Tag: ash dieback

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The Queen of May

May Day is gathered together in Nowhere Wood. The guests are all assembled, having arrived in timely order, ready for the magical day.

First to arrive was the wild garlic, clean and green with the freshness of a memory of good times around the family table.

Wild garlic in Nowhere Wood [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Then the first bluebell opened up to the sky, followed by the others, forming a coloured haze beneath the trees, daring the sky to lose its heavy April clouds to show its true May colours.

A haze of bluebells in Nowhere Wood [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Then the big oaks open their leaves, delicate and shimmering in the sunshine, before they darken and spread a curtain over the wood.

Fresh unfolding oak leaves, translucent in the sunshine. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Oceans of cow parsley flow over the floor of the cleared wood, where tall, sickly, ash trees once stood. This is the First of May, celebrating new starts and the freedom to enjoy the light.

And, finally, the Queen of May, the Hawthorn, blooming proudly here and across the Park.

The hawthorn in May [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Hers is the glory, the scent and the crisp whiteness. Entwined together, the branches strengthen their appeal and magic.

Once in this place, the villagers would plait her blossoms into a crown and choose the fairest maid to be their Queen of the May. This is not a crown of thorns: today it is a crown of promise.

A hawthorn crown [Image by AI]

Then, the village children would dance and twist their maypole ribbons to form a perfect spiral of red and white. This was one day when they could leave the chalky gloom of their school rooms and breathe.

Maypole dancing in Bedfordshire, [Photograph: geograph.org.uk – 3445844.jpg, Creative Commons license]

In the engine room of wood, it is just another working day, the animals are busy with family business, since being and becoming is a lifetime’s quest: nests need to be built up, offspring fed and protected from danger. The real magic is that it all works: the dance of the DNA spiral that continues year after year, in a stately and predictable procession.

But perhaps, the wood also senses that today is a special day.

Happy May Day!

  1. Why do you think it is an advantage for small plants living on the floor of the wood (like bluebells) to flower early, before the tall trees get their new leaves?
  2. Why do you think celebrating May Day was important part of village life in Nowhere?

 

Notes on the story

Being and becoming in Nowhere Wood

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What can eat a tree like this?

This story is about how a pair of tiny insects about 6mm long and their very hungry caterpillars can eat a large tree.

Bark of a mature European Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior)
Bark of a mature European Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior). Photograph: Ash Bark – geograph.org.uk – 645097.jpg

Ash trees are beautiful: young trees have smooth grey bark, whilst older trees have bark that cracks to form diamond shapes,  like the pattern we see on a chain-link fence.

No one likes to see these wonderful trees cut down in their prime. One of the problems with ash dieback disease is that there is often little to see on the outside. Yet the tree is damaged on the inside.

The trunk of an ash tree damaged by ash dieback disease.
The trunk of an ash tree damaged by ash dieback disease. Photograph: Neil Ingram

Some beetles can bore into wood of infected trees, as the  photograph shows. The beetles have made many round holes  as well as carving the thin curved galleries in the wood of the tree.

The oak pinhole borer beetle
An adult oak pinhole borer beetle, which can attack ash trees. Image: John Curtis (1791–1862).

It is hard to say what type of beetle caused this damage, but one likely culprit is the oak pinhole borer,  which (despite its name) can attack weakened ash trees. The infection probably occurred during the summer months, when a male digs a hole a few centimetres deep in the bark of the tree.. The female inspects the hole  and then returns to the surface to mate with the male.

The female then re-enters the hole and the male follows her in. She digs deeper into  the tunnel, working in a curve.  The female eats the wood and excretes the fine wood fragments  in her feces.  This is called frass. The males help to keep the tunnels clear, by moving the grass out of the way.

The insects’ bodies are covered in spores of a group of fungi, called ambrosia fungi.

Ambrosia fungus, grown in a laboratory, seen under a microscope.
Ambrosia fungus, grown in a laboratory, seen under a microscope. Photograph: Kathie Hodge, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cornellfungi/6185749769

These fungi grow in the galleries made by the female. The eggs of the insects hatch to form larvae, which feed on the ambrosia fungi.

The round holes are part of the tunnels that reach the surface of the wood, allowing the new adult borers to leave the tree.

It is an interesting relationship between the insects and the fungi, because both depend on each other for their survival.

We talk in these stories about how energy flows through ecosy stems and how atoms are recycled by other organisms. The ash tree,  the ash dieback fungus, the beetles and the ambrosia fungi are component parts of an ecosystem.

Explain how energy flows through the ecosystem and how atoms are reused.

 

Notes on the story

Yellow flowers

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A tribute to fallen trees

The trees in Nowhere Wood are always there, going quietly through the motions of the seasons: noticed only when we stop to look and reflect. But we feel their presence strongly, just out of sight and mind.

Until today, when their absence feels like the loss of dear friends. 

Fallen ash tree trunks at the quarry face of Nowhere Wood. [Picture: Neil Ingram]
Fallen ash tree trunks at the quarry face of Nowhere Wood. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]
It only took a morning, and nearly 100 years of growth has ended. Yes, they had Ash dieback disease and were marked with a red spot. Yes, they were unstable on the quarry floor.  Even so, we feel their loss keenly.

Trees with Ash dieback disease are marked with a red spot. [Picture: Neil Ingram]
Trees with Ash dieback disease are marked with a red spot. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]
The wood will regenerate, but only if we can remove the trunks from the woodland floor. Else we shall see little re-development in our lifetimes. This problem is one that we have to own.

The robin is an optimistic opportunist. Making the best of new opportunities amongst the fallen branches of ash.
The robin is an optimistic opportunist. Making the best of new opportunities amongst the fallen branches of ash. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]
In the mean time, life goes on amidst the debris of fallen trees.

 

Notes on the story

The sustainable park (2)