Christine Tansey's blog

Dear Track a Tree supporters,

As the nights draw in and the last oak leaves and hawthorn berries cling to their branches, we’ve been spending time thinking about the future of Track a Tree.

After much discussion, and consideration of a number of options, we have decided that the Track a Tree project will not be continuing in spring 2018. 

May is marching on, and I’ve been travelling around the UK a lot in my new job, keeping an eye on phenology from Dorset to Oxfordshire, Somerset to Lincolnshire! Unfortunately this means I’ve not had much time for Track a Tree updates recently, but I hope everyone has enjoyed peak bluebell season as much as I have.

My travels have given me the opportunity to see Hawthorn, one of the most striking sights of our hedges and woodland edges, flower from the South to the North, starting in Dorset in April, and just reaching Edinburgh this week.

I’ve been re-discovering the joys of early spring in the woods the last couple of weeks, and have now made two visits to Roslin Glen to keep an eye on my trees there. It’s great to re-acquaint myself with them, and I’ve enjoyed introducing a visiting friend and my sister to the winding paths I habitually follow to get to each tree.

Now that the snows of Storm Doris have passed, and rumours of snowdrops have reached my ears, spring is clearly on its way. You will have noticed that it has taken a while to get the 2017 season rolling here at Track a Tree, and I wanted to write an update about what has been happening.

You may have noticed that Track a Tree has been particularly quiet over the last few months, and as I mentioned in a previous post, this has been the result of some intense thesis-writing.

With the summer solstice comes the realisation that spring in the woods has been left far behind, and we have reached midsummer. Our woodlands will now be darker, greener, full of rustling leaves and other life for the rest of the growing season. It also means it is time to thank all of you who have been out recording for Track a Tree this year!

Earlier in the year Dr Ria Dunkley, from the University of Cardiff, wrote a guest post to invite Track a Tree recorders to participate in some interviews about their experiences taking part in the project. Many thanks to those of you who took up the chance to talk to her, I'm very happy to report that she is currently writing up her findings, and agreed to do another blog post to tell us more....

Well, as predicted, things have been quiet on the Track a Tree blog front over the last month. I’m afraid I have been very much occupied with writing up my thesis, including the work based on your Track a Tree records. It can be frustrating writing about the progress of spring during spring, in fact, rather like this Stephen Collins cartoon…

Now that we are getting to the end of March, signs of spring in the woods have cropped up across the UK, with reports of wood anemone and even bluebell flowering starting to come in. Our hazel trees have begun to budburst up at Roslin, but there is still time to sign up and take part in Track a Tree if you’ve not done so before.