Birch Wood on a cloudy Sunday

I spent some time with Toby reviewing Birch Wood. There about two and a half hours, moving very slowly.

We started at the Ash tree by the path entrance, and up in the canopy there was some dead twiggery and a hung up broken off branch, with the oak tree behind. I am still worried about the pedestrians on this footpath.

There are some large Sweet Chestnuts to the northwest of the pond, variously damaged, possibly by squirrel.

There are some lovely tall "valley Alders" just by the main streamside, with mophead top shapes, but these are intermixed with a lot of tall Ash with a bit of dieback.

I added a moderate sized Oak towards the north as a notable tree but didn't get a good position fix.

I thought there were likely to be some large Birches and Cherries on the northern boundary that might be worth recording, away from the path, beyond the three Birches at the path junction.

There are a few Hornbeams mainly in the north, of various sizes.

As you move south through the mixed woods there is a patch of about half a dozen large tall Beeches.

Just to the south the tall trees change to a mix of Ash, Oak and Sweet Chestnut.

There must be half a dozen large Sweet Chestnut coppice stools on either side of the path by the eastern entrance. These, with the Beeches to the southern gate, are probably the most ancient trees in the remaining wood.