I Found A Tree Full Of Plums

Been past this tree a few times in the autumn and winter and never really took much notice of it. The location is at the fringes of a landfill site in the UK. It wasn't until early summer that I was curious as to what it was. It was flowering, but I never thought it was a Plum tree. It's more like a big bush than an actual tree, so I thought it could possibly be a purple Damsel / Damson of some kind.

Then, a few weeks later I was at this same location and I see that this is in fact a Plum tree. I don't know what variety but there are big juicy Plums are all over the place. Perhaps you know the variety from the pictures.. If so let me know. Click the images for a closer look.

Elm Or Beech Tree Identification

Looking at Elm and Beech (UK and American Beech) tree leaf images online, it's clear to see that they are fairly difficult to tell apart. Either that or Google Images is throwing up the wrong pictures for the search terms I'm using.. So I'll post the pictures here and see if any experts come along and give me the correct answer.

I may ask on one of the Reddit sub reddits / categories as they are excellent resources for things like this. I took some pictures of a bird a few months back and didn't have a clue as to what species it was. I thought it was a Falcon of some kind. Turns out it was a Northern Goshawk.

Never used it to identify a tree before but I bet they have some very knowledgeable people in the tree sections. I'm sure they have tree / leaf I.D sub reddits (although I haven't checked yet) as they have one for everything else. I'll post this here first though. Does anyone know.. Elm, Beech, or something else? Click the images to enlarge and post a comment below.

Pine Cones In The Process Of Being Made

Have you ever wondered how Pine Cones are actually made. I hadn't really given it much thought until I was out and about not long ago collecting some Alder seeds. I noticed these "Brown things" on a Corsican Pine and thought, what the hell are they? Not knowing what they were, I thought they looked like a load of brown worms all cuddled together. After picking some off (Just a tiny bit) and breaking it apart, I then thought they were the seeds of the Pine tree!. As you probably guessed, I'm no Pine expert.

After some research, I discover that these brown things are Pine Cones being made / formed. To begin with they are really soft to the touch, but obviously the end result is a solid Pine Cone! Amazing. I think its fascinating the way that trees can muster the energy and generate the resources to make such things. From Pine Cones, to hard nut shells, and stones from fruits like the Plum and Peach. Hope you like the images of the young Pine cones. Click on the images to enlarge for a closer look.

Common Alder Tree | Alnus Glutinosa

Alder trees (Alnus Glutinosa), with their attractive foliage, have quickly become one of my favourites. I love trees that are tough (UK hardy), easy to grow, low maintenance and resilient. The Alder tree certainly ticks all these boxes. And the leaves are really nice too. Once you know what one looks like, they are easy trees to identify. There's just something about them that I like. Lately, I've been growing a lot of different trees from seed.

Scots Pine and Corsican Pines being two that stand out to me. I'm not sure if its my bad luck, but most of them have died. Even though I haven't done anything out of the ordinary. One day they seem in good health, and the next they are keeled over and in serious trouble. None of them have shown even a decent level of recuperation strength.

In my experience so far, when the Pines look unwell they never recover. They seem so sensitive that its not a tree that I will be growing from seed again anytime soon. I still have a few alive, but it has been quite a frustrating experience. Maybe next time I'll buy one or two that are already a few months old from eBay and see if I have better luck with those. I'm sure I will with some that are more established.

The Common Alders however (I think they are Common Alder) are all thriving. Some of them have taken a fair amount of abuse too at the hands of some squirrels. Dug up numerous times, covered with soil, left for dead, etc. But the Alders seem to just dust themselves off, and within a day or two they're as good as new again. I've got one in a see-through pot (a cut in half plastic water bottle) and I was amazed to see that some of the roots are actually purple.

Some of the leaves are also turning purple, and I believe that is down to the lower night temperatures. That could also be the case in regards to the roots but I'm not sure. Known as the Nitrogen fixer, and being able to tolerate growing in low nutrient soil, my Alder's are also potted in quite poor soil, yet they still look extremely healthy.

They are trees that love wet conditions, and are usually found near ponds, streams, lakes, etc. So as you can imagine, they are right at home near the water, and their roots can handle marsh-type conditions. Alders are even able to withstand totally waterlogged ground to a certain extent.

I will be posting more information about the Alder tree and uploading some more images to show people, who are unaware of what they are looking for when they are out and about, exactly what they look like. Actually, I didn't intend to put so many images in this post, so I think these pictures alone will allow for most people to be able to easily recognise this tree. Also on my list of trees and shrubs to collect some seeds from are: Rowan (Mountain Ash), Lilac (got them) and Silver Birch (got them).

Grey Willow Trees / Shrubs

Been going crazy lately collecting different types of seeds from trees and shrubs. Alder, Silver Birch and White Willow. Another one of those I've been collecting is the Grey Willow bush. Willow trees / shrubs are funny things. There are so many different types out there that it can be hard to positively identify a certain type. One of the main reasons for this is because they can make new hybrids from two different trees from the Willow species.

So, basically this means that two different types of Willow can mix together and make a new hybrid. This is great for the Willow family as a whole as it gives it a massive advantage in terms of spreading it's genes and ensuring that they are always continuing to evolve.

The Grey Willow is extremely easy to grow from seed. I have a few up and running at the moment. All you have to do is fill a pot with some soil, spread the seeds on the top, and then spray with water, making sure the surface remains moist. Put the pot in a location that gets some sunlight. A windowsill will do just fine. You could also put them under a low watt CFL "energy saver" bulb. After a while they will germinate.

Grey Willow seeds are super small, so its best to spread out the cotton ball-like material the seeds are protected / transported by and place it on top of the soil. You will be able to see the tiny seeds within the cotton ball-like material. They are little dots! Just remove as much of the white fur as you can and leave the rest. Makes things much easier and less fiddly. Works for me!

An Illuminous Coloured Spider UK

Luminous, Illuminous, call it what you like, but wow, take a look at this spider I spotted that was just chilling on the leaf of a Grey Willow tree. Sometimes I'll see an insect that looks really strange, and then find out that it's nothing out of the ordinary to those in the know, and very common in the UK. In this case I am not sure. But this certainly looks very strange. The picture doesn't do it justice. In the flesh it looked much more bright green / yellow in appearance. Almost glowing! If you look at the close up picture it even has a purple back abdomen (Spinnerets).

Bright colours are usually a warning sign on animals and insects, but in many cases they are also just for show, and the animal / insect is harmless. I wouldn't put my money on this spider being harmless though, as many of the fake widows have left some seriously bad injuries on the people they have bitten.

Some victims have been left scarred for life, and some have even had to have body parts amputated. One case that springs to mind is where a woman had to have some fingers removed. This subject is making me itch! Does anyone know what type of spider this is? If so post a comment below.

The Devil's Coach Horse Insect

I love most insects (and nature in general), especially anything Beetle-like. The Devil's Coach Horse (strange name) is quite similar to a Beetle, and is actually part of the Rove Beetle species (Ocypus olens). Although, it also shares a trait of the Scorpion in the way that it raises its tail when it feels threatened, as if it's going to attack / sting the enemy. I believe the tail contains a gas-like smelly acid substance that they squirt at their enemy.

The jaws that the Devil's Coach Horse possesses certainly look capable of delivering a nasty little bite to another insect. The jaw is big, intimidating, and could easily kill a lot of insects of the same size or bigger. I bet it would hurt getting bitten by those jaws. I wouldn't like to find out!

I'm no expert on this insect, and I don't know for sure if this is actually a Devil's Coach Horse as there are quite a few insects that look very similar. A few minutes later.. Just researched it and it is definitely a Devils Coach horse. Anyway, spotted this one just relaxing on a blade of grass. In auto mode my camera couldn't manage to focus properly, and I must have taken around 10 - 12 blurred images. It's usually really good at close up / macro shots when in auto mode, but this time it was being a pain in the aine.

Annoyed and about to give up, I changed the camera to manual settings and actually chose "Close-up". I managed to get just one decent shot (pictured above) before the Coach Horse decided to slowly wander into the many layers of long, trampled down grass and disappear! I guess it was meant to be. They are not uncommon however, and can be found in many locations throughout the UK.