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This tree stands in a field overlooking the last lock on the Caldon Canal before you reach Cheddleton flint mill when traveling from Froghall. I think I can see a bird box in the silhouette!
Early morning fog in the campsite near Mt. St. Helens provided a great movie scene atmosphere.
I searched for those little 5 pointed compound symbols hanging from the trees, guess I'm too old ;)
Arundel Castle Gardens, Arundel, West Sussex.
This was the first time we had visited the gardens, although we have been to the castle itself. The favourite time to visit is for the Tulip Festival in April, but there is never a wrong time to visit a garden!
From Wikipedia -
Quercus suber, commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.
It grows to up to 20 m, although it is typically more stunted in its native environment. The leaves are 4 to 7 cm long, weakly lobed or coarsely toothed, dark green above, paler beneath, with the leaf margins often downcurved. The acorns are 2 to 3 cm long, in a deep cup fringed with elongated scales.
Natural stands of cork oak can support diverse ecosystems. For example, in parts of northwestern North Africa, some cork oak forests are habitat to the endangered Barbary Macaque, Macaca sylvanus, a species whose habitat is fragmented and whose range was prehistorically much wider. In Western Europe, namely in Portugal and Spain, the cork oak forests are home to endangered species such as the Iberian Lynx, the most critically threatened feline in the world. The tree has a thick, insulating bark that may have been the cork oak's evolutionary answer to forest fires. After a fire, while many of the other tree species merely regenerate from seeds (as, for example, the maritime pine) or resprout from the base of the tree (as, for example, the Holm oak) the cork oak branches, protected by cork, quickly resprout and recompose the tree canopy. The quick regeneration of the tree seems to be an advantage compared to other species that, after a fire, return to an initial stage of development.
The tree forms a thick, rugged bark containing high levels of suberin. Over time the cork cambium layer of bark can develop considerable thickness and can be harvested every 9 to 12 years to produce cork. The harvesting of cork does not harm the tree, in fact, no trees are cut down during the harvesting process. Only the bark is extracted, and a new layer of cork regrows, making it a renewable resource. The tree is cultivated in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Morocco, France, Italy and Tunisia. Cork oaks are considered to be soil builders and their fruits have been shown to have useful insecticidal properties. Cork oak forests cover approximately 25,000 square kilometres in those countries (equivalent to 2,277,700 hectares). Portugal accounts for around 50% of the world cork harvest. Cork oaks cannot legally be cut down in Portugal, except for forest management felling of old, unproductive trees, and, even in those cases, farmers need special permission from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Cork oaks live about 150 to 250 years. Virgin cork (or 'male' cork) is the first cork cut from generally 25-year-old trees. Another 9 to 12 years is required for the second harvest, and a tree can be harvested about twelve times in its lifetime. Cork harvesting is done entirely without machinery, being dependent solely on human labor. Usually five people are required to harvest the tree's bark, using a small axe. The process requires training due to the skill required to harvest bark without harming the tree. The European cork industry produces 300,000 tonnes of cork a year, with a value of €1.5 billion and employing 30,000 people. Wine corks represent 15% of cork usage by weight but 66% of revenues.
Cork oaks are sometimes planted as individual trees, providing a minor income to their owners. The tree is also sometimes cultivated for ornament. Hybrids with turkey oak (Quercus cerris) are regular, both in the wild in southwest Europe and in cultivation; the hybrid is known as Lucombe oak Quercus × hispanica. Some cork is also produced in eastern Asia from the related Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis)
My very first successful capture of a tree squirrel Paraxerus cepapi. They are quite common and occur widely in the northern and north-eastern parts of southern Africa. Photographed at Leeupan in the Kruger National Park.
When I was a child we rescued one where it had fallen from its nest from high up in a tree. It was blind and totally helpless but soon thrived on the milk it was fed with an eardropper and grew up regarding our home as its territory. It was free to come and go as it liked through open windows - we had branches propped up at higher windows - and took turns sleeping either in the drawers of my mom's cupboard or in bed at someone's feet. Imagine waking up with a squirrel crawling over your face by way of greeting...! Our dogs were amazing and not once did they try to harm it, despite having to share the house with it.
© Gerda van Schalkwyk. All rights reserved. This photograph and all others on my photostream are protected by copyright and may not be used on any site, blog or forum, nor linked to without my written permission.
The well photographed tree at Milarrochy Bay on the shores of Loch Lomond.
I took this on a quiet morning in February during a short period of time first thing in the morning where there were glimpses of light through the clouds.
Definitely a location to be re-visited when the weather conditions are a bit different or when the tree is submerged in water.
Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden & Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection
2525 S 336th St
Federal Way, WA 98003
(253) 838-4646
It was a sunny and cloudless morning again in Kota Kinabalu today, so more coconut photography! I had my breakfast in Tanjung Aru Town and before having it, I decided to have a closer look at two trees in a private property not too far from a bus stop. Both of these trees are dwarfs (they fruit at short heights and takes up less space), but of different varieties. The left one is very, very common in KK but the right one is the variety I've been wanting to find. There is one seedling outside the fence, and its free for anyone to take!