BOAB: THE UPSIDE-DOWN TREE

 

 BOAB , THE UPSIDE-DOWN TREE

BOAB,  Baobab, Bottle Tree, Upside-down Tree: these are various names for an extraordinary tree growing in dry tropical conditions in parts of Africa, Madagascar and NW Australia.

They develop hugely enlarged trunks with a relatively small  branch system so they could be fancifully regarded as growing upside down.

 

Bottle trees in full leaf in 'The Wet'.

 

Multi-stemmed specimen growing in the Kimberleys. It makes Tony look positively slim!

 

They are largely deciduous, shedding their leaves in the dry season. Living to a great age,  surviving drought, flood and fire,they have many uses, from water storage in hollows in their trunks, to edible leaves.

 

Flowers about four inches across.

The large white flowers  produce seeds within large capsules that can be eaten if roasted or will produce an oil and the pith in which they are embedded is refreshing, slightly sharp yet sweet and highly nutritious and rich in vitamin C.

 

 

The seed capsules

 The fibres can be twisted into a twine for nets, and strong rope so all in all it was a hugely valuable resource for the indigenous people of the region.

One of the eight or nine species, Adansonia gregorii, is endemic in Australia and is a conspicuous feature in the plains and tropical woodlands of north west Australia.

From log Aug 11^th’92

 “Heading north towards Derby the country changed to Wattles and grass, then gums and grassland then to near-desert, with masses of termite mounds and scattered Boabs. We pulled off the road to stop near a massive Boab. It is a veritable giant, solitary among the sparse scrub of the Jarananga termite plain. The soil has been trampled and grazed into a dust bowl and the wind is blowing a remorseless swirl of fine silt. At some time when it was young its trunk divided near the base into three huge trunks, their smooth and polished wrinkles hold no traces of the fires droughts and floods it must have endured over the years . Passing travelers like us glad of the thin shelter it gave in the great open plain, have carved their initials and even driven nails into the trunk to give footholds to climb the sloping central trunk to give a view over the shimmering miles. This giant is supported by coiling roots making seats and hollows.

We sat out the last of the heat under its shade and later made up our swags in the open. It was bright moonlight, we didn’t need a lamp and the air was balmy.

 

Recognizable from the road north between Broome and Derby, we have even seen this tree in a feature on the telly!

A fresh warm wind got up just before dawn. After breakfast we walked out across the plain to another enormous boab, single stemmed and like all the others we’ve seen, leafless in the drought. We spanned it: 24ft at chest height. The ground was a silky-fine dust and not a wisp of grazing to be seen. The wind was getting up all the time and the horizon was blotted out by a pall of pinkish dust blowing horizontally. We began to get a gritty feeling on our tongues.

 

 

Dust blow on the Jarananga Plain as we walked across next morning.

 

Hug a tree!

THREE YEARS LATER

 From our log:  Sunday Nov.5^th ’95

  Back at ‘our Boab’ on the Jarananga Plain. There’s a lot more vegetation than when we were here a  few years ago which then followed three years of drought. This time there was long grass!

A party of Babblers, a couple of Pee Wees, two Pied Butcherbirds and a family of Willy Wagtails were all sheltering in the cool of the root coils at the base. A pair of Red-backed Kingfishers and a Kestrel were up in the branches with Singing Honeyeaters. Quite a selection, all using one big old Boab!

We set up camp a bit away so we didn’t disturb them. and were lulled to sleep by the wind roaring in the branches.

 

                    Grey-crowned Babblers. Engaging birds, always in extended family parties.

 

 

Magpie Lark otherwise known as 'Pee Wee'

'Willy Wagtail'

Willy Wagtail nest and seed capsule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red-backed Kingfisher. A surprise to see kingfishers in arid regions, but they don't all look for fish!

 

Nankeen Kestrel

  Bottle trees  used as Prison Trees.

Stories are attached to this iconic tree, notably the stout old Prison Tree outside Derby.

 

 

The Prison Tree near Derby. It's a tourist attraction nowadays so is fenced to lessen further initial-cutting and compaction of the surrounding soil.

 With a girth of nearly 15metres this squat old tree is hollow in the centre and has long been reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a temporary lock-up for renegade Aboriginals being taken to the Court in Derby.

It was first documented in 1834 by an expedition to the area when it was noted in their journal that this tree was used as a shelter and burial place by the Indigenous People of the area and many human bones were found in it.

Another great hollow Boab grows outside Wyndham to the NE of the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia and like the Derby tree has an array of carved initials in the bark as well as it’s name the .Hillgrove Lock-up.

 

The Wyndham Prison Tree

 

Old photo of the Wyndham Prison Tree. You can see its name 'Hillgrove Lockup' but these days all but the 'H' is grown over by the expanding bark.

  It is believed now that the story of prisoners being chained up in the tree at Derby in fact relates to the Wyndham tree, but no matter, they both attract a somewhat mordant interest.

 

I follow these blogs:

www.northcornwallnaturalist.blogspot.com 

www.musingsfromhigherdowngateandelsewhere.blogspot.com

www.downgatebatman.blogspot.com 

SPRING IS ON ITS WAY.

 SPRING IS ON ITS WAY

Spring in our minds represents balmy days after the long dark days of winter, with bird song, flowers, early butterflies and burgeoning growth.

In fact, it is more often comes in fits and starts, making difficulties for gardeners who, encouraged by mild promises of an ‘early spring’ often have frosty setbacks. ‘Late springs’ keep us waiting through cold wet unpleasant conditions. The only certainty is that no two springs are similar except that they are usually a mix, keeping us alternately encouraged and impatient for improvement.

This year, with a year of Covid behind us and an uncertain future in which we can only hope for a gradual improvement, Tony and I have been largely restricted to the house and garden so apart from the wildlife in the garden we have been unable to compare appearances of the usual spring landmarks.

This year for the first time ever I think, we have had no frogspawn in the pond. This follows a major clear-out last autumn of wheelbarrows-full of overgrowing weed; was that anything to do with it? I have heard several other people this spring have noticed the same after clearing their ponds.

Astonishingly, I have only had the moth trap out once so far (though I might put it out tonight). I don’t think I am being particularly wimpish; the nights have been consistently unfavourable; too wet, too cold, too windy or a combination of all three. The one trapping I did, had a moderate catch of a few of the usual early species. 

Hebrew Character, named perhaps for the dark marks on the wings.

 

Yes, I DID put the moth trap out last night despite a clear chilly night, with again a moderate catch .

 Lacking our normal walking we are very out of touch with what’s flowering so yesterday we drove for 7 minutes to walk along the riverside and hedges of Luckett Great Meadow beside the Tamar; our hour’s exercise (please note, Covid police!) On the way we saw Greater Stitchwort, Common Scurvy-grass  and Alexanders in flower, with Dandelions and a golden strip of Lesser Celandines along the lane.

 

Greater Stitchwort. This picture was taken at the same time last year. It's not so forward this year.

Alexanders, a member of the carrot family. Said to have been brought by the Romans as an edible plant.It is common on the Cornish coast but less often seen inland.

 

Common ScurvyGrass. a member of the cress family, rich in vitamin C

 On the river bank were bushes of both Bullace (the flowers appearing with the first early leaves) and Sloe with tight clusters of white flowers appearing well before the leaves.

 

Bullace, flowering at the same time as its first leaves.

 

Blackthorn or Sloe blossoming before its leaves, and a bit later in the year than Bullace.

 

The Alder and Hazel catkins are over now and hang in dessicated remnants from the branches.

Carpets of shiny Ramsons leaves were up, tufts of bright green Hemlock Water Dropwort with the grey-green spears of Yellow Iris leaves among them and on the banks of the small side streams, cushions of yellow-green Golden Saxifrage were in flower.

 

Golden Saxifrage.

 The earth and stone banks round the meadow had early Barren Strawberry and the demure Ground Ivy.a childhood favourite, about the first flower I remember learning to recognize.

Barren Strawberry flowers before Wild Strawberry, and as its name suggests, it doesn't form strawberry fruits. Unlike Wild Strawberry, its petals are rounded, with a gap between them. Wild Strawberry petals have pointed tips, and are closer together, and its leaves end in a pointed tip, not blunt like Barren Strawberry.

Ground Ivy (no relative of Ivy)

 

Wild Daffs and Wood Anemones were in  flower on the banks below us as we walked up  alongside the river.

 

Probably true Wild Daffodils, but they are very difficult to distinguish from various similar cultivated ones especially here in Cornwall where daffodils are still grown widely as a commercial crop particularly in West Cornwall. They were once grown commercially here in East Cornwall too, but less now. However they are widely naturalized and grow freely on our hedgebanks. One spring recently, walking along about a half mile stretch of lane near the Tamar we counted 23 different cultivars.

 

Windflower or Wood Anemone. They are said to be indicators of ancient woodland because they spread very slowly therefore need a long-term stable habitat.

 We were walking along a well marked badger path in the sandy soil where flood debris was clotting the bushes some 12 or 15 feet above the present water level. Fresh Otter Spraint was left on the exposed boles of the big oaks overhanging the water. 

 

Flood debris. Goodness knows how this branch got woven over, under, and over the overhanging trunks!

A Dipper whisked out from an overhanging tuft of brambles n the riverbank and flew fast and low round the corner and out of sight.

 

 

Dipper. (I'm grateful to Linda Scott for this photo.)

 

They nest early, like Mistle Thrushes and Herons. Ravens were croaking overhead; in the riverside oaks and meadow hedge a nuthatch was calling insistently and a Great Tit and a party of Long-tailed Tits were calling. A couple of pairs of Mallard flew up from the side of the river as we approached, quacking indignantly. Our return walk along the sunny SE-facing hedge was surprisingly quiet for insect life: no butterflies or hoverflies. Just a few gingery furred Dung Flies on the new sheep droppings and a lot of blackish spiders scuttled away as I scuffed through a patch of young nettles to clean the mud off my boots. We had to wait till we got back to our own garden shortly afterwards, to see our first Small Tortoiseshell of the year.

Here at home the Jackdaws have re-possessed their chimney nesting site in the garden shed but we haven’t seen any of our regular garden birds carrying nesting material yet except for the House Sparrows. The nuthatches seem to be up to their usual trick of beginning to appropriate a nest box and hammering the entrance hole to suit, then abandoning it in favour of another, but meanwhile discouraging other species from using the box!

The rookery at the end of the lane is very active with a highly vocal community of birds standing on or close to their big nests declaring ownership and no doubt attempting to discourage twig-theft by their neighbours. The new ‘splinter group’ have so far built 14 nests in big oaks in the hedge one field away. Because there has been such a big increase in numbers of walkers passing below the original rookery we wonder if this was the reason for a substantial number of the community decamping to a quieter site. Normally the original rookery builds up to about 20 nests, compared to this year’s 15.

Bumble Bees are scarce so far; mainly queen Buff-tailed Bombus terrestris, fossicking around looking for nesting holes.

 

Buff-tailed Bumble bee. (Bombus terrestris.)

It's quite common to see Bumble-bees, especially the big queens, stranded on the ground, perhaps caught out on a cold day. They run out of steam and can't fly. A simple rescue frequently works. Dissolve a little white sugar in warm water in a teaspoon and push it under the bee's head. As often as not, very quickly you see their long straight black proboscis unfurl and drink lengthily from the sugar syrup. When they have had sufficient they move around. At this stage I take them outside and put them on a plant or flower high enough off the ground to give them a lift and more often than not, they take off and fly away.

  

Usually we can be expecting to see Common Violets in flower, Brimstone Butterflies (apart from one flukishly early female which usually appear AFTER the males.) and Oil Beetles. I’m sure they are to be seen but we’ve missed them so far, together with the earlier spring harbinger, Dogs Mercury.  We rarely see my childhood favourite, Coltsfoot here in Cornwall.

Coltsfoot. They flower before the leaves appear. They used to be a bothersome weed in our garden when I was a kid. Their deep roots were difficult to get out and I remember Dad saying ruefully that if the coltsfoot managed to flower in the garden, he'd lost the battle!

 

We’re still waiting to hear our first Chiffchaff although the garden is full of a medley of birdsong: Blackbird, Robin, Song Thrush, wheezing Greenfinches, tinkling Goldfinches, the falling song of Chaffinch which Mum used to describe as if it was falling down stairs, and these days the pretty little song of Siskins which now breed in or near the garden. Back in the '80s they were a novelty down here, occasionally seen feeding on peanuts in those red nets they used to be sold in. Now they are regular residents.

These things form the structure of our usual seasons and it’s oddly disorientating when you don’t see them.

Blogs I follow include:

www.northcornwallnaturalist.blogspot.com 

www.musingsfromhigherdowngateandelsewhere.blogspot.com 

www.downgatebatman.blogspot.com 

 

I MUST GET THIS OFF MY CHEST!

 

 I Must Get This Off My Chest!

The current passion for the Environment, Re-wilding, Flower-rich Meadows, Pollinators and other such evocative terms, gives rise to a huge amount of muddled thinking and downright piffle sometimes.

I don’t doubt a great many people are in theory supportive of these ideals, but are misled and confused by woolly talk and often incorrect information by obviously inexperienced journalists even calling themselves ‘from our science correspondent’ and  their reports presumably edited by equally inexperienced staff. A complicated network of different aims and concepts tend to be lumped together in one over-simplified bundle.

I have just read that the crowds gathered on a patch of grass in Bristol a year ago to hear a rallying cry from Greta Thunberg trampled the grass into a muddy morass. Over £20,000 was raised very quickly from a mortified public with the stated aim ” To create Wild-flower Meadows at the site in the hope of attracting more pollinators such as bees and insects.” Good! Two buzz-words in one sentence! The claim went on “The Meadow will contain species native to the UK such as Strawberry Clover, Cowslip, White Campion, and Tufted Vetch, as well as bright flowering species such as Common Poppy, Cornflower and Yellow Rattle.” I skeptically ask is this the right place for anything other than hard-wearing amenity grass? When the suggested plants grow enough to flower, there will be cries to cut it short for picnicking and playing. The suggested species include a bizarre mix of a largely maritime turf plant (Strawberry Clover) , hedgerows (Tufted Vetch) and annuals of disturbed ground (White Campion, Common Poppy and Cornflower) These last will disappear when the establishing turf closes over.

A year on, I’d be interested to know what has actually happened to that beaten-up patch of Bristolian grass.

Seeds suppliers frequently sell to a well-meaning public, “Wildflower seeds mixes” and sure enough, the customer is rewarded with a colourful show usually comprising poppies, cornflowers, often corn cockle, corn marigold, and various white-flowered daisy species. Then as this sown area closes over with grasses in the following year, the flower show dwindles. Perhaps there are a few dog daisies and knapweeds as these are perennials which don’t flower their first year, but the main splendid colour show of the previous year has gone; the customer is disappointed and wonders where he has gone wrong, not realizing that his seeds mix is largely of showy annuals, and not necessarily even all British natives or even of British provenance.

A typical 'Wildflower seeds mix' sold by a reputable company, claiming this was a mix of 'native wildflowers'.

 

Corn Cockle, one of the species in the above mix. This highly poisonous plant is extinct in the wild in the UK! It was a very troublesome arable weed in the past because it has a large seed which was difficult to clean out from harvested corn.

 

A few years ago, in response to figures quoting Cornwall’s wooded cover to be a mere 10% compared to a national 13% (and a European  up to 35%) the County Council announced a ‘Forest for Cornwall’ scheme whereby in ten years some ‘ 8000 hectares will be planted in Cornwall to address this shortfall.’ The stated thinking is to ‘increase all forms of canopy cover throughout Cornwall whilst strengthening the protection of our existing backbone of trees, woodlands and hedgerows as part of Cornwall Council’s response to Climate Change, and striving towards Cornwall becoming Carbon Neutral.’ There is a pledge to ‘place the right trees in the right places for the right purposes’

Brave words! The planting of these trees seems to be an ad hoc arrangement of planting by all sorts of groups, individuals or community-led projects.  Where will all these trees come from? Who will advise on the species?  And their local appropriateness to the site?  Is the site appropriate or is an existing already good habitat being replaced by a tree-planting scheme in order to tick a politically-correct box? Who will plant theses trees and maintain them in their vulnerable early stages?

In 2019 amid great fanfare with flags and bunting, local schoolchildren and the town mayor in all his finery had a Grand Opening of a nearby town’s contribution to the Forest for Cornwall.

The Grand Launch. It's a pity so much public goodwill is to an extent frittered by not really getting to the point.

  

In summer 2020 we went to have a look at it. A biggish area of amenity grassland in the middle of a big residential area and very popular with dog walkers and others, now has several small areas fenced with chestnut paling and containing a mix of deciduous trees. They were on the big side (and more expensive) for successful planting but had more visual impact I suppose. However a significant number were failing or struggling. Different plantings included Copper Beech, Hornbeam, Grey Alder, several  foreign Birch species and most bizarre, a Gingko!  The Copper Beech and the various foreign Birch species belong in a more ornamental ‘gardened’ setting. Grey Alder ( a native of. Eastern Europe) is a favourite and very successful amenity species, Hornbeam does not grow naturally in Cornwall but only as an introduction and Gingko that famous Chinese tree, almost extinct in its own country is grown in the UK as an exotic novelty. There are also a number of Oaks, doing very well but of a variety I have never seen in Britain so I wonder exactly who suggested this collection of trees and where they came from.  There wasn’t much attention paid to the County Council’s stated aim of ‘the right tree’. All the enclosures were heavily mulched with tree bark which successfully prevented the growth of much ground flora but was hosting great tufts of the dread honey fungus! This venture cost  a considerable sum.  But rather than a source of civic pride the whole misbegotten scheme should be a cause for mortification for money spent on an unsatisfactory scheme which could have been so much more true to the spirit of the stated aims.  At present, Covid has prevented a return visit.

 Meanwhile the Forest for Cornwall Newsletter still seems to have nothing new to add to the 2019 tree-planting scheme mentioned above, except the planting of a ‘Wildflower Meadow’ near Padstow.  Another pledge is to create more woodland habitats along the A30 in parts of Cornwall. However as far as I have seen,  as soon as any substantial tree and shrub cover along this road develops, it is cleared!

Countryfile a couple of nights ago was deploring again the every-widening disconnect between children and the natural world and pleading for more natural history education in schools. Fine words but where are the teachers who know anything about Natural History? The Nature Tables? The walks? The countryside these days seems to be regarded as a hostile environment with all sorts of Health & Safety  hazards, E coli and a host of things waiting to get us.

There is much talk of the wish of youngsters inflamed by Thunberg-style rallies and protests, driving a political change, and millions of well-meaning words and wishes about Climate Change and Sustainability are churned out, but the real disconnect lies in the simple basics of looking at nature, learning to name. It’s easy enough to talk about abstract issues.....