Dudmaston (NT) 1 January, 2014

Despite the stormy conditions, I decided to have an afternoon walk at Dudmaston Hall today. The Hall is closed during the winter, but there is limited access using public footpaths and permissive ways.

When I got to the corner of Brim Pool, I was surprised to see a large conifer had come down and had fallen across the main trail.  No doubt it was a casualty of the recent gales and high winds. I tried to put a specific name to the conifer, but could only come up with Douglas fir or western hemlock.  I am not, though, absolutely sure (see photos below) and so any comments would be welcome.

I was equally surprised as to how short the roots were for such a large tree and how shallow the root base was in the ground.

After photographing the fallen tree, I stepped down into the oval hole where the tree had stood for who knows how many years.  The soil was sandy and stuck to the bottom of the roots like it was part of the tree and was easily taller then me - i'm over six foot!  I managed to get a small stone out from the base which had caught my eye because of its colours. I kept it for my stone collection.

I mused over the history and world events that had passed through the life of the tree.  I also pondered over who had planted it and had dug the hole to put the sapling in place all those years ago. I was now standing in that same spot, the first person to since all those years ago.  I somehow had a connection with that person, an existential experience if there is such a thing.

I guessed the tree was over a hundred years old.  If I was right, the planter could have been in the First World War - did he come back?  It then dawned on me it was the first day of the centenary year of that war- 1914-2014!

The fallen conifer across the trail.

                                                                         

The root base.

                                                                 

Close up of root base.

                                                             

                                       



I moved on from the fallen tree and continued my walk.  It wasn't long before I noticed a flock of tits, coal and blue, coming down to feed on the trail ahead ahead of me.  It seemed unusual to see tits, especially coal tit, feeding on the ground.  They are normally high up in the conifers and only make their presence known by their calls.  I could only guess that due to the high winds and gales recently seeds and other edible debris had blown off the nearby trees and this is what they were picking at from the mud.

There is also a large stand of bamboo along the edge of one of the paths and next to a reedy part of the pool.  I am not sure whether it is purposely planted by the estate or it is a self-set garden 'escape' exotic. Some of the blue and coal tits were feeding at its base, which made me wonder if something had blown off the bamboo and they were taking advantage of it.

Bamboo.

                                                                   

Close up of bamboo stem.