buzzing on a high

[drewdunnrespect]

right on sunday i went on a bimble with Peterlee paddler (tony, cheers mate) and with his help and my tree book i managed to identify for the first time ever a silver birch bark tree and i am well chuffed with my self

i know its not that brilliant to you experts out there but as a great man once told me you have to start some where

also i brought some of the bark home because i knew it would be a good fire lighter and also the tree was dead but sort of still standing so i knew i wouldnt damage it if i did

anyway

rock on

drew

 

[rcs]

Good effort Drew, its a nice feeling to be able to confidently ID any tree or plant.

regards,
Rob

 

[Miyagi]

right on sunday i went on a bimble with Peterlee paddler (tony, cheers mate) and with his help and my tree book i managed to identify for the first time ever a silver birch bark tree and i am well chuffed with my self

i know its not that brilliant to you experts out there but as a great man once told me you have to start some where

also i brought some of the bark home because i knew it would be a good fire lighter and also the tree was dead but sort of still standing so i knew i wouldnt damage it if i did

anyway

rock on

drew

It's little "discoveries" like this that keep us (me especially) inspired.

I've just finished the 2nd of two Burns Suppers (for 200) and sitting at home knackered - but you've just put the smile right back on my face.

I'm actually well chuffed for you Drew.

Well done fella, and thank you.

 

[maddave]

Good on ya mate... You've taken your first step into a rich world of discovery. You'll soon know the difference between your Aesculus Hippocastanum and your Taxus Baccatta Festigiata

 

[Shewie]

Nice one Drew, you picked a really useful species to kick off your quest with.

ID'ing trees at this time of the year is really hard, stick at it mate.

 

[locum76]

It's little "discoveries" like this that keep us (me especially) inspired.

I've just finished the 2nd of two Burns Suppers (for 200) and sitting at home knackered - but you've just put the smile right back on my face.

I'm actually well chuffed for you Drew.

Well done fella, and thank you.

where was me invite?

Drew, It might be worth trying to remember the Latin names for new trees you discover too. From my experience its a bit easier to do so one at a time as you go through them than trying to learn them all at once.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

thanks for the replys guys and yes its an ausome feeling but the next question is, is there different types of silver birch and also what is the latin name for it am asking cos me tree book is just a bit confusing at the moment.

would love some one to show me how to use it.

drew

 

[Adze]

There's lots of different birches - as far as I know pretty much all of them make good firelighters. There's a list of them on Wikipedia.

Use the bark as tinder, either by shaving/slicing it into very thin slivers, or scraping it into a powder then adding thicker strips of bark to keep the flame going - it'll burn like a smokey candle flame and last a bit longer than you'd think it should because of the oils in the bark. Thins strips/shavings /powder will take a spark from a firesteel very well.

Try lighting a little strip with a match or lighter and you'll see what it goes like.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

cheers adze

i actually used it on the bimble to get the kettle going so have seen its qualitys and uses. is it also true that us can us it to make pot and stuff, i understand if this is the case that i t will need to be really thick but just asking cos might be wrong

drew

 

[Adze]

is it also true that us can us it to make pot and stuff, i understand if this is the case that i t will need to be really thick but just asking cos might be wrong

Apparently so - I've never tried it.

I wouldn't have thought it needs to be that thick really - you can make a pot out of a sheet of A4 and boil water in it over a gas burner - but it does need to be continuous and that's what lets most UK birch down I think.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

ooooo cool i didnt know that like

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hey - nice one Drew! Birches have the latin name Betula for their genus. Different ones will have different species names e.g. Betula pendula, Betula pubescens. But for now, just remembering Betula would be excellent More names and information on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch

 

[drewdunnrespect]

suzzannah what does genus mean?

and right in thinking its the birch family and genus means family

drew

 

[listenclear]

Nice one Drew.
Go on yourself mate - i'm lost without the leaves on the trees.

 

[Peter_t]

suzzannah what does genus mean?

and right in thinking its the birch family and genus means family

drew

the genus is the first part of its lattin name. for example betula is the genus and pendula is the species for silver birch. family is higher up but tbh you don’t need to know what families they come from.

the two main species of birch are silver birch and downy birch. don't worry too much about trying to tell the difference because they hybridize whenever they meet.

Pete

 

[drewdunnrespect]

cheers pete

 

[R3XXY]

Birch bark is da bomb baby

 

[hertsboy]

Good on ya mate... You've taken your first step into a rich world of discovery. You'll soon know the difference between your Aesculus Hippocastanum and your Taxus Baccatta Festigiata

Now that's making it difficult!

Much easier to tell the diff. between a Horse Chestnut and a Yew, if you ask me!

 

[maddave]

Now that's making it difficult!

Much easier to tell the diff. between a Horse Chestnut and a Yew, if you ask me!

Aye !! Now they's them wooden trees ain't they

 

[relfy]

Drew I'm so proud of you Now here's a thing i love about the silver birch...it's seeds are wind dispersed and its often the first tree to arrive on new ground, stabilizing it and providing nutrients for the following trees.... I've stood on lava on Mount Etna (Sicily) only around 10 years old with great big silver birch that must've arrived practically as soon as the stuff hardened!
My favourite bit is that there is a great big valley in Wales which used to be used as a military firing zone in both wars (don't know the proper terminology but, where they used to practice firing and experimenting with bombs etc) The whole place is riddled with unexploded ordnance... For a while it was used for commercial forestry plantation (sitka spruce) but it just got silly the amount of machinery etc that was getting blown up when they disturbed the bombs...so now the WHOLE valley is closed to people and they just flew helicopters over it dropping silver birch seeds. So it is now a properly wild place again with no human influence - can't be many of those in the UK. I'll see if i can sneak back in one day, see how its getting on... If only i could remember where the hell it is! Lol