Oh dear. I hate being late. I really did intend to post my April observations on 7th April but that evening, I was due to leave for the UK for a week and and and… non-screen life got in the way. So here I am, hoping that I’ll still hit the 7 day posting window.
After a warm – sometimes hot – spell in March, it’s been a bit chillier of late. The tightly closed buds are opening but as you can see from the photo above, there’s no real fuzz of green on the tree. And yet! There are a few young replacement sweet chestnuts thrusting their way towards the light and they are in full leaf.
Perhaps the bigger the tree, the longer it takes to push the sap and other leaf-unfurling instructions up the trunk and out to the branches. And perhaps that’s a hopelessly unscientific thought. I suspect it is also to do with the air temperature higher up the tree versus the comparitive shelter at the base where there’s a soil bank to the north of the wanabee saplings.
Out of tiny beginnings, big trees grow… though this is very close to the base of the tree so unlikely to survive to be a replacement.
These seedlings are in the leaf litter at the base of the tree – as is the little hazel. They’re very vulnerable at that size – risks range from being grazed by passing wildlife or trodden on, or scratted up by a passing chicken in search of insect life. The chickens spend a lot of time underneath the tree turning over the leaf litter.
Will return to read this later but dropping by briefly to say I can’t add a link to the box once it’s closed nor add belated text after it – but I’ve added a link to your post above it.
Not a problem, Lucy – and my tree hasn’t done that much (well, not much that is visible!) in the past 4 weeks. I’m not due to be away in May or June so should hit the posting window nicely. For June, I will have to figure out a way of conveying the ‘scent’ of sweet chestnuts in flower. Think opening a sweaty gym bag after it has spent 3 days in a hot car… not the best of smells!
Best wishes to you and all of your tree followers, Lucy. I plan to spend some time this evening going through other followers’ posts… tinterweb connection permitting.
What a picture that top one is! The other day I said ‘Horse Chestnut’ by mistake. The thing is – I hadn’t full appreciated how big Sweet Chestnut trees can grow.
I now have a new view on the power of chickens. When they disturb a seedling, they have, in effect, overturned the life of a fully-grown tree. Ants and giants!
Sweet chestnuts aren’t as common in the UK as they are in France – and elsewhere in mainland Europe. Certainly, in the UK the default thought when a chestnut is mentioned is horse… though a horse of that shade is often a ‘chesnut’ and lacking that middle t. I don’t know why… 🙂
You said: “When they disturb a seedling, they have, in effect, overturned the life of a fully-grown tree.” I love that thought! Chicken power!