Things you find in trees…

[Wildgoose]

Like most of the UK it seems I went for a walk in our local country park today. Showing the kids a massive redwood tree I found this sat in the bark:



At first glance it looked like a nail head, the type used to pin tree numbers to trees so I tried to free it up to save the tree from swallowing it, but it soon became apparent it’s a catapult ball!

I managed to retrieve it with the hook on my sak, looks to be about 18g of lead split shot.

It was imbedded a good cm into the soft bark, must have made a big whack.

 

[Toddy]

There's a story about a laddie and a sling taking down a giant......

 

[Woody girl]

Round here, there is a tree that grows trainers. Just opposite the school gate.
I don't know what's afoot there.

 

[Wildgoose]

Round here, there is a tree that grows trainers. Just opposite the school gate.
I don't know what's afoot there.

The American kids did that at a base I worked on, apparently it was some sort of protest?
Looked very eerie 6 months after the place had closed.

 

[Wildgoose]

There's a story about a laddie and a sling taking down a giant......

This ball was likely aimed at a squirrel or just a rogue shot into the tree.

I’m no expert on giants but it looks and feels like it would give even the biggest human a headache.

 

[Toddy]

It's surprising just how effective humanity has been with it's hunting (and warfare :sigh) , without gunpowder, for literally hundreds of thousands of years.

Right enough, they didn't have theraband gold, or the black widow elastic.....

 

[Woody girl]

This afternoon, it was me in a tree!
I walked down to town to get some milk, and on the way back, a huge gust of wind brought a small elder tree down, just in front of me. Lucky escape!
But the path was totaly blocked.
Luckily, I had my trusty lap lander saw on me, so was able to cut a way through, and with the help of another chap, got the pathway clear again inside fifteen minutes or so.
I certainly earned my cup of tea, and bar of chocolate, when I got home.
Be careful out there, it's pretty narley!

 

[Toddy]

I like the laplander, it is so easy to use. It isn't fragile, it's reliable, it's easy to carry, etc., and it does a power of work one way and t'other.

 

[Woody girl]

I like the laplander, it is so easy to use. It isn't fragile, it's reliable, it's easy to carry, etc., and it does a power of work one way and t'other.

I always have a small pair of securteers, and/or kitchen scissors, and my lap lander, and a foraging bag on me at all times.
Luckily, the thing was fairly easy to clear, as a lot of branches were dead, so they snapped off, with a little persuasion, and the saw dealt with the bigger limbs.
Would have still been a very nasty bump if I'd been underneath it. My hip is playing up, so I was just bimbling along slowly. A few seconds faster, and it would have been a different story.
What a dramatic start to the new year!

 

[Kepis]

Yup the things you find in trees, wonder how long ago this was propped up against the tree?

In the same woodland are many old Oak trees, the landowner was going to fell a few to make a new barn, he told the sawmill about the history of the wood and surrounding land and how it was used in WW2 by the British Army & Canadians for live fire practice, the Mill came out to survey the trees with a metal detector and it lit up like a Christmas tree as the trees are full of shrapnel, something i found out once when i hit a fragment and took a chunk out the bit of of SFA, the trees needless to say are still standing as the sawmill wouldn't touch them. I've found all manner of stuff in these woods including spent cartridges from the Boys Rifles they were using.

 

[Dogoak]

This chunk of granite has been there a while….

 

[Mesquite]

This is my favourite picture of trees eating things

 

[GNJC]

This is my favourite picture of trees eating things

That pic of the power points reminds me of a tree in Zim, I think it was in Wankie, which had grown over / around a stand pipe and part of the tap on top; it looked for all the world just like a brass tap appearing out of a tree - and it still worked!

I guess it had been put in some time after WW2 during the Rhodesian era, and somebody had though it a good idea to secure the pipe to a standing tree rather than put a post in.

Sadly my time there was long before the days of having a camera in your pocket 24/7, and an image search online isn't showing me anything...