Beech - Fagus Sylvatica

Derelict beech pollard, Black Mountains

On a recent trip to the Black Mountains I passed by a number of impressively large derelict beech pollards that reminded me to look up the latest research into unravelling the history of beech in the British Isles. There was once a time when beech was believed to be native only to southern England. This paradigm has had to be revised in light of beech charcoal excavated by archaeologists in secure contexts and beech pollen found in waterlogged sediments viz drowned forest beds in the Severn estuary radiocarbon dated to around 6,000 years ago. The late Oliver Rackham produced a distribution map for beech in the New Naturalist Woodlands  and it has been reproduced in a comprehensive monograph on beech Packham, John R., et al. "Biological flora of the British Isles: Fagus sylvatica." Journal of Ecology 100.6 (2012): 1557-1608 

Presumed distribution of beech (fagus sylvatica) from Packham, John R., et al. "Biological flora of the British Isles: Fagus sylvatica." Journal of Ecology 100.6 (2012): 1557-1608.

A google search threw up the news that research had established that beech in Scotland was native in origin.



Moving onto Google scholar and finding anything related to recent research publications - with open access - on beech colonisation in Britain has proved challenging, vague generalisations seem to apply. All the current research seems to be centered on mainland Europe. Beech is apparently a thermophile and is used to reconstruct and model quaternary environments and with a widespread European distribution underpins some avenues of research. There are a plethora of papers attempting to model the distribution and colonisation rates of beech across Europe during the pleistocene/holocene and seems to entail postulating numerous glacial refugia. The glacial refugia influence the rate of colonisation, with increased rates to account for the bypass routes around significant mountain ranges, where colonisation rates are improbably high then alternative hypotheses need to proposed such as: beech mast transported by northward flowing rivers, animal dispersal, anthropogenic assisted distribution etc. One notable paper provides compelling evidence from radiocarbon dated pine, oak and beech charcoal, possibly indicating a glacial refugia in the Harz mountains and poses some interesting questions of colonisation and climate models Robin, Vincent, et al. "Too early and too northerly: evidence of temperate trees in northern Central Europe during the Younger Dryas." New Phytologist 212.1 (2016): 259-268. The paper provoked a comment and a reply. An interesting exercise and an insight into an ongoing area of much debate.

1st outing 2018

Conscious of the fact that hill walking had been neglected and my fitness levels had dropped alarmingly over a slothful festive period, a trip was needed to the hills. Inspiration was provided by a weather forecast that offered some hope for quality lighting with the caveat of weather warnings and the Brecon Beacons National Park would be the destination. Travelling down the A40 to Abergavenny revealed that the higher ground was obscured by low cloud, sigh, although the cloud was breaking up over the Usk valley. The Black Mountains would offer some relative shelter and the Ffridd/Coed cae potentially the best photographic opportunities given the weather and options to go higher or lower depending on how the weather panned out.

Opting to head first to the higher ground revealed how desperate the weather was, happily common sense prevailed at the futility of making photographs in a decidedly 'fresh' wind, horizontal rain and accompanying hill fog. I later learnt that Met Office weather stations in low lying Herefordshire recorded gusts to 60 mph. So a descent to the relative calm of the Ffridd/Coed cae and a wait for some light to illuminate a magnificent derelict pollarded oak against incoming rain clouds before descending down to an area of woodland that provided an insight into the historic woodland management in the form of low cut pollards and veteran derelict coppice stools. It was then a case of waiting for sunshine to break through the clouds and illuminate the woodland against the backdrop of a dark sky.

Pollarded beech (Fagus sylvatica) and oak (Quercus petraea)

All in all it was a good trip with some welcome low angled light, weather, some fresh air and some much needed exercise.

Abstracting woodland

The last quarter of 2017 witnessed the extensive use of 100mm and 180mm macro lenses to record epiphytes at minimum focus distances in woodland environments and to avoid getting distracted from macro subject matter sometimes only those lenses were carried. So despite the good intentions the opportunity also arose to also explore abstracts of woodland subject matter and intimate views of the woodland.

180mm ~ Oak, Speech House woodland, Forest of Dean

100mm ~ Oak, Speech House woodland, Forest of Dean

100mm ~ Dead Holly, Speech House woodland, Forest of Dean

Decorticated wood was one source of inspiration and some low level light illuminating Holly berries was another.

180mm ~ Holly, Speech House woodland, Forest of Dean

Some 'epiphytescapes' were also attempted.

100mm ~ Veteran oak, Speech House woodland, Forest of Dean

100mm ~ Fallen oak, Speech House woodland, Forest of Dean

Finally on the last trip of 2017 a suitably blurred woodland background for a coral lichen coated tree trunk was chanced upon.

180mm ~ Coral lichen (Sphaerophorus globosus), Cnwch Wood, Elan Valley

The opportunity to abstract the woodland environment allowed some welcome relief from the travails of  pure macro photography and images made of subject matter that I wouldn't necessarily have made with the usual landscape lens line-up.