Betula pendula – Silver Birch

  A deciduous tree native to a wide area of Europe, including the British isles and Ireland. Silver Birch is often planted ornamentally due to its pleasant silvery bark which can be appreciated all year round. Silver Birch also grows very quickly making it a popular choice for ornamental planting. The tree is slender with a narrow tapering crown, which can acquire a weeping habit when mature, especially when in an open and un-crowded area.

  It’s bark is thick and becomes deeply fissured in older trees, often creating a diamond pattern on its trunk. Higher up the tree the bark is a smooth silvery-white sometimes flaking revealing a greyer under-layer. Silver birch leaves toothed and triangular, growing up to around 7cm in length, turning golden yellow in Autumn.

  Birch woodlands tend to be rich in fungi, some fungi are associated with the tree almost exclusively. It is an early coloniser, a pioneer plant, however does not compete well with more vigorous species. In the wild it tends to invasively occupy heathland areas covering large areas quite quickly due to its fast growth. 

Fraxinus excelsior – Ash

Ash is a large deciduous tree, native to a wide area of Europe except from the southernmost and northernmost regions. They have high open, domed crowns with a straight bole. Ash trees have been popular for hundreds of years due to the quality of the timber they produce. The species is planted mostly for timber but sometimes used in shelterbelts. They are found in many ancient semi-natural woodlands and it is common to see large stools and rings of stools as a result of coppicing. In many places Ash’s are the oldest trees, often older than Oaks. Some trees have exceeded 800 years in age and can have a girth of over 4m. Ash woodlands generally have a light airy canopy allowing flora to flourish on the woodland floor with carpets of species such as Bluebells and Dog’s Mercury. Ash grows well in calcareous or base-rich soils as well as limestone uplands. It thrives on heavy base-rich clays near the sea and in cities.

  It’s branches are mostly ascending, leaves are pinnate with a flattened central rachis, which can be hairy. The leaves grow up to 35cm long with 7-13 ovate-lanceolate, pointed and toothed leaflets, each growing up to 12cm long. Leaves open very late in spring, turning pale yellow-green in Autumn for a very short time before falling.

  Ash fruits single-winged ‘keys’ also known as ‘helicopters’ that hang in bunches, starting green and turning brown. These ‘keys’ can persist until after the leaves have fallen. It also produces very small purple flowers on the tips of twigs in the spring. Male and female flowers tend to be on separate trees but on some trees can be found on separate branches. 

Taxus baccata – Yew

The common yew, an evergreen, broadly conical conifer with dense foliage. It is native to a wide area of Europe, North East Africa and South West Asia. Yew trees tend to thrive in drier lime-rich soils. There are ancient common yew forests in the South of England.

  They are quite tolerant of pollution in towns and cities and can also survive in shady conditions.

  Yews have an interesting history surrounding religion, they are planted in graveyards can church grounds throughout Christian Europe. There is no single clear reason for this, although some theories are that Yew trees symbolise ‘eternal life’ as they live for so long. Others think that because the tree is toxic, it suggests death, or that they were planted in graveyards to discourage farmers allowing their livestock in graveyards, as the poisonous foliage would kill any livestock.

  The bole on a mature yew may be long and twisted. Its bark is reddish and when peeled reveals a reddish/brown layer. Its leaves are long and thin, almost needle like growing up to 4cm long and 3mm wide.

Alnus glutinosa – Common Alder

  The common Alder is native to a wide range of Europe including the British Isles and Ireland but are not found in the Northernmost regions of Europe. Alder is common in wetlands and can grow at altitudes up to 700m. When left alone Alders form a grand domed canopy however they are commonly coppiced so in many places they are more conical than domed and have long, multi-stemmed boles for use as timber.

  Its bark is brown and deeply fissured in square and oblong plates. Its twigs are smooth apart from when young they have a slightly sticky feel. Alder leaves are stalked and noticeably round with a slightly notched apex and a wavy or bluntly toothed margin.

  In the winter, purple catkins can be seen on the tree in groups of 2 and 3, up to 3cm long, which can be an appealing aesthetic. By the end of winter these catkins open up and reveal yellow anthers. Female catkins are smaller and are reddish purple, turning green, growing in the summer and persisting through the winter. Alders seeds float on water making the dispersal and natural spread of the tree more effective. 

Pinus sylvestris – Scots Pine

  Scots pine is an evergreen tree, when young, it is conical and grows vigorously but when mature, it becomes more flat-topped with a long bole. Scots pine is, as can be inferred from the name, native to Scotland, but also to much of Britain and a wide area of Europe. Native pinewoods are only found in Scotland, supporting a very unique variety of life, including the Scottish Crossbill which is found nowhere else in the world as it has evolved to be able to extract pine seeds from the cones.

  Scots Pine bark can be reddish or gray-brown and in mature trees, can be orange or red higher up in the tree. It’s branches are very irregular and stumps from broken branches are common in Scots Pine. Its leaves are long thin needles that grow in pairs, usually green or green-blue, growing up to around 7cm long with a sharp point at the tip. Scots Pine’s male flowers grow in yellow clusters, at the end of the previous years shoots shedding pollen at the end of spring. Female flowers are usually on new shoots, on their own, starting crimson, turning brown towards the latter end of summer and surviving over winter. During the second summer they will turn green and enlarge, maturing to become grey-brown in autumn and eventually shedding in spring.

Crataegus monogyna – Common Hawthorn

Hawthorn is Native to most of Europe including the British Isles and Ireland. It is common on unmanaged grounds like roadsides as its seeds are carried by birds and distributed widely. It is particularly abundant in drier, chalk and limestone habitats.

The common Hawthorn is a rather small deciduous tree or hedgerow shrub. It can grow on a single bole or be multi-stemmed with a spreading crown. Its bark is grayish-brown and normally consists of quite regular vertical fissures. Its branches and twigs are very densely packed and can be quite pointy, but numerous sharp spines.

  Hawthorn leaves are roughly ovate and deeply lobed, usually with three segments. Each lobe is pointed with a few small teeth near the apex. Its leaves are quite tough, appearing dark green on the upper layer and a lighter green on the under layer.

  It flowers in the late spring, in clusters of 8-10 white and sometimes pink tinged flowers. When growing in an open space Hawthorns can flower prolifically and produce a powerful fragrance.

Its fruits (Haws) are bright red, sometimes darkening to a deep red. They are normally round or ovate, containing a hard cased seed.

Salix caprea – Goat Willow

Goat willow is a widespread and common species native to Britain and Ireland, occurring in woodland, hedgerows and scrub. It is also more tolerant of drier conditions than similar species.

  Dependant on its situation, Goat Willow can be a tall, straight stemmed tree with a sparsely domed crown, or a multi branched dense shrubby tree. Its stiff twigs are hairy at first, becoming smoother with age turning yellowish-brown. Twigs are smooth when bark is peeled off. Leaves are large, long and oval shaped, growing up to around 12 cm long with a short twisted point at the tip. Upper leaf surface is dull green and slightly hairy, its lower side is noticeably grey and woolly which can suddenly change the appearance of an entire tree/hedge with a strong gust of wind.

  In terms of ecology, it is an extremely important plant with large numbers of insects living in, or off the tree and is particularly noted for the number of species of Lepidoptera that are associated with it. The larvae of the Purple Emperor butterfly will feed on nothing else but Goat Willow leaves.