How to be a Tree Detective…

It’s been a long, wet winter, but…

We will soon be in spring; the days are getting longer, and we are enjoying a few welcome moments of sun.  Nature is beginning to emerge from the winter.  The first signs of life can be seen, if you know where to look.

Birds are building their nests, spring flowers are peering through the grass and trees are preparing to come into leaf.

Different species come in to leaf at different times, with hawthorn often the first, birch following and beech nearer to the end.  Oaks can vary from tree to tree.

You can have a competition to see whose tree will come into lead first.

And of oak will come into leaf before ash.

Keeping a daily record of temperatures (highest and lowest each day) may reveal which trees respond to day length and those needing the warmth to come into leaf.

This is all part of being a Tree Detective!  Enjoy your detecting