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Global warming comes to Uplyme?
by loiswakeman @ 11/06/2007 - 10:12:18

I have been taking photos of these five beech trees near my house for many years: you can see four seasonal shots in the header of this blog for instance.

To my great sadness, this will no longer be the case: this spring, it soon became evident that one has died already, and two are in distress. You can see that only the two at each end of the row are in full leaf: one is quite dead, and the other two already look poorly.

five beech trees

These trees appear on the Victorian OS map of the area, so have been a local landmark for about 150 years. What a shame that my children will not be able to come back and show their children the same sight.

Ecologists predict that beech trees will be one of the first species to succumb to the wetter winters and drier summers we expect in future. It may just be coincidence - but if not, this is one of the first really stark illustrations of climate change that I have seen.

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LissaTLissaT pro
11/06/07 @ 19:37

To make matters worse, I think I have heard of a beech blight every bit as deadly as Dutch Elm Disease. I heard it on a gardening programme on the radio, but only part of the programme because I was driving home and didn't catch the beginning.

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loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
12/06/07 @ 11:01

I still remember the hole that the death of our mature English elms left in the countryside of my childhood - no more Constable-like scenes of huge umbrella-shaped hedgerow and parkland trees. If we lose beech (and some oak as well) - it will be just as devastating to the traditional look of the countryside. Will we ever get used to holm oaks, acacias, Corsican pines and olives instead, I wonder?

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LissaTLissaT pro
12/06/07 @ 11:16

On a slightly different tack from but related to both this and your silly job title blog, we had two successive Tree Officers with Mr. Holly taking over from Miss Arbor.

The blog owner changed this comment on 12/06/07 11:18

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loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
12/06/07 @ 11:19

How apt. Better than my erstwhile dentist, Mr Pullar!

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Chris [Visitor]
http://digitalflowerpictures.blogspot.com/
14/07/07 @ 03:26

Lois,
Too bad about the trees. I recently found out the Beech is a relatively short lived genus in botanical terms. I remember cutting down a lot of huge dead Elm trees as a kid. I think other species will start to fill in but we will probably won't be around to see them mature.

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