Coronation Wood
A PHOTO BLOG
Part of living simply for me is being in touch with the natural world, and observing the changes that come with the seasons. I'm planning to take particular note of a little piece of woodland near to my home, and visit it and photograph it regularly for a year or so.
I first took a closer look on 27th May 2012 when I heard about a plan to restore Coronation Wood in this the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.
See below (13 July 2012) for what I saw and wrote then....
Part of living simply for me is being in touch with the natural world, and observing the changes that come with the seasons. I'm planning to take particular note of a little piece of woodland near to my home, and visit it and photograph it regularly for a year or so.
I first took a closer look on 27th May 2012 when I heard about a plan to restore Coronation Wood in this the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.
See below (13 July 2012) for what I saw and wrote then....
29 March 2015
A little update on what has become a happy on-going community project. Today we planted about 150 primroses, grown from Scottish seed, into the wood. We cleared some fallen branches and raked the path, and hung some 'memories' (see here) made of oak. The snowdrops have faded now and we are trying to get work done before the bluebells are showing as we don't want to trample them. Next year we'll plant some pink campion which already grows there and from which I've collected seed. I shall sow it in the next few days. It's pure pleasure this little project. Word goes out that some work needs done and folks just turn up and get on with it....rain or shine! (It did both today.)
A little update on what has become a happy on-going community project. Today we planted about 150 primroses, grown from Scottish seed, into the wood. We cleared some fallen branches and raked the path, and hung some 'memories' (see here) made of oak. The snowdrops have faded now and we are trying to get work done before the bluebells are showing as we don't want to trample them. Next year we'll plant some pink campion which already grows there and from which I've collected seed. I shall sow it in the next few days. It's pure pleasure this little project. Word goes out that some work needs done and folks just turn up and get on with it....rain or shine! (It did both today.)
11 August 2013
First aid for trees! Not exactly tree surgery, more in the way of a splint....We think this damage was probably caused by deer - the male deer fray the bark on young trees by rubbing their antlers and facial scent glands on them, and our young rowan, planted by the children (scroll down to 5 June for photographs) seems to have been targeted. If the bark is 'ringed', that is broken the whole way round the tree will probably die, so we've bound it up loosely and put on a tree guard (which we should probably have put on at the time of planting) and will hope for the best.
9 August 2013
When the black shiny seeds of bluebells are ripe the whole stem comes away easily in your hand. Tip it upside down into a paper bag to catch as much seed as you can.
It was warm and dry in the greenhouse so I spread the stalks on newspaper and more seed fell out as they dried.
Of course they will increase by themselves in the wood, but the cunning plan is that when we pull unwanted tree seedlings of which there are many (sycamore, ash and aspen) we trickle a few bluebell seeds into the hole that is left....
In about three years we will have an even thicker carpet of blue.
We hope.
Fun to try!
12 June 2013
A small celebration was called for so we went to the wood....
where falling crab apple blossom added to the festive atmosphere,
..and where Geranium robertianum, Herb Robert, is sprinkling about.
Exquisite and modest,
as is the Germander Speedwell.
We'll be leaving the wood to nature for the summer and I plan to take a closer look at the creatures living there....
5 June 2013
On 2nd of June, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation we had an Open Day in Coronation Wood.
The weather was glorious, and fifty or sixty people came, including four of the people who as schoolchildren planted the original trees, and two of the youngest children in the village, who planted a rowan. Here are some photographs to give you a flavour....and there is a little post in the main blog on 2nd June and more on Ardentinny Village Hall Facebook page. (Thank you Marion for some of the photos.)
It's been a delightful project to work on!
The weather was glorious, and fifty or sixty people came, including four of the people who as schoolchildren planted the original trees, and two of the youngest children in the village, who planted a rowan. Here are some photographs to give you a flavour....and there is a little post in the main blog on 2nd June and more on Ardentinny Village Hall Facebook page. (Thank you Marion for some of the photos.)
It's been a delightful project to work on!
31 May 2013
Every day sees changes in the wood -
Silene dioica, red campion
Symphytum officinale, comfrey, growing on the edge of the wood
Conopodium majus, pignut, like a tiny cow parsley
and as the cherry blossom finishes the crab apple flowers.
On Sunday 2 June we are having an Open Day at Coronation Wood with a commemorative tree planting at 11.00 am followed by soup and sandwiches in the village hall. If you are near enough I hope you will come! See details at Ardentinny Village Hall Facebook page....
23 May 2013
We sent in data to the Natural History Museum's survey of bluebells. See the short video here in which they tell you how to distinguish our native bluebell from the Spanish bluebells which are hybridising with ours in some woodlands in UK.
We were pleased that here in Coronation Wood they are all the native species, hyacinthoides non-scripta.
We were pleased that here in Coronation Wood they are all the native species, hyacinthoides non-scripta.
Joining the first flowers in the wood (see post 26 April) here come:-
Stellaria holostea, greater stitchwort
Allium ursinum, broad leaved garlic
Cardamine pratensis, cuckoo flower or lady's smock
and one of the cherry trees is blossoming.
20 May 2013
Today we put in place two seats made, by John Primrose who lives in the village, from the wood of the cherry tree which had fallen over and was blocking the path.
The first is near the entrance to the wood,
There is a view right up Loch Long from this seat.
The second is under a spreading oak tree..
from where you can look back along the path to the stand of aspen.
Can you just see it at the far end of the path?
26 April 2013
A bonfire, a barbecue and a sociable evening's work in Coronation Wood! As the first flowers come out, we can put winter behind us and begin to see the results of our efforts in clearing and planting.
Some early fungi growing on rotting wood.
I haven't identified it yet, but something has made a meal of this one....a slug? A mouse or vole?
Lesser celandine, Ranunculus ficaria (part of the buttercup family) covers a lot of ground in the wood. With its glossy leaves and flowers it is a cheerful sight.
There are two kinds of wild garlic here - Ramsons, allium ursinum - the broad leaved type, and three cornered leek - allium triquetrum, which has a triangular flower stem and a narrow leaf which is v-shaped in section and sparser flowers than the ramsons. These are just starting to flower now.
The pretty wood sorrel, oxalis acetosella, is growing on the root plate of a fallen cherry tree. It's little clover like leaves fold down when the sun goes....
Can you see the wood sorrel sprinkling on the right? We kept the root plate of the tree as it provides a good insect and bird habitat. A seat is being made from the fallen wood...
This tiny lime green flower is opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage.
I am loving walking the few minutes from home several times a week to see what is new in the wood. It feels like spring at last!
7 March 2013
A lot of clearing and heavier work has been done over the winter, and finally, after weeks, no months, of very wet weather, the bonfire on the beach was lit and the heap disposed of!
To add to the snowdrops planted in the wood about 10 years ago, tomorrow we will plant 1100 more! Half have been donated and half have been bought for Coronation Wood.
On Tue 12 March a group of local people and some young people from a Community Task Force will plant beech hedging along the main road, and mixed native species shrubs which we were given by The Woodland Trust along the shore path edge of the wood, including wild rose, hazel, hawthorn and dogwood.
On Tue 12 March a group of local people and some young people from a Community Task Force will plant beech hedging along the main road, and mixed native species shrubs which we were given by The Woodland Trust along the shore path edge of the wood, including wild rose, hazel, hawthorn and dogwood.
The village used to be part of the estate of the Douglas family, and mixed holly and beech hedges run through the whole length of the long strung out village. Coronation wood has plenty of holly on the road edge and we will fill the gaps with beech. It makes hedges which are very handsome in winter.
Some white wild roses photographed just along the shore from Coronation Wood. Salt spray clearly doesn't bother them.
And some pink....the flowers are good for bees and other insects, and the hips are enjoyed by bullfinches and redwings, as well as other birds.
Hawthorn supports over 150 species of insect, dogwood berries are loved by robins and thrushes, and hazel, as well as providing nuts for red squirrrels and wood mice, support 5 species of moth - so all of these shrubs will be valuable additions to the wood.
11 October 2012
Fourteen people turned up to help clear out all the wood which had been cut in September. (Sausages were promised!)
There was a lot of it, but it was too damp to burn!
A notice was pinned to a tree...
The aspen are the tallest trees in the wood,
and the first to colour.
The fallen cherry which was blocking the path.
Despite the lack of a bonfire sausages were served..
14 September 2012
Work began in earnest on a blustery day. Sam and his son Innes who grew up in the village volunteered a few hours' work....they strimmed the path, and cut down the fallen cherry tree which was blocking it. The wood has been offered to another resident who is a wood carver - in return for the wood we hope he will make a simple bench, or two....
You can now walk right through the wood without ducking and diving to meet up with the shore path, and lots of sycamore and ash saplings, and rhododendron ponticum have been removed.
You can now walk right through the wood without ducking and diving to meet up with the shore path, and lots of sycamore and ash saplings, and rhododendron ponticum have been removed.
19 July 2012
Standing in the quiet wood it may seem as if nothing much is happening, but all around things are growing, being born, being eaten, dying - munching, mating, rotting and photosynthesising.....this photo of a vole is from a website about managing native woodlands for biodiversity. Click here to go straight to it...
17 July 2012
In looking at this woodland, I did wonder where to start!
I decided to start from the top and work down....there are 14 different native trees here. (See photographs of all but the rowan in 15 July post.)
I decided to start from the top and work down....there are 14 different native trees here. (See photographs of all but the rowan in 15 July post.)
The oak tree is one of the most valuable trees for wildlife - it supports around 300 species of insect! Beetles, aphids, flies and ants, woodlice, spiders, thrips, mites, bees and slugs and snails, moths caterpillars and butterflies, and many more I've never even heard the names of.
As well as a great variety of mosses ferns and lichens. Then there are the birds
and mice and....
There are three sizeable oaks and many seedling oaks in Coronation Wood. This is the one that arches over the road near the entrance to the wood.
Don't miss Chris Packham's The Magic Forest if you like woodlands. It's part of the Secrets of Our Living Planet series and is still on i player . It is magical.
15 July 2012
Here are the trees in Coronation Wood, photographed on 14th, another sunny day (I'm a bit of a fair weather botanist..). Two good websites for help with tree identification are www.woodlands.co.uk and the excellent Natural History Museum site www.nhm.ac.uk
From top left they are: holly, cherry, crab apple, aspen, oak, ash, lime, goat willow, birch, hawthorne, sycamore, beech.
Oops! Missed whitebeam. Here it is -
Oops! Missed whitebeam. Here it is -
13 July 2012
Between the two posts to the left of the shore path is the way in to a little wood....
It was planted by children from the (long gone) village school.
You step inside out of the hot sunshine and the cool and shade envelop you; you walk more slowly, breathe more deeply, and begin to look around....wild cherry, oak, whitebeam, holly and ivy.
Nature has created a sculpture for you to admire and a myriad of creatures to inhabit.
Stellaria and pignut sparkle in the dappled sunlight..
Delicate aspen were planted in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee - soft grass and bluebells have carpeted the floor - nature has made it her own.
With pink campion in patches here and there the atmosphere is peaceful and almost magically quiet.
What better time than this, the Diamond Jubilee, for the village Hall Association to put into action a long thought of plan to add to the diversity of the wood with some new trees and bird and bat boxes, to clear up some storm damage and restore the little path which used to run through the wood - just the kind of low key, naturalistic, minimal intervention kind of community project I love to be involved with..
This is one of the crab apples planted all those year ago by a child who will now be about 65 years old.
A plan is being prepared - the aim to maintain the magic and keep Coronation Wood healthy and thriving for future generations to enjoy, and for insects, small birds and mammals to inhabit.
12 July 2012
Another hot day and a photo opportunity I couldn't miss. I need to learn more about how to use my camera to do this justice, and it makes me aware of how very patient wild life photographers must be!
A feather hangs by a thread, a tiny snail attached...
Can you just see it's head emerging?
Swinging slowly in the slightest of breezes..
