Wolf-farts

Sketched just before the frosts and snow, these little fungi looked beautiful, cascading down the mossy crevice in a tree.  When rain drops on the outer parts, it sends little puffs of the spores inside, like brown dust, so fine it floats away as smoke on the breeze.

The Greek name for these is Lycoperdon Pyriforme; Lyco = wolf; Perdon = to break wind; Pyroforme = pear shaped.

I am not sure where the 'wolf' bit comes in, but the rest is elementary!

P.S.  Don't breathe in the spores.  They are, in quantity, dangerous and will affect your lungs.  If however you find you have inadvertently inhaled the odd puff, no matter.

Summer beech

For some reason, I don't get round to drawing the summer trees so much.  Realising this, I fished out my little note pad in August and drew this beech which grows is the valley of the wood, next to where the two brooks meet.  The leaves still have their green colouring, but the odd one is tinged with a light coppering.

Salix Caprea - Goat Willow

Called Goat Willow as the little cloven-hoofed beasts like to eat the fresh green leaves of this tree - when there is still little greenery around, we have small clumps of this tree around the lake and dotted sporadically in the wood.

Those little fluffy heads are more sturdy than they at first seem, the glittering night time frosts still very much present.  I know their leaves won't be far behind and we can all relax as spring ends this protracted winter.

Norway Spruce

There are quite a few of these trees in the wood. There is one thing I am unsure of though. Their lower branches are all knocked off, the foliage being left high up on the bole. Has this been done on purpose to encourage rapid top growth, and therefore nice long planks, or is it animals?  An educated guess would be it is more likely that the canopy is heavy and lets little light through, starving the branches and making them weak and redundant.


The long cylindrical cones of this tree lie about at all times of year, sometimes nibbled like corn on the cob by the squirrel massive.  I do not exaggerate - we are over-run and they are FAT!

It's snow accident....

... that this one is not actually in my little A6 sketchpad.  It is more of a tree-scene, and therefore worthy of inclusion (I hope)!  Also blogged on Doodles.

January 1st 2010 - janus tree

I am not sure what the name of this tree is - only that it is semi-ornamental and there was a long-eared bat living in it a few years ago.  It seemed an apt choice for the 1st of January as it has two sides.  It reminded me of the Roman god, Janus, looking back with one face on the old year, and another face looking forward to the new.

Half covered in moss with the other side mainly free, it has a split personality.  Looking tropical, believe me, it was not.  I sketched this briefly before returning home to finish off with a photograph.

Service Oak

It has been freezing here in Somerset for a few days now and there has been enough snow to bring the country to a moan.  The woodland looks beautiful.  This oak is actually on its side, having fallen two years ago.  I have been informed it is called a service oak and worth some money, but don't ask me what the 'service' actually means.  I have posted the picture as if the tree were still standing as it looks kind of nice - artistic licence!  Sorry to anyone who saw my previous naming of this as a table oak - where did that come from?