Autumns' palette

 

As autumn beds in, so the forests' palette begins to changes.

The Illustrated Tree

Our route this morning took us past the illustrated tree; a wonderful old man of the forest, and undoubtedly a tree of note. It's always a pleasure to reacquaint oneself with such a magical forest inhabitant, especially one so gnarly and magnificently patterned. It's also a relief to find him still standing it these stormy times; that said, he is fairly well protected by the surrounding trees.

Illustrated tree

 

It was good to find the illustrated tree on the edge of Pinnick Wood at Marrowbones Hill still doing well, in fact he looked better that my previous visit a couple of years back.  Ancient and weathered he's really quite the wonder, and quite the spectacle to behold.

The illustrated tree

An objective of our walk this morning was to visit that venerable old fellow of the forest, the illustrated tree. Still standing proud, if not weather worn and battle torn, this gnarled and withered old oak, with it's fabulously patterned boughs and trunk, never fails to enthral. Well met, sir.

Patterns

A visit to the illustrated tree over in Pinnick Wood. Lovely patterns and textures on this wonderfully unique dwarf Oak tree, a tree with real presence.

Twist and brake

Well, shake it up, baby, now, twist and brake (twist and brake).  The forces that must be required to cause this type of damage to a strong veteran/ancient Oak are staggering. This Oak must have been thrashing about, shaking and twisting, before it finally succumbed and splintered apart. What must that have sounded like? It must be a singularly terrifying and exciting spectacle/experience to behold. This part of Pinnick Wood is quite elevated and exposed, and it's clear is regularly scoured by storm winds. The woodland floor is littered with the torn boughs and discarded branches of the inhabitants, few of which don't exhibit damage to some degree, and a few which are little more than damage. 

Bumper crop

There's been a bumper crop of acorns this year, the trees are literally hanging with them. It'll be a good pannage season, with some happy pigs, that's for sure. 

The illustrated tree

I visited that venerable inhabitant of Pinnick Wood this afternoon, the Illustrated Tree.  The gnarliest of gnarly trees, the Illustrated Tree (my name for it) is a stunted ancient Oak from which all of the bark is long gone, revealing its patterned core beneath. Every inch of wood is covered in rich textures as if intricately carved. It really is a wonder. Walking through Pinnick Wood it strikes me as to how profoundly the emergence of Alabama Rot (idiopathic cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy) and my subsequent fear of it affected where we walked in the forest.  A confirmed case meant that area was struck off the walking roster. The earliest cases were in the north of the forest and as a consequence we didn't walk the forest above the A31 after 2012. Pinnick is north of the A31. Pinnick had always been particular favourite roam of ours we'd often start at Pickets post, then out across the open heath of Handy Cross Plain with it's fantastic views, before disappearing under the canopy of the ancient and never enclosed Pinnick Wood. Walking there again today bathed in autumnal sun it was easy to see why it was a favourite. It's a wood with so much age and character, it's beautiful, timeless.

Illustrated Tree

The Illustrated tree still retains the title 'gnarliest tree I know'. You can spend an age exploring its myriad textures and shapes. Trees such as this are the secret gems of the forest, only found if you venture from the paths and search them out, and even then they'll often try and hide from you. It really is the grooviest of trees, though.

The old man of the woods

I went to check on one of my favourite trees today, 'The Old Man of Pinnick Wood', also known as the 'Illustrated Tree'. Old and gnarled, I always approach with trepidation, worried that he wont of survived the last storm and will be found humbled on the ground. Not so today though. A little the worse for wear as time takes its toll and the natural course of entropy marches on. Still, he's a wonder to behold, and time spent inspecting him is always worth while as his gnarled surfaces are a myriad of shapes and patterns it's easy to loose yourself in.