A spring woodland trip

A forecast of heavy overnight rain with clearing skies, negligible wind and the chance of mist, was the inspiration to set the alarm clock for a dawn outing. A bluebell wood recced on an evening visit a few days before would be the destination.

Wild boar foraging

Entering the wood just before sunrise and it became apparent that a) there was no ground mist, nor indeed any other type of mist and b) a sounder of wild boar had descended en masse to forage in the bluebell carpet in the area of wood that I wanted to photograph. Sigh. There were no signs of leaves or flower stalks sans bulbs, the boar seemed interested in something else and the bluebells collateral damage. Taking stock of the situation and the overnight rain had enlivened the mosses, wetted the leaf litter and the wind was negligible, so Plan B would be a visit to a scowles woodland 10 minutes drive away and hopefully the flora would be in flower.

Ramsons carpet

On the drive to the scowles wood I passed by patches of ground mist on fields and on the walk in there was a ground mist in the meadow adjacent to the wood. No mist in the wood though and reinforcing my view that woods have their own microclimate. Nevertheless there was some nice mist filtered light over a ramsons carpet and also deeper into the wood.

The Ransoms whilst in full flower at the wood edges were only beginning to flower in some parts of the wood where beech trees had leaf flushed well before the other canopy trees of lime and ash.

In the scowles where yew forms the understorey then it's the domain of bryophyte communities and just a few vascular plants.

It did appear to my eyes that where a canopy gap allowed morning sunlight onto the woodland floor there was a noticeable increase in woodland plants.

The light all too quickly became too harsh for effective photography and the remainder was spent investigating the wood for less common plants and enjoying the chorus of bird song.

Wood anemone dispersal

My knowledge of wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa) had been gleaned from general books on woodlands and wildflower guides, effectively summed up by this extract from the National Biodiversity Network atlas:

"Wood anemones are one of the first spring flowers, their cheerful white stars appearing in March and April. They are perennials and, as their seed is rarely viable in Britain, they spread by means of underground roots. However, they do not advance their carpet quickly, and colonies of anemones can often be found in the same spot within a wood, century after century."  

https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000002700

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:170_Anemone_nemorosa.jpg#file

The above illustration shows a seed, seed head and clonal growth of wood anemones from the rhizome and that clonal growth reveals itself in woodland as communities of wood anemones that flower simultaneously.

Cushion of flowering wood anemones in beech woodland.

I recently chanced upon wood anemone epiphytes on an outsize derelict beech coppice stool base, then even more recently a cushion of wood anemones next to a beech tree and wondered if the dispersal of viable seed was by a woodland bird. With my curiosity duly piqued I consulted Google scholar for research on the seed dispersal mechanisms of wood anemone and discovered that:

1. Wood anemones are a myrmecochorous plant. Ant dispersal of wood anemones are covered in two papers investigating the colonisation of woodlands in Belgium (Bossuyt, B., Hermy, M. and Deckers, J., 1999. Migration of herbaceous plant species across ancient–recent forest ecotones in central Belgium. Journal of Ecology, 87(4), pp.629-638.(4), pp.629-638.) and Sweden (Brunet, J. and Von Oheimb, G., 1998. Migration of vascular plants to secondary woodlands in southern Sweden. Journal of Ecology, 86(3), pp.429-438.  The papers emphasise the slow colonising rates of ancient woodland indicator plants into new woodland.

2. Wood anemone seed is covered in bristles and Belgian researchers established that it can be effectively transported and dispersed in the fur of some animals. Couvreur, M., Verheyen, K. and Hermy, M., 2005. Experimental assessment of plant seed retention times in fur of cattle and horse. Flora-Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants, 200(2), pp.136-147 In my local woodlands badgers (Meles meles), foxes (Vulpes vulpes) squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), fallow/roe/sika/muntjac deer and wild boar (Sus scrofa) would be likely candidates for the dispersal of wood anemone seeds. Both boar and badgers root around in the soil and it's plausible that a seed could be transported and then deposited in freshly disturbed soil.

3.  A research paper from Germany investigated wood anemone seed dispersal in beech woodland where ants are absent, found that gastropods can ingest wood anemone seeds and then excrete them with minimal adverse impact on the seeds ability to germinate.  Türke, M., Heinze, E., Andreas, K., Svendsen, S.M., Gossner, M.M. and Weisser, W.W., 2010. Seed consumption and dispersal of ant-dispersed plants by slugs. Oecologia, 163(3), pp.681-693.Oecologia, 163(3), pp.681-693. The paper also highlighted the destruction of wood anemone seeds by rodents, effectively ruling out rodents as a vector in seed dispersal.

4. Avian dispersal doesn't appear to feature in any research material. There was also no research on seeds trodden on and then transported on the shoe tread, paw, foot or hoof of whatever had stepped on the seed(s).

So although I am no wiser as to how the wood anemones I photographed were dispersed, I am now aware that wood anemone seeds can be dispersed by ants, gastropods and animals.

Long Term Project - Oak woodland deadwood

Deadwood terminology 

I live in an area of Britain that has a relatively high coverage of woodland and the Forest of Dean is renowned for its historic production of oak timber. I was curious to know what happens to oak deadwood, something happens otherwise the woods would be choked with deadwood. So back in 2006 I compiled a list of 5 desirable oak deadwood subjects each one underpinned by a compelling narrative. In hindsight it looks very much like a wish list compiled by someone completely ignorant of reality. Which is why this post is more of an update than anything approaching a coherent body of work.

A wind blown oak readjusting growth to its horizontal position

No 1 of the Oak Woodland Deadwood list was a photogenic native mature tree snapped by a storm that would provide a pollarded trunk to regenerate from and a wind thrown crown to decay.  Mature oak trees, at least in the woodlands I visit, appear to require winds associated with a major significant storm event to snap a mature tree. That major significant storm event has yet to happen, so what actually happens is that the trees are blown over and more often than not, enough root system remains in the ground to keep the tree alive.

A storm damaged native tree ~ Ballochbuie Forest, May 2014

A mere 8 years after writing that I finally chanced upon a group of storm snapped mature native trees: Scot's pines in Ballochbuie forest in Scotland after a particularly stormy winter 2013/2014. One damaged tree trunk had a single remaining trunk branch that may be enough to sustain the the tree, in which case it might grow into a pollard or it may die, a future visit will confirm its fate

Harvested oak, Forest of Dean ~ March 2007

No 2 on the wishlist were the stumps and brashwood left from a harvesting operation. Fortune played its part as in March 2007 oak timber was harvested from one area of the Forest of Dean and the branches left for biodiversity, a decade on the twigs and smaller diameter branches have decayed, the larger diameter branches are still 'firm' to touch. Browsing herbivores eventually killed off any regrowth from the tree stumps and aside from colonisation by bryophytes there's no dramatic evidence of decomposition of the oak stumps. I subsequently learnt that oak stumps take up to a century to rot down and wild boar will expend no little energy in uprooting a sizeable oak stump in the quest for an as yet unknown desirable foodstuff, that I am guessing might be truffles. Making a photographing record of an oak tree stump decomposing has been abandoned.

Oak branches from March 2007 harvesting operation showing Class 2 and 3 decomposition stages ~ October 2016

Hopes of photographing a branch in situ in open access woodland have been dashed by the fallen wood being moved to build shelters, bike jumps, disappeared (perhaps sawn up for firewood?) or moved by some unknown agency for some unknown purpose (wild boar rooting around?).  So instead there has been a record made of fungi that have appeared on the 2007 harvesting debris.

Pluteaceae fungi on March 2007 felled oak branch~ December 2016

No 3 A snag or standing dead tree with a narrative. That narrative has proved elusive mostly due to my ignorance of pathogens or able to confidently assign a cause of death.  Nonetheless the 2006 heatwave might be a contributory factor for the oak mortality on the heavy clay soils. I have also discovered that a dead tree anywhere near power lines, telephone lines, public road, forestry track, cycle track, footpath path or in any location with a conceivable chance of falling on someone would be cut down for health and safety reasons. The snag really needs to be in a remote location or a nature reserve.

Stage 4 decay - loose bark on an oak snag.  

I can say with some confidence that an oak snag can stand for a surprising number of years before falling.

Decay Class 5 oak snag October 2007 it finally fell winter 2013/14

No 4 was for a naturally shed branch. Having learnt the lessons of well managed open access woodland, suitable subjects were searched for in less visited woodlands and nature reserves. Tŷ Canol National Nature Reserve provided the desired subject matter.  I have no idea when the branch fell, but when I first photographed it was class 3 decomposition and in 7 years it doesn't appear to have changed much.

April 2010 

October 2011

March 2015

May 2017

No 5 on the wish list was a dead branch still attached to a living tree. If an oak branch takes a long time to decompose on the ground then a dead branch takes a much longer time to decay away from the ground. One section of branch that died in 2010 there was still some bark attached in Nov 2014. The dead branch was still attached in autumn 2017.

Dead branch ~ November 2014 

At the time it seemed like a good idea, photograph some fallen oak trees, tree stumps and branches then return every so often to record the stages of decay as they unfolded. It's been an interesting journey so far and the oak deadwood project is probably 2/3 way through after 12 years. The management regime of woodland is soon determined by the presence of standing and lying deadwood.

Deadwood in oak woodland ~ December 2013

The importance of deadwood as a habitat resource continues to surprise:

Brussels, 5 March 2018 (IUCN) – Almost a fifth (18%) of European saproxylic beetles assessed so far are at risk of extinction due to ongoing decline in large veteran trees across Europe, a new IUCN report has found.

Due to their dependence on dead or decaying wood, the loss of trees across Europe is the main driver of decline in saproxylic beetle populations. Loss of ancient and veteran trees, tree age structure gaps, degraded landscapes that are unfriendly to tree growth, and indiscriminate felling for spurious health and safety reasons all contribute to the loss and degradation of suitable saproxylic beetle habitat. 

Saproxylic beetles depend on dead and decaying wood for at least part of their lifecycle, and are involved in decomposition processes and the recycling of nutrients in natural ecosystems. They also provide an important food source for birds and mammals, and some species are even involved in pollination.

The clean air of Coed-y-Rhaeadr

After days of wind and rain the weather forecast offered something quieter, still blanket cloud but with the wind easing.  Coed-y-Rhaeadr would be worth a visit with high water flows and there's also something of interest as the area is covered by the Coedydd Nedd a Mellte SAC designated for its old sessile oak woods and ravine woodland. Parking up and a group of walkers arrived back from their outing and were coated with mud to their knees, indicating the paths were in a poor condition.  The enthusiasm for a walking mudfest wasn't that great, so a walk  was made to an area with less footfall i.e sans waterfalls and one that straddles the geological boundary of Carboniferous sandstones (quartz arenites and conglomerates) and underlying limestone lithologies.

Coppiced oak and pollarded beech tree.

The geology also influences the flora with oak, hard fern (Blechnum spicant), common hair-cap moss (Polytrichum commune) indicating sandstone bedrock, whilst ash, wych elm and sycamore indicate limestone bedrock.

Veteran pollarded sycamore adjacent to a derelict track.

Within the woods there is also evidence for past habitation with long abandoned derelict trackways leading to equally derelict buildings. One substantial pile of rubble was intimately associated with several mature pollarded sycamore trees (neophytes) playing host to a visually impressive covering of native epiphytes including polypody ferns, bryophytes and macro-lichens. A nearby veteran ash tree trunk provided suitable habitat for an old growth forest lichen - Peltigera horizontalis.

Peltigera horizontalis

The attrition of wind and recent snowfall had brought down plenty of lichen covered twigs, branches and trees and in one area a beard lichen - Usnea Florida was conspicuous on the woodland floor and high up in the canopy. A lichen indicator of very low levels of atmospheric pollutants.

Usnea Florida

With dusk approaching the walk was cut short and the end to an interesting wander.

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.

Reflected and diffuse autumn light

Heavily shaded woodland environments benefit hugely from the illumination of an autumnal canopy that imparts 'warm' light and if a mist is rising then the light is diffused. The combination creates some very special lighting and is generally utilised for photographs of sun beams penetrating through breaks in the tree canopy.

A recent trip to a Scowles woodland was rewarded with the conditions and atmosphere for reflected and diffused lighting, that made venturing forth down into the darker realms a realistic photographic ambition. The lower perspective offers views of outsize tree roots flowing down over bedrock outcrops to form buttresses and the underside of gnarled veteran beech coppice stools with rot hollows that provide insight to their great age. The dense shade and higher humidity also creates the habitat for luxuriant mosses and bryophytes and for my aesthetic tastes the emerald greens contrasts well with the freshly fallen autumnal beech leaves. Whilst sun beams breaking through a canopy provide visual drama, it is well worth bearing in mind that the very same atmospheric conditions can be utilised to photograph more challenging subject matter.

Early autumn in a Scowles woodland.

Autumnal colour in woodlands is a personal highlight in the landscape photography calendar and it usually heralds an invigorated jet stream lining up vigorous weather systems at the UK, sigh. So it was with some relief that a calm weather forecast coincided with beech leaves starting to change colour and a trip was made to a scowles woodland in the Forest of Dean. The woodland canopy is dominated by beech with yew dominating the understorey and occasional ash, holly, hazel, wych elm, whitebeam and lime. Beech trees in the ancient woodlands I am familiar with, rarely synchronise their autumnal colour. Instead it's a gradual roll out with a spectrum of hues from green to fiery orange/red and corresponding leaf fall punctuated by heavy falls in stormy weather. The colour hues shifting from greens to full autumn colour as the days shorten and nights lengthen.

On this visit there was enough early leaf fall to enliven the floor and enough leaves remaining to maintain a closed canopy and include some of the tree crowns in a composition. Some light rainfall had wetted surfaces to saturate colours and overhead cloud provided diffuse lighting. More importantly there was almost negligible wind as the composition hinges upon the lack of movement during a long exposure.  Suffice to type that I was satisfied with the photographic reward.

A local bluebell wood

Let me state that I am no phenologist with detailed records of weather/nature events, my observations stem from consulting a photographic archive, memory and empirical observations, leaving some margin for large errors. So with those caveats in place, thus far the 2017 bluebell carpets in the woodlands of the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean seem below par. Instead of a synchronised mass of flowering there has been a staggered roll out of bluebell flowering in the woods I have visited. The bluebell plants also seem smaller in stature too.

Illustration of the patchy flowering of bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in 2017

The weather may be factor being dominated by high pressure after a relatively dry winter, so lots of sunshine, little rainfall, cold air from the north and east, wildly fluctuating temperatures with some hard frosts when the wind drops and clear skies etc etc. Or it may just be the foraging activity of the resident population of wild boar, trampling by deer or something else. On the plus side some tree species are leaf flushing earlier providing some relief in a woodland image with a leaf canopy instead of sky lined bare tree branches against a blown out sky.

After some unfruitful photographic outings, it was time to put aside the quest for new bluebell woods and instead satiate my bluebell carpet fix, by visiting a wood that produces a consistent display of bluebells irrespective of weather. The wood favours evening photography with the main bluebell carpet concentrated on an exposed north-westerly aspect slope, susceptible to westerly winds funnelled through a valley. On my visit it was an easterly wind that eased during my visit.

Aesthetically a case can be made for cloud and rain providing the best photographic weather for conveying the depth of colour, in lieu of rain: dappled sunshine falling through a developing tree canopy, illuminating tree trunks and the woodland floor conveys an uplifting vision of spring in my humble opinion.

It was a rewarding photography trip, although the aroma of bluebells and the chorus of birdsong a reminder of the limitations of photography in capturing the atmosphere of a landscape.

The Lower Wye Valley Woodlands

I was going to write an all encompassing series of posts on the Lower Wye Valley woodlands - history, diversity, geology influence and then I stumbled upon the internet version of Woodlands of the Lower Wye. produced by the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty organisation on behalf of the Ravine WoodLIFE Project in 2007, it is very well researched and written by very knowledgeable individuals. It is a free download and I can highly recommend it.

http://www.wyevalleyaonb.org.uk/images/uploads/general/Woodlands_of_the_Lower_Wye_onlinesmallpdf.com.pdf

Isle of Skye - Woodland and Wildlife

After the week in Kinloch Rannoch, the following week was destined for the Isle of Skye. Nic, had a holiday bucket list of tour operators and guides, for kayaking, boat trips and wildlife watching ... Which was fine with me, as she could drop me off somewhere, whilst she went kayaking/boat tripping/wildlife watching. As always the plans were weather dependent.

After arriving at the holiday cottage, unloading and unpacking, there was enough time for an excursion. The weather was negligible wind, very low cloud, rain and a calm sea, that pointed to a wildlife excursion, which in turn threw up a candidate location in the Kyleakin Hills, that held the promise of otter spotting and coincidentally with nearby oak woodland designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

After parking up, there then followed some less than optimal map reading on my part, eventually Nic located a suitable vantage point for a wildlife watching vigil and was immediately rewarded, with an otter feeding on the shore. One pair of binoculars and two people, is never a satisfactory combination, so I went for a recce of the woods and on my return, was informed in hushed tones, that there were now two otters and clearly visible with the naked eye. A good start to the holiday, a few days of cloud and rain meant  this area was visited on further occasions and we were rewarded with more extended viewings of the two otters and also a large pod of dolphins.

 

The woodland contained older krummholz oak trees shaped by the wind and also a few wind thrown, uprooted oaks, still alive and adapting their canopy growth from their trunks horizontal orientation. It was also apparent that the woodland was regenerating, with seedlings and saplings of all the indigenous tree species present. The small downside was that the woodland grew over Torridonian sandstone, I have longed formed an opinion that Torridonian landscapes are some of more arduous to traverse and the woodland was no exception to that rule.



With the sea in close proximity, a high annual rainfall, the climate is decidedly Oceanic and the woodland appears an optimal habitat for communities of mosses, liverworts and lichens. The woodland certainly possessed an atmosphere, enhanced by autumnal colour in the canopy and field layer, rain wetted surfaces added vibrancy to the colours.



Heavy rainfall also posed problems with one excursion and streams in full spate, on a trip out to the Rubha an Dunain peninsula. The excursion was abandoned, when a safe fording point of an otherwise innocuous stream could not be found, without a tedious detour upstream and a look at the OS map indicated there was the prospect of fording a number of larger streams draining greater catchment areas. Every cloud has a silver lining though, on the return journey back to the car park, we watched a pair of white tailed eagles quartering the peninsula, before disappearing from view up into Cuillin Corries in Glen Brittle.

Heavy rainfall did ensure that waterfalls were impressive and the Black Cuillin had a certain atmospheric feel to them.

I'll cover some landscape photography and geology excursions, made in more clement weather, in the next post.