mr Poad says: ‘Our aim is to leave all eight shoots to grow for a few years – to see how they develop.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13692711/Sycamore-Gap-Tree-growing-new-shoots.html

The company of Trees is an Inter-generational Art Collaboration between the current 6th. class in Kilmeen N.S. and a collection of elders in the Kilmeen community affectionately known as the ”Gransterz “ in West Cork.
The project was initiated in 2018 and is now in its 6th and final year culminating in an exhibition as the current 6th class complete their tenure in primary school, (June 2024).
The Creative Coordinator is Liz Twomey , Artist in Residence Pauline Walsh and kindly sponsored by Cork County Council, Creative Ireland, Coillte, Clonakilty and Dunmanway Credit Union, Carbery Group, JMC Parts, Lisavaird Co-Op, Inchydoney Hotel, Clonakilty Food Company and Drinagh Co-Op.

June 2020 ~

Gransterz and 4th class reunited !!

May 2022 ~ Gransterz and 4th class enjoy a  willow weave workshop with basket maker Rosemary Kavanagh.

June 2022 ~ Outdoor forest mural .. the work begins.

July 2022 ~ Forest bathing!

November 2022

January 2023

March 2023 ~ The Bigger Picture!!..our first collaborative work ..young hands and older wiser hands join forces to create a timeless forest to celebrate 60 years of Rossmore Drama and we launch a preview exhibition of The Company of Trees .. watch this space…the best is yet to come !!

June 2023 ~ If you went down to the woods on Saturday you would have had such a lovely time as part of the Crinninú na nÓg event in Castlefreke Woods and In the Company of Trees.  We enjoyed art, meditation, music from the Salamanders, art wisdom from the Gransterz and Pauline Walsh (artist in residence).

October 2023 ~ The Company of Trees will be sharing woodland art space with guest artist Siobhán Rea, joining her in her 8.30 a.m. daily drawing  ritual now in it’s 26th year!

Samhain season.🦅🦅..living legend reading Irish Legends.

March 2024 ~ Forest floor 🍃🌱🐾🍃.  ….collaborative art work with artist in residence Pauline Walsh.

April 2024 ~ Lollipop tree planting for International Earth Day …little hands getting down and dirty.

One of Ireland’s best known women,biologist,TV and radio presenter,educator and author Éanna Ní Lamhna visited Kilmeen to become another chapter in The Company of Trees story. It’s roots are spreading and it’s branches are blooming as we head into the final stretch of our amazing intergenerational journey.

May 2024 ~ Wonderful in Killarney National Park with the wonderful Conservation Park Rangers Mary and Pádraig…thank you for a lovely day!!

June 2024 ~ Life masks keep a watchful eye at the opening of The Company of Trees exhibition O’Donovans Hotel Clonakilty🍃🍂

Go to the Facebook page ‘The Company of Trees’ for all the podcasts and videos etc within this blog. There is plenty more to see.

The Japanese have been producing wood for 700 years without cutting down trees. In the 14th century, the extraordinary daisugi technique was born in Japan. Indeed, the daisugi provide that these trees will be planted for future generations and not be cut down but pruned as if they were giant bonsai trees; by applying this technique to cedars, the wood that can be obtained is uniform, straight and without knots, practically perfect for construction. A pruning as a rule of art that allows the tree to grow and germinate while using its wood, without ever cutting it down.
Extraordinary technique. ”.

Sir David Attenborough.

Dame Judi Dench shed a tear yesterday after being presented with a seedling from the famous Sycamore Gap tree.

The centuries-old landmark, situated next to Hadrian’s Wall, was chopped down by vandals last year.

Dame Judi, who has been vocal about her love of trees, was presented the seedling by Charlotte Crowe, aged seven, had won a competition at her school, near Hexham in Northumberland, the closest school to the Sycamore Gap, in which pupils were invited to draw a picture of the tree and write a short poem about what it meant to them.

Of the seedling, she said: ‘I’ll be naming him Antoninus, the adopted son of the Emperor Hadrian.’

The National Trust said Dame Judi is ‘passionate about trees’ and had been ‘very concerned by the news of the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree’.

The seedling – grown from seeds taken from the tree felled last September – will be planted in the Octavia Hill garden at the show, commemorating the founder of the National Trust.

Andrew Jasper, the director of gardens and parklands at the National Trust, said: “Placing the Sycamore Gap seedling within the garden at Chelsea reflects the National Trust’s important role in preserving both our nation’s heritage and our shared horticultural heritage through plant conservation.

He added: “We hope that those who visit the garden at Chelsea this week will feel that beneficial connection to the natural heritage that we care for and also take inspiration from seeing the seedling – when we first saw the seedlings germinate, we knew there was hope for the tree’s future.”

Ann-Marie Powell, who designed the Octavia Hill garden by Blue Diamond with the National Trust, said it was important to be establishing – not just planting – trees in gardens and urban areas to reduce heat, create moist shade and provide clean air.

Those needed to include non-native varieties, she said.

“We need to be using trees and plants that are going to be here in 20 years when London is as hot as Barcelona, otherwise what’s the point, all these trees will be dead and so will the wildlife they support.”

Ms Powell, who has had to adapt her plants for the garden in the face of this year’s weather which affected the growing season and has chosen resilient plants, said: “It’s climate change, and we are having to react to be able to grow plants not just for our benefit, but for our beloved garden wildlife.

“It’s happening really fast. I’m noticing it year on year now, and I think a lot of us even as pros are winging it a bit so and I think it is a time of massive experimentation.”

The sapling will then rejoin other seedlings to continue to grow at the Trust’s National Conservation centre in Devon.

Two men charged in connection with the felling of the world-famous tree last October appeared in court earlier this month.

Daniel Graham, 38, denied cutting down the tree in Northumberland and Adam Carruthers, 31, entered no plea to the same charge.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/20/judi-dench-plants-seedling-sycamore-gap-chelsea-flower-show

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/environment/royal-horticultural-society-dame-judi-dench-royal-hospital-chelsea-national-trust-chris-packham-b1158992.html

The tallest tree in the world, Hyperion, surpasses even famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Big Ben.
Standing at a staggering height of 115.55 m (379.1 ft), this giant redwood in Redwood National Park, California is as tall as a 35-story building.
Hyperion is estimated to be 700 to 800 years old and contain 530 m³ (18,600 cu ft) of wood.
Credit: Massimo (x)