Lime Tree Avenue work on a rainy day

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sweet Violets - photographed in sunnier weather

Other plants that grow in the Avenue include Primroses and Sweet Violets.

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.

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!

Brighter Lime Tree Avenue

As we stagger into 2018, it is time to give Lime Tree Avenue a good trim. This time I was working in a group with Brighter Uckfield.  As always, they are doing the town proud and there was a great turn out.  This is just as well. Since last February, when we last did the work, there had been plenty of growth.

The trees that make up the avenue are hybrids between Large-leaved and Small-Leaved Limes.  They are prone to producing "epicormic growths" (suckers), which both:

• drain energy from the main trunk
• produce a mini forest at ground level. 

This is why they must be trimmed off.  The photos below show a before and after.

Before and After - epicormic growths (suckers) have been removed.

That was one of the easier trees. I just had to clip over it with stout shears and the job was done.  Some are trickier though.

Stripping away leaf litter to get at older suckers.

The last tree I did had got sneaky. Over the years leaf litter had built up round the suckers, which - hidden from the attentions of volunteers - had grown thick and dense. I had to rake out years of composted leaf litter and then cut off as many stems as I could, one-by-one.

Fungi - about 7 inches across - Jan 2018

Although it was winter there were plenty of signs of life. Lime leaves rot very quickly and make an excellent mulch - although we appreciate it more on the earth than the path! This process relies on fungi and there was a big one near the trees.

White-lipped Snails with their "doors" closed - Jan 2018

While raking the leaf litter from between the suckers, I found several White-lipped Snails. They are small (about 1/2 inch) and are coloured either brown and white or amber. At the moment, the shells are closed with a little white door to keep them safe until they are ready to emerge. In our garden, they are eaten by Thrushes - but I haven't seen a Thrush in the Avenue yet.

Lime Tree Avenue is important to Uckfield for a number of reasons.  It is a real connection with the past. These wonderful old trees are one of the few remaining connections with Uckfield House. If you look on the Memories of Uckfield Facebook group (login required), you will see many stories concerning local people's experiences of Lime Tree Avenue.

Lime Tree Avenue acts as a "vertical nature reserve" that provides a home and food for many creatures. While we were working, we saw Robins, Dunnocks (Hedge Sparrows) and others, almost at ground level. How many others must there be in those tall trees?

Cow Parsley - 30 December 2017

It's not just birds. As I walk up and down the Avenue and through the connected Twittens on the way to and from the town I have encountered a variety of flowers.  When, just a few days ago, I did a New Year Plant Hunt, I found a Cow Parsley already in flower. Soon there will be Primroses, and a view of the whole Avenue frothing white with Cow Parsley is one of Uckfield's most beautiful sights.

Honeybee on Alexanders in Lime Tree Avenue - April 2015

Where there are flowers, there are pollinators.  While passing through the Avenue, I often see bees and hoverflies (bee mimics that are also pollinators) working their way round the flowers.

Ivy Bee - September 2015

There will be other sorts of bees too. Ivy flowers late in the season and supports pollinators in the autumn after other flowers have faded away. It also supports its own special bee - appropriately called the Ivy bee.

Beautiful Demoiselle - May 2017

One day, when walking back from the town I found a Beautiful Demoiselle. She may look dainty and pretty but if you are a small flying creature, she is a fearsome predator who hunts on the wing.

Frog and Primroses - Feb 2016

There are habitats for other creatures too. On one of the work days, we found a frog, which Martyn carefully put in a safe place.

As well as providing a home and restaurant for all sorts of creatures, Lime Tree Avenue is a highway - a "wildlife corridor" that enables insects, birds and other animals to get from one green space to another.  If a food source runs low in one place they can use a wildlife corridor to travel to another and live to munch another day. I particularly enjoy seeing wildlife in our Manor Park garden and I'm sure I would see less if we didn't have wildlife corridors such as Lime Tree Avenue, the Railway and the River Uck nearby.

Postscript

Tiny creatures from the leaf litter - 6 Jan 2018.

While I was scrabbling round in the composted leaf litter, I found and photographed a strange looking little creature about 1.5 cm long. It was only a snap with my phone, so I wasn't hopeful of getting an ID.  However I posted it in the Insects of Britain and Northern Europe Facebook group in the hope of getting some ideas.

Between them LS and DA suggested that the white larva was a beetle - probably Staphylinae (Rove beetle) or may be carabinae.  DA had spotted something else. Just above the beetle, by its legs, there are some tiny snails. She thinks these are probably Pupilla sp. (Chrysalis Snails) or Vertigo species. You might think that these are babies but this type of snail is just very, very small.

Lime Aid - Rubies and Gold Cups

It's just past Valentine's Day, which means it's time to give Lime Tree Avenue a bit of love. I've have been doing volunteer work to help keep the wonderful old Lime Trees in this Historic Avenue for a number of years.  I missed last Saturday's session, which was reported by Uckfield FM, in which approximately 10 people worked their way up most of the avenue. This week, there was just the two of us - but we still managed to clear "epicormic growths" (suckers) from the feet of 5 of the most vigorous trees. If all goes to plan, there will be another session on March the 4th from about 9am.

A Lime Trees epicormic growths.

The first tree I tackled had an enormous number of large suckers galloping across the gap towards its neighbours. In the year since we last cleared them, some had grown to about 3 foot tall and as thick as my index finger.  Mercifully most were smaller. 

Wild Arum leaves.

While I was working my through the suckers, I noticed a carpet of delicate Cow Parsley leaves and a few clumps of Wild Arum - but no sign of any flowers yet.

Three Lime Trees - after this year's trim.

Once I had completed my first tree, it was satisfying to look back and see what we had achieved. Then onto the next tree.

Silvery lichen with tiny golden cups.

I couldn't resist collecting some treasure to take home. The suckers have ruby red buds, so a handful of the clippings went into my bag. These were followed by a twig with some Lichen. This is  a silvery, leafy structure made up from a partnership between an algae and a fungus.  If you look carefully at the photo, you can see tiny golden cups, which are the fruiting bodies of this strange cooperative organism. 

Crocuses at the North end

As I was heading home, a stray clump of crocuses were fully open as if to tell me that Spring is nearly here. I am looking forward to seeing the Lime Trees' bright green leaves burst from those ruby buds.

How Doctor Who helped me spot a lizard

Yesterday we took a walk through The Woodland Trust's Views (Williams) Wood to Buxted Park and back. We visited earlier in the spring when the spring flowers seemed to be in a frantic race to bloom before the tree canopy closed over them. Now serene greens of fresh leaves are taking over from the fading flowers.

Serene greens and fading blues in Views (Williams) Wood.

The wood is quieter too as the birds that, earlier, were singing to attract mates and protect territories silently hunt food for their young. Fortunately for them the wood is humming with insect life.

Black headed cardinal beetle.

The most colourful insect we saw was a black headed cardinal beetle. It was eye-catching enough when I first saw it resting on an old stump. Long scarlet wing cases contrast with black head, body and legs. When its comb-like antenna detected me creeping up with my camera, out flashed black wings and it flew away in a swirl of red and black. The larvae of this insect live under the bark of freshly dead broad leaved trees. Maybe they benefitted from last year's coppicing.

The woodland rides are still lined with greater stitchwort, which has now been joined by delicate white caraway (I think) flowers. These still appeared here and there as we crossed the river to Buxted Park.  In the more open parkland, hawthorn are blossoming and rabbits lolloping around in the sun.

Bluebells and hawthorn blossom - Buxted Park

Most of the daffodils in the graveyard of St Margaret's Church have faded but a few of the late, pheasant eye, variety are hanging on. The shaggy grass is full of pea-family flowers: red clover, black medic (which is actually yellow), vivid magenta common vetch and the tiny blooms of hairy tare. As bees work systematically through the flowers, a cloud of shiny micro moths dances above.

Lizard draped round the neck of an angel.

As we walked to the gate I spotted an angel headstone, I gestured towards it and was about to make the usual joke about not blinking (this is from an episode of Doctor Who called Blink) when I spotted a lizard draped round the back of the neck of the angel. In a blink it was gone. I hope it had scurried away from the looming human rather than being zapped back into the past. If it hadn't been for me wanting to make a daft joke about a TV show, I never would have seen the lizard.

Buxted Park Hotel

It looks like some trees have been lost in recent storms and, maybe, some of the Limes that fell in the great storm of 1987 have been cleared away. Parts of the park feel a little more open now and there are some fine views of the Buxted Park Hotel.

Geese and goslings.

Passing between the lakes there are a variety of geese with fluffy goslings. Like us, they fled to the shelter of the trees when a hail storm interrupted the sunshine. We went home to our warm, dry house, leaving the creatures of the park and the wood to fend for themselves.

Lime Aid - Sunshine and Slime Moulds

We had another work day at Lime Tree Avenue. This is the second of three work days. I made some notes on the first in Lime Aid - A great stressbuster. The next will be on Saturday the 8th of March, starting at 9am. After last month's unrelenting rain it was soggy underfoot but sunny for a while.  

The photos below show the first of two trees that I trimmed and tidied. 

Lime tree - before and after.

While I was shifting fallen twigs to the back of the strip where the trees grow, I found a twig with white Jelly-like blobs. The leader of the group, Martyn Stenning explained that this was likely to be a slime mould.

Slime mould on a fallen twig.

I don't know which species it is but it is similar to the false puffball. 

While I was working round this tree, a gentleman told me that vehicles used to be able to drive along the avenue.  I asked a question about this in the Facebook group: Memories of Uckfield. Thank you to Donna, Sandra, Jo, Sally, Claire and Joanne, who contributed memories about Lime Tree Avenue. Between them, they:

• originally led up to Uckfield House
• explained that you could drive from Hempstead Lane up to the front entrance of the school, which was where the leisure centre is now
• added some lovely details on subjects ranging from pilgrims to cross-country runs.

When doing my second tree, I found myself wading through a sea of young alexanders plants, already knee high. Last year's stems show that the adult plants will be a bit taller than me.

Alexanders.

I wasn't quite finished when I heard the rattle of hail stones. Happily, I was protected by the big old tree and they couldn't sting me. However the wind was getting stronger and gustier so we stopped.  

Primroses.

One last treat was the slight of primroses as I left the avenue to do a little shopping down the town.

Lime Aid - A Great Stressbuster

You might think that, after a hard week at the keyboard, I wouldn't be rushing out to do more work on a Saturday morning. You would be wrong. It is a great stress buster and very satisfying.

Today is the first of a sequence of work mornings run by Lime Aid.  If you are interested in coming along we are doing another two on the 8th of February and the 8th of March.  This time about eight of us turned up and managed to trim away the growth from the bases of loads of trees.

My first tree - before and after.

After the relentless rain of the last couple of weeks the morning's sun was a delight. It was noticeable how advanced the leaves of all the wild flowers were. I wasn't really looking very hard but saw foliage of Cow parsley, angelica, wild arum and primroses. 

My third tree - before and after.

It was also lovely to hear the birds chattering and twittering. I saw a few blue tits perched on the hedge between the avenue and the school.  I believe the ones I heard were blackbirds and robins but I didn't see any this time.

Last year I found a geocache. This year there was nothing so exciting but plenty of litter including, would you believe, discarded nappies.

Listening to an Uckfield morning

I got the idea of really listening to my town as I walked to the station when I read Ian Mortimer's description of sounds in Medieval England ...

"It is very quiet.
Out on the open road, you can hear nothing but the wind in the trees, the streams trickling, occasional calls of voices, and birdsong"

6am I leave the house and hear the angry sounding pipping of a blackbird. Maybe the security light woke it.  Somewhere nearby is the sweet sound of a robin.  There is a swish as a car passes by and the occasional hum from the main road.

I pass through several robin territories as I walk through Manor Park

As I walk through the estate, I will pass through several robin territories. I hear a robin singing when I reach the top of the path that has brought me to Browns Lane. I hear another, then another as I turn into Downsview Crescent by Tesco Express. More sweet song as I pass by Woodland close, and then again at the little green near Tower View. There is more pipping from the blackbirds and a deeper, melodious song drifting behind it. An early blackbird? Maybe a thrush?

There is a pause in the birdsong as a dog walker appears. Greetings are exchanged, the dog pants slightly and wags its tail. Then past the big old lime tree at Lamach Close. Unlike the ones in Lime Tree Avenue, the growths around its base have not been trimmed back, and it has formed its own mini jungle. As I walk past two more robins come into focus one just after the other.  As I move into Southview Close the hum from the main road becomes more insistent.  Another robin as I walked past Streatfield House. There are definitely blackbirds singing now. Is it the brighter lights in the high street that has started them off? Their melodies follow me as I pass the shops at the top of the town.

The song tails off and is replaced by growling cars, stopping and starting at the lights. I hail another dogwalker but she can hardly hear me. As I approach the station a sudden burst of song. The blackbirds are singing loudly in this lighted, busy place.

6.25 am I am buying my ticket and hearing conversations. The birds will sing on without me.

Lime Aid and a Geocache

I spent most of today in the company of 100 magnificent limes.  These wonderful trees form Lime Tree Avenue in Uckfield and I was one of a group of volunteers who were giving them some TLC. We trimmed back epicormic growth, or suckers, from the bottom of each tree. Trimming the unwanted growth not only keeps the trees tidy but prevents energy that is needed to keep the whole trunk healthy from being diverted into unwanted growth. 

Lime tree, before and after epicormic growth (suckers) removed.

It is rather wonderful to get up close and personal with trees that are so old and so big. It allows me to appreciate the craggy old bark, the smooth, olive coloured twigs and buds that look as if they could start bursting any day.

Fresh green leaves of cow parsley, wild arum (cuckoo pint) and ivy seem to swirl round these old giants. The cuckoo pint flowers will be first to appear, then the white froth of cow parsley and finally ivy flowers provide a late summer nectar bar.

All day birds flitted and chattered round us while we worked. Male blackbirds seemed to be chasing each other from perch to perch while a blue tit gave us shrill abuse for daring to step into its territory. A robin paused on a nearby fence post and inspected work in progress. 

As we wound down, there was one last surprise. I found a plastic box. At first I thought it was some litter, or maybe a child's lunchbox hidden by a less than friendly school mate. When I opened it I found a charming little collection of gifts and a notebook. It seems that someone had left a geocache. I wrote my name in the book and put it back.

Geocache, which I found hidden at the foot of a lime tree.

The Lime Aid group, led by Martyn Stenning, does this twice a year, in October and February. So if you fancy having a go, look out for notices in the local press, social media and in Lime Tree Avenue itself.