After some exceptionally sunny February days, Storm Freya was already making her presence felt when we (the combined forces of the old Lime Aid group and Brighter Uckfield) started work on the 200-year old Lime Trees in Lime Tree Avenue.
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| Lime Tree surrounded by epicormic growths before trim |
Over the year since the last trim, these hybrid Lime Trees grow a forest of stems (epicormic growth) round their feet. Left unchecked, these would create an impenetrable forest that would sap the strength from the top of the tree.
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| Lime Tree - After Trim |
I find it extremely satisfying to strip away these growths. I just did one and a bit trees but the group as a whole, which had started on the previous day, managed nearly all of the hundred plus trees in the Avenue.
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| Wild Arum and Cow Parsley leaves |
While I was working, I noticed the leaves of wild plants growing in the shad of these marvellous trees. The photo shows the young leaves of Wild Arum and Cow Parsley.
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| Sweet Violets - photographed in sunnier weather |
Other plants that grow in the Avenue include Primroses and Sweet Violets.
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| White Lipped Snail |
While I was working I found a couple of spiders, which I rehomed in the sticks piled up by the hedge, and some White Lipped Snails. I enjoyed music while I worked too. A Robin was singing nearby and a Great Tit was giving its "Teacher, Teacher" call.
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| Clustered Feather Moss |
Lime Trees Avenue provide a habitat for all sorts of plants and creatures. Lately, I have been taking more of an interest in mosses. Identifying them is tricky but it is interesting to look at them under a magnifying glass - the one photographed was on the bottom of one of the tree trunks and looks like a group of minature cobras!
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