I'm following a tree!

Last night I found out about an amazing project set up by a lady called Lucy down in Dorset who runs the Loose and Leafy blog

Basically she's trying to encourage people to 'follow' a tree in their local area, so that they can get to really know their chosen tree; when the buds break into leaves, when it flowers, whether certain insects associate with the tree, whether certain lichens prefer the chosen tree over others etc.

So in the spirit of things, I've decided to join in and follow my own tree. As this is a blog mainly focused on coppicing I thought that it was only natural to choose one of our most widely coppiced species in the UK; the European hazel (Corylus avellana).

My chosen hazel tree that I will be following throughout the year. 

The 2014 tree following project began in March, so I'm a little late to join, but from now on you can expect an update on my chosen hazel tree on the 7th of every month for about a year.

To start, I thought I'd do a little research into the ecology and history of the European hazel.

Fossilized pollen records preserved in peat suggest that hazel was predominant over much of the British Isles soon after the last Ice Age, appearing at roughly the same time as other wind pollinated trees such as willow, birch and alder (1). It's also likely that early Stone Age hunters and gatherers relied at least partly on hazelnuts for food. (1)

Onto it's ecology, the first thing that grabs my attention whenever I see a hazel tree is how it grows as a multi-stemmed tree even before it's been coppiced. Very rarely do you see a European hazel tree that's grown as a single stemmed example.

Though this is not the hazel that I've chosen to follow it's a great example of how a hazel tree that's never been coppiced can grow as a multi-stemmed tree. 

The hazel is monoecious, meaning that both the female and male flowers are found on the same tree (2), though the species is naturally self-sterile (i.e the tree cannot fertilize itself) (1).

This is the female flower of the hazel tree, a bud like structure with 5mm long red/pink styles. 

After a bit of research online it seems as though the hazel is extremely valuable to our native wildlife; Hazel leaves provide food for numerous moth species including the barred umber, nut tree tussock and large emerald moths. The flowers also provide an important early nectar source for a number of bumble-bee species. (2)

Widely known is that hazelnuts provide an important food source for the dormouse, perhaps less well known is that hazel trees also support a number of insect species (particularly caterpillars) that are also an important food source for dormice. (2)

Looking at the buds that are yet to burst into leaf show that the buds and leaves are arranged alternately. 

I'm really looking forward to keeping a close eye on this tree and watching it's development throughout the year. It'll be nice to really get to know the characteristics and the species interactions of a tree which I spend so much time working with.

Why not follow your own tree!? Check out the blog I mentioned earlier (Loose and Leafy) for more information about the project.

References:

1. 'The ever changing woodlands - the living countryside', Readers Digest, 1995, p63

2. http://www.rfs.org.uk/learning/Hazel, accessed on 09/04/2014