Over the past weeks, we’ve talked about 19 different birds and in this post you’ll see pictures of each one.
Your challenge is, can you name them? There are some clues! Or can you give them new names? Let me know how you get on and I’d love to see any drawings you make 🙂
If you need help, check out the Chirpy Challenges page or find the answers at the bottom of this post.
Continue reading
You might see this bird near water, or inland in fields or open areas or beside the sea.
Continue readingOlder, wiser, yet young I may be, drink twice of the riches that come from me by Grace Banks
This tree is more of a shrub. It can grow to an average height of 10m and is often seen in hedgerows, squidged between other trees such as hawthorn, holly and ash.
In Scotland it’s known as the bourtree and has long been associated with the mystic. If elder trees grew on farmland, it was considered a blessing and it is said that as it can never be struck by lightning, it is good to have one near your home.
In times past every part of the elder would be used for medicinal purposes, including the bark and leaves. More info here: https://sacredearth.com/2020/05/24/all-about-the-elder-tree-its-myths-magic-and-medicine/
The wood is strong and was used to make fence posts and tool handles. It is not suitable for burning as it tends to spark.
Elder twigs and branches are easily hollowed out and can be used to make whistles and beads.
Older and wiser, yet young I may be, drink twice of the riches that come from me – Grace Banks
Over these last years this wee bird has been seen more frequently in towns.
Check out its position on the tree, what d’you think it’s doing?
Look at its beak, what d’you think it eats?
Check under ‘T’ here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/
This story about oak trees is a favourite, told to me by Stanley Robertson
In Scotland you might see two different oak trees – the English oak and the sessile oak.
How d’you spot the difference? The English oak has bunches of leaves with no stalks with its acorns on stalks, the sessile is the opposite.
These trees can live to a great age and if they have room, will grow up to 50m, expanding out to give a lovely canopy.
The oak can be found all over Europe; on the west coast of Scotland forests of oak are particularly dense. These wonderful trees can support approximately 500 types of insects. When the leaves fall they form a rich rotting carpet that provides food for many.
Oak has hardwood which has been used for centuries in shipbuilding and house building. Near where I live in Aberdeen, King’s College was built in 1495 on marshland on a raft of oak. Beautiful furniture and long-lasting barrels are also made from oak.
A wee tale….
In my childhood home we had an oak chest, inscribed with the date 1556. It was blackened with age.
One summer I was investigating my ancestry. I went down to Newcastle under Lyme, near Manchester. I visited the church where my mother’s ancestors, the Thicknes family, had been farmers. There was a chapel dedicated to the family in this church, and there, beside it, was a blackened oak chest, which looked exactly like the piece in my home. It gave me quite a thrill. As I put my hand on the smooth wood, it felt like I was touching and connecting with those in my past.
Oak tannin from the bark tans leather and even oak sawdust is used to flavour foods in the smoking process.
Find out more here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/english-oak/
Oak trees grow tall and magnificently in many places.
The warm brownish bark is uniformly fissured, sometimes developing plates in older trees:
Oak buds are scaly and grow in clusters, looking small and oval through winter. In spring they elongate and the layers change from brown to green:
The ‘oval-cloud’ shaped leaves and lamb’s tail catkins emerge at the same time:
Young leaves can be pale, almost orangey-yellow in colour:
Acorns are not a yeary fruit. it takes an oak 50 years to develop fruit and often they will only bear fruit every few years. Acorns develop over the summer and ripen by October:
In autumn leaves change colour:
I have always looked on the oak as a beautiful climbing tree:
Thanks for joining me, see you next time 🙂
Hi folks, do you recognise this wee bird?
For some of you, it’s such a common sight, you may not have ever really looked at it’s bonny plumage.
Even its call may be so familiar to you that it’s just another everyday sound that you hardly notice 🙂
Check out its beak, what d’you think it eats?
This story has many shapes and forms, do you recognise it?
This is one of my favourite stories and it does involve nettles!
The Poor Man’s Clever Daughter, from the telling of Peter Stewart
These trees are a vital part of Scotland’s regeneration of river areas.
For many years and in many areas farming has removed the treeline – the ‘green-lifeline’ from our riversides.
I’d always assumed it was natural for fields to stretch up to a river’s edge. But I’ve learned otherwise.
Continue reading
silverhaar 