James's Hill

 

James's Hill

 

Ringed pine

Something new, I've not seen this practice in the forest before; a loose spread of just over a dozen conifers set amongst the mixed deciduous stands of the lower reaches of James's Hill have had their trunks broadly ringed by the forestry. Known as 'ring barking' or 'girdling', the aim of ringing a tree is to kill it, or sometimes to stimulate coppice growth, it this case I'm saying the former; removing the band of living bark stops the essential movement of fluids around the tree causing stress, promoting dieback and/or disease. I'm imagining the reasons for using this method are the difficulty moving machinery over/through this terrain without causing damage, or maybe the desire to create dead upstanding wood - once dead these trees could remain standing for years. Whatever, an interesting and unusual sight.

Murkwood

 A damp and murky morning on James's Hill.

Tree way split

 

Tree way split*  

* Well, you'll notice it's four really, though one was so much smaller, and certainly not big enough to get in the way of me making the pun.

James's Hill

James's Hill is a bit of a strange one, no matter the season or weather, I find the hill has a eeriness to it.

Going, going, go......

Going, going, gone. That's it, all but for a few here and there, the forests stands are bare, their leaves a rich carpet of russet hues on the woodland floor.  Now Jack and the Holly King rule unchallenged, for a while anyway, until Sol and the Oak King are in ascendance, and the fight for dominance starts again.