As I’ve already discussed veteran trees can be very old indeed and by their very nature have had to go through some real hardship to reach such a grand old age. So how do they do it?
It’s common to see trunks of ancient trees draped in a colourful carpet of moss and other primitive plant growth.
We are now into autumn and those of us who are regularly out and about in the Churnet will have noticed some changes – the fungi are starting to make themselves known, the migrant birds are disappearing and soon I suspect we’ll be hearing the tell-tale chattering of fieldfare and the high pitched
We are very lucky in the Churnet valley to have a great range of woodland birds, some of which are actually quite rare. Many of these birds prefer to nest in holes in trees rather than building a typical cup shaped nest.
Last week I looked at the ways bats use veteran trees and now I’m going to be exploring the other mammals that rely on ancient trees.
Bats as we all know are nocturnal which means they need somewhere to hold up during the day to hide from predators and have a well earned rest from flitting about echolocating and feeding on moths.
One of the most important groups of animals associated with veterans is the thousands of insects and other invertebrates that live on the trees.
My walk didn't exactly go as planned yesterday. The forecast that I heard was for a dry day and while walking steeply uphill from Oakamoor towards Golden Hill Farm it did feel pretty warm. The views from near the top are spectacular and a reward for the calorie burning exertion.
Walking through woodland in late summer and autumn, one of the many interesting things we can find are the fungi that seem to appear without warning. Fungi can range from tiny near unnoticeable things to grand constructions that rival the trees surrounding them.
Since I’ve taken on the Churnet Valley Veteran tree project the one question that I have been asked by far the most, from both colleagues and the public is this:
“What is a veteran tree?”
