sean

Came across this today......pretty much split in half but still thriving.....what a tree:thumbup:

I've got previous exam papers for AA tech cert......dont know if they would be of any use to you. PM me email address if you want them

nice pics david.......making a pond are we?

the last ones a tree wizard.....just 4 you

here's a few from the winter

Well worthy of repeat John and a worthy home for them:thumbup:

Is There a Minimum Speed On the Motorway? - Safer Motoring (UK)

Could try here..... http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=57032

ditto:thumbup1:

you can afford conifers?

I thought car insurance becomes invalid if car hasn't got an mot?

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/5183-alder.html

https://www.gustharts.com/Products/Arborist%20Equipment/Arborist%20Books/Product/The%20Body%20Language%20of%20Trees/

oooops wrong book sorry

there you go mate Amazon.co.uk: Used and New: The Principles of Tree Hazard Assessment and Management (Research for Amenity Trees)

just checked......out of stock too

Have you tried treesource bookshop.....sure they will have a copy

Alder trees are usually small in stature, but in perfect conditions can reach heights of 70 ft (21 meters). There are four stages of production on the Alder tree at any given time, the old cones of the previous year’s fruiting, the new year’s leaves or leaf-buds, and the new year’s male and female catkins. The tree matures at about 30 years of age at which time it is capable of producing a full crop of seeds. After this, it can live on to reach an age of about 150 years. It is also the only broad-leafed tree to produce cones. To the ancients, the Alder was particularly revered, for it appeared to bleed like humans. When an Alder tree is felled, its inner wood is white, but gradually over time it turns to a reddish-pink. The wood of the Alder has many uses. When young it is brittle and very easily worked, while its mature wood is tinted and veined. Due to the Alder’s resistance to water, it was used in the construction of bridges, particularly the long heavy piles driven into the ground or sometimes under water to support it. This quality for long endurance under water also made it valuable for pumps, troughs and sluices for which purposes it is said to have been used in sixteenth-century Venice, as well as France and Holland. The roots and knots of the Alder furnished good material for cabinet-makers. These were used for making clogs in old Lancashire mill-towns, however, demand exceeded supply and Birch had to be used instead. It was also used for making carts and spinning wheels, bowls, spoons, wooden heels and herring-barrel staves, etc. On the continent it was largely used for making cigar-boxes for which its reddish Cedar-like wood was well suited. After lying in a bog, the wood of the Alder has the colour but not the hardness of Ebony. In the Highlands of Scotland this 'bog Alder' was used for making handsome chairs from which it became known as 'Scottish Mahogany'. The branches of the Alder make a good charcoal, which was a valuable commodity for making gunpowder. Dyers, tanners and leather dressers used its bark commercially and fishermen use it for making nets. In Celtic folklore, the Alder is associated with the fairies and it was believed that doorways to the fairy realm were concealed within its trunk. The Alder was sacred to the god 'Bran' who carried a branch of it with him during the 'Battle of the Trees' saga, an old Celtic legend. Bran’s totem animal was the Raven, which also became associated with the Alder. Ritual pipes and whistles were often made from Alder wood, many in the shape of the Raven. A Taliesin riddle once asked the question: “Why is the Alder purple?”, and the answer is because Bran wore purple into battle. In some Norse and Irish legends, the first man was formed from the Alder while the first women came from the Rowan.

No 'thinks' please.....just facts.

Alder is particularly noted for its important symbiotic relationship with a bacterium (Frankia alni), which forms nodules on the tree's roots. This nitrogen-fixing bacterium absorbs nitrogen from the air and makes it available to the tree, with the rate of fixation estimated at up to 125 kg. of nitrogen per hectare per year. Alder, in turn, provides the bacterium with carbon, which it produces through photosynthesis. As a result of this mutually-beneficial relationship, alder improves the fertility of the soils where it grows, and as a pioneer species, it helps provide additional nutrients for the successional species which follow.

Alder is monoecious, so each tree bears both male and female flowers. Male catkins are dark yellow-brown in colour, and are up to 5 cm. long when they are fully open. At 6 mm. in length, the female flowers are much smaller in size, and are red, erect and cone-like in shape. The flowers appear before the new leaves, in March (or early April in the Highlands), and pollination is by the wind. Pollinated female flowers grow into ovoid fruits about 1.5 cm. in length, which are green in colour and grow in clusters of up to 4 at the end of twigs. These ripen and turn woody by October, and release a number of small flat red-brown seeds, each weighing about 0.004 gm. The seeds have small 'wings', which are air-filled membranes that enable them to float on water, and dispersal is by both wind and water. Seeds have been recorded as germinating on the surface of water, and then rooting successfully when they are washed up on land. The empty cones can persist on the tree until the following spring and are a distinctive feature of the alder tree in winter.

As the title suggests this thread is intended to focus on one tree a month. It will hopefully be a celebration of our Native Trees in order to aid us all in learning as much as possible about them. Our experiences working with them, fungal associations, pests and diseases, photographs, myths, legends and their place in the arts and culture. As said before a celebration and learning resource. I thought we could use the Celtic Tree Ogham calendar as a starter whose origins lie with the Celtic tribes who migrated to Britain around 700 – 500bc. Trees were venerated by the ancients for their many gifts which were a mainstay of peoples lifestyles. Everybody was born under a particular tree (the same as our own zodiac sign). Hopefully this thread will work and we can collate all sorts of useful and interesting information about our native trees. I hope there are a few of you who feel the same. This months tree covering the dates 18th March to 14th April is The Alder (Alnus Glutinosa) Please feel free to add to previous Months.....Birch and Ash

found this one whilst going through my files....its a beauty!

Made me laugh:biggrin:

I reckon we should run a sweepstake......on what day will the Monkey reappear? Maybe one of the sponsors could donate a prize?