Alder
It was a lovely sunny morning when twelve members met up on Cronkeyshaw common for this Conservation and Education event. We formed two groups each with a leader and recorder. We looked at two stands of trees on the common and practised using a simple key based on leaves to identify the trees. The row of trees nearest the path were mainly Sycamore and with a few Norway Maple and the clump of trees in the middle of the common were predominantly Wild Cherry and Alder.
Osier Willow
We then moved across the road to the cycleway and one group walked up the east side and the other group up the west side. We identified 22 different species of trees. It was clear to see that some trees had been planted such as Ash, Oak and Alder but there were signs that some trees had self-seeded such as Hawthorn, Rowan, and Goat Willow.
Following an event we had last year it was good to see that members also found and identified a number of galls including knopper galls on acorns, silk button and common spangle galls on oak leaves and felt galls on sycamore leaves. Everyone agreed that it was good to get out with our fellow naturalists and that we had all enjoyed our morning studying trees.