The Woodlands.co.uk Blog - December 2006
Keeping a nature diary
Getting to know the trees and flowers and mosses and fungi in a wood is a bit like getting to know a roomful of people all at once. To begin with you don’t know many of their names, but gradually you work out what most of them are called, and to help yourself you probably write down the difficult ones. After a few weeks you feel quite confident.
But Read more…
The Yew
In the UK, there are three native conifers: the Juniper, the Scots Pine and the Yew (Taxus baccata). The genus Taxus contains some eight species, seven of which are found in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Yew is said to be slow growing and of great longevity. Some Yews (e.g. the Fortingall Yew in Argyllshire), are probably thousands of years old. Estimating the age of a Yew can be difficult as they develop hollow Read more…
Making a nature trail
We often make a new nature trail for our visitors. It encourages them to go off on their own into the woods, and makes sure they know the way back to base! It possibly gives them some new information, and certainly they have a lot of fun. They set off with a quiz sheet, and a plastic bag, and a map.
The trail is marked by numbers tied to trees or posts, and Read more…