Heritage trees

Following a first go at the heritage trees around Brading noticed at reference 1, I had another go a few days later, the idea being to identify the significant, numbered trees on the leaflet, at least the first eight of the fourteen on offer at reference 2.

First observation: the leaflet talked about the relative rarity of beech trees on the island, but did not mention the large amount of ash in the woods to the west of Brading. I did not count but there did seem to be more ash trees than anything else.

Tree 1 was easy, being a yew of moderate size behind the bull ring.

We pass over tree 2 as this is a place rather than a tree.

Tree 3, the field maple was tricky, as when I got to the spot indicated (the map not being that careful about placing its numbers), I was not at all clear which was the tree in question.

But the snap above may be the tree in question, with its leaves being given in the next snap.

Which seems to agree fairly well with the story from the internet about such trees, where I learn that 'acer campestre, known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the soapberry and lychee family sapindaceae. It is native to much of Europe, the British Isles, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains'. It can grow to be quite a large tree.

Tree 4, the big beech on the right was not found. The best I could do was the big beech on the left, already noticed, but reproduced here from the other side, the tree of the swing.

I think I did better with tree 5, a common oak, and the one snapped below is certainly large and old, if a little bare. Roughly on the right place on the map. An ancient pollard, a bit like the ones to be found on our own Ashstead Common.

Tree 6 is the lime trees for which this part of the walk is named. I am fairly sure I found some large lime trees, but I was not at all sure about which one was the largest. Do not be confused by the chestnut leaves in front of the large tree snapped below.

With tree 7, back with the beeches, and once again I was unable to track down the pair of trees in question with any certainty, although those snapped below are a possibility. They were certainly tall.

And tree 8 is the corpse captured in the previous post, not reproduced here.

We will try again next year, taking a bit more time and maybe taking notes. Maybe we will get all the way round. Will we be reduced to participating in a guided walk for seniors? Led by some earnest tree nut.

PS: I may be a tree nut, but I would hope that in the unlikely event of my being pressed into guiding such a walk, I would neither be nor appear to be earnest. 

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/beech-down.html.

Reference 2: http://walks.wildonwight.co.uk/histree/Histree-Legends-and-Landscapes.pdf.