Pay It Forward - Tree Knowledge Competition

[Toadflax]

Give the nasty man a break, Matt! He did say 5pm and he's probably busy eating chocolate brazil nuts at the moment.

But seriously, there may be a late entry


Geoff

 

[Mirius]

Oooooh, you are such a tease Red!

One last go, and only because I suddenly reconsidered something.

1. Horse Chestnut
2. Alder
3. Elder
4. Oak
5. Hawthorn
6. Holly
7. Larch
8. London Plane.
9. Hornbeam
10. Yew

 

[SOAR]

One last try I'll change things around abit.

1 Sycamore
2 Alder
3 Pear
4 Oak
5 Maple
6 Cherry
7 Poplar
8 London Plane
9 Lime
10 Scotts Pine

 

[British Red]

Sorry guys - been out listening to the owls with Bushwacker Bob and shooting the breeze


Right - here's the answer!

1 – Horse Chestnut
2 – Alder
3 – Elder
4- Field Maple
5 – Grey Poplar
6 – Holly
7 – Oak
8 – London Plane
9 – Hornbeam
10 – Scots Pine


Thanks for playing

All the trees were guessed at some point - I'm surprised and impressed people did as well as they did.

I promise more competitions to come with the roll over

Red

 

[SOAR]

Good quiz Red, hard though to ID from just the bark. I think I went round in circles on this one. Look forward to the next.

Simon.

 

[Matt Weir]

Nice one Red, great thread. Looking forward to the roll-over, I just hope it's not one of my area's of great expertise - I don't want to win my own book you know (yeah right )

 

[British Red]

Glad you enjoyed it guys - it is very tricky. People often say "pay attention to the bark" and I think it does help - some trees have particularly distinctive bark (the cammo pattern of a London Plane for example), but its just a piece of the jigsaw and very hard when its the only clue (instead of one of many)

I'll scratch my head for a few days over the next one

Red

 

[Toadflax]

Many thanks for a competition that has, at times, been challenging, frustrating, exhilarating and downright hard work. To paraphrase a common saying: "I can't see the bark for the leaves". I don't think I'll ever look at a tree in the same way again. It has been a good education in how to observe and, with my particular interest in wild food, has also been a lesson in how I should look at food plants.


Geoff

 

[British Red]

I learned something tomight when Bushwacker Bob told me the brownish hue to the poplar tree is because a large mammal (horse / cow etc.) has used it as a rubbing post.

Every day's a school day

Red

 

[addo]

Cheers Red, I think I did better on my first guess before moving everything around. Its amazing how the same tree can look so different in the bark due to age, location etc and how several trees can look the same. Today I found an Alder, Lime, and Oak all mature that looked v.similar. A young sesile oak with smooth silvery bark, with a slightly older one looking like goat willow. You rearly need all of the pieces most of the time like you say.
Cheers for the quiz, look forward to the next one. Winter buds & Bark?

 

[British Red]

hmmm maybe - I was thinking I might go all "Ask the Family" on you (I know I'm showing my age) - they used to do some "mystery objects" photographed from odd angles or extreme zoom etc.

Red

 

[Matt Weir]

hmmm maybe - I was thinking I might go all "Ask the Family" on you (I know I'm showing my age) - they used to do some "mystery objects" photographed from odd angles or extreme zoom etc.

Red

Oh yes, do it, please Red :You_Rock_

 

[Richie O]

My guess is

1 – Horse Chestnut
2 – Alder
3 – Elder
4- Field Maple
5 – Grey Poplar
6 – Holly
7 – Oak
8 – London Plane
9 – Hornbeam
10 – Scots Pine

And i bought beer for the kids outside the off licence...

Am i too late
hehe

 

[Matt Weir]

-----------------------------------

 

[andy_bell]

Doh! i was going to buy a clue with a random act of kindness but its all over now. oh well that old lady can probably pick herself and her shopping up anyway.

ps, I didn 't get half of them without the answers, thanks for the challenge.

 

[robin wood]

Ok I have not taken the time to look through everyone elses but will have a shot. i reckon 3 or 4 are pretty charachteristic, there are others that are very difficult without a scale to give us an idea of how old the tree is, so many start with a smoothisn bark and only develop more characteristic features later.

1 sycamore an old one
2 willow
3 elder
4 ash
5 beech
6 holly
7 pear hard from such a small section could be oak
8 plane (london)
9 oak a young one
10 pine (scotts)

 

[robin wood]

Now how silly do I feel, Ill look at the last post before I rply next time....hadn't realised the answer had already been posted.

 

[Toadflax]

Well, this competition did me some good.

Having never knowingly seen a plane tree in my life before, it's remarkable how many I'm now seeing since I learned their bark from this competition. To be fair, the bark is pretty distinctive, but I have walked past some of these trees every day for years and never noticed it.



Geoff