Dear Nod.
As promised a bit of help on tree ID. I think it best to cover this subject over three or four posting as it is a vast subject and we need to start with the basics, but I guarantee you, that you will beable to identify at least two different species of tree by the end of this post.....if you can’t I will give you £100!!
Tree ID is a subject that can scare the hell out of you at first and some people like to intimidate with there ID knowledge, but like I always say, don’t be intimidated by anyone!........never let anyone knock your confidence.
Its a subject that never ends as you are always learning, as once you have learnt the basic’s, you can then go into great detail, I know of people who can identify trees within a woodland, at night and without even looking at them. They can do this by identifying the individual moth species, as certain moths live only on certain trees!!
The best analogy for learning tree ID is like starting a immense jigsaw puzzle, but someone’s lost the box with the picture on and you don’t even know how many pieces there are, but, like a jigsaw puzzle, once you have done it a few times it all starts making sense.
So the first thing is not to panic, it won’t be long before you can identify a tree half a mile away just by its overall shape. You will need a good tree book so you can take all of your observations home and use the book to confirm your own findings.
As the autumn tide flows through our woodlands it presents us with a extraordinary time to learn tree ID as we have every available species indicator at hand. At this time of year, we still have the leaves on the tree so you can see there shape and colour, you can see the shape of the crown ( the bushy bit on top of the trunk) with the leaves on. Give it a month or so and you can see the shape of the crown ( yes, the bushy bit on top of the trunk) without the leaves on- a before and after effect, if you like. The fruit is either still on the tree or laying close by-in a good year an Oak can produce as many as 50,000 acorns. Not all of us realise it, but we already know a lot of our trees we have just forgot to make the connection.
Think about it, we know that Conkers come from Horse Chestnut, Acorns come from Oak, Hazelnuts from Hazel, Sloes come from Blackthorn etc etc, just have a look up at the tree they came from and try and make a note of what the bark is like, is it thick or thin, is it smooth or is it rough. What are the leaves like, are they big or are they small are they hairy or smooth, make a note of the finest details, is it growing in a wet ground or dry etc and write it down in a note book. You are now starting to build your own tree ID log ( no joke intended) carry it with you and keep adding to it every time you go out. The next time you are out and about, try and make the connection between your notes and the trees you come across, its surprising how quick you will pick this up.
But before we go any further, we must just make the distinction between our tree groups. We have two, broad-leaved and conifers, usually we can tell the difference on the shape alone. Conifers tend to be straight and slender, they mostly have leaves like needles and the needles stay on the tree or year round, so this is why we call them ‘ evergreens’! By contrast, most broadleaved trees in our woodlands and parks are deciduous which means that they drop there leafs every autumn, the leaves at this stag after the growing season ( spring – autumn) are pretty worn out and damaged so they need to be replaced for next year so the tree sheds them. The term broadleaved is used, because quite simply, they have broad leaves!
So Nod, your thought that you couldn’t identify trees...........already, you can tell the difference between the two groups, one being a broadleaved and one being a evergreen!.....does that mean my £100 is safe?..pheeeeew!
Well done, sit down and have a rest and we will start part 2 soon.............But for your home work, I want you to find the most common tree in your area, and we will work on that one next time, because its easier to start with a tree you most often see and then you can use the same method to identify every other tree.
If you have any questions in between, just ask.
Best wishes
Jack Beckett
Woodland Organics
_________________
As promised a bit of help on tree ID. I think it best to cover this subject over three or four posting as it is a vast subject and we need to start with the basics, but I guarantee you, that you will beable to identify at least two different species of tree by the end of this post.....if you can’t I will give you £100!!
Tree ID is a subject that can scare the hell out of you at first and some people like to intimidate with there ID knowledge, but like I always say, don’t be intimidated by anyone!........never let anyone knock your confidence.
Its a subject that never ends as you are always learning, as once you have learnt the basic’s, you can then go into great detail, I know of people who can identify trees within a woodland, at night and without even looking at them. They can do this by identifying the individual moth species, as certain moths live only on certain trees!!
The best analogy for learning tree ID is like starting a immense jigsaw puzzle, but someone’s lost the box with the picture on and you don’t even know how many pieces there are, but, like a jigsaw puzzle, once you have done it a few times it all starts making sense.
So the first thing is not to panic, it won’t be long before you can identify a tree half a mile away just by its overall shape. You will need a good tree book so you can take all of your observations home and use the book to confirm your own findings.
As the autumn tide flows through our woodlands it presents us with a extraordinary time to learn tree ID as we have every available species indicator at hand. At this time of year, we still have the leaves on the tree so you can see there shape and colour, you can see the shape of the crown ( the bushy bit on top of the trunk) with the leaves on. Give it a month or so and you can see the shape of the crown ( yes, the bushy bit on top of the trunk) without the leaves on- a before and after effect, if you like. The fruit is either still on the tree or laying close by-in a good year an Oak can produce as many as 50,000 acorns. Not all of us realise it, but we already know a lot of our trees we have just forgot to make the connection.
Think about it, we know that Conkers come from Horse Chestnut, Acorns come from Oak, Hazelnuts from Hazel, Sloes come from Blackthorn etc etc, just have a look up at the tree they came from and try and make a note of what the bark is like, is it thick or thin, is it smooth or is it rough. What are the leaves like, are they big or are they small are they hairy or smooth, make a note of the finest details, is it growing in a wet ground or dry etc and write it down in a note book. You are now starting to build your own tree ID log ( no joke intended) carry it with you and keep adding to it every time you go out. The next time you are out and about, try and make the connection between your notes and the trees you come across, its surprising how quick you will pick this up.
But before we go any further, we must just make the distinction between our tree groups. We have two, broad-leaved and conifers, usually we can tell the difference on the shape alone. Conifers tend to be straight and slender, they mostly have leaves like needles and the needles stay on the tree or year round, so this is why we call them ‘ evergreens’! By contrast, most broadleaved trees in our woodlands and parks are deciduous which means that they drop there leafs every autumn, the leaves at this stag after the growing season ( spring – autumn) are pretty worn out and damaged so they need to be replaced for next year so the tree sheds them. The term broadleaved is used, because quite simply, they have broad leaves!
So Nod, your thought that you couldn’t identify trees...........already, you can tell the difference between the two groups, one being a broadleaved and one being a evergreen!.....does that mean my £100 is safe?..pheeeeew!
Well done, sit down and have a rest and we will start part 2 soon.............But for your home work, I want you to find the most common tree in your area, and we will work on that one next time, because its easier to start with a tree you most often see and then you can use the same method to identify every other tree.
If you have any questions in between, just ask.
Best wishes
Jack Beckett
Woodland Organics
_________________
