Raw Haw

I hadn't been out on a task for weeks... months, actually. In fact, I hadn't been of any use since the end of the coppicing at Barford. This task was at one of my favourite sites with two of my favourite people, so I thought I'd make the effort.

We were pulling up hawthorn on an area of calcareous grassland. It's one of those jobs that you get obsessive about - trying to spot every little hawthorn, bramble or rose, however small; trying to pull out as much of the root as possible.

There were cowslips in flower and the early leaves of common spotted orchids.

We stopped early to check out Raw Haw Wood - where Ian had seen a tree he thought I'd like. But on the way we saw this rather macabre sight. A badger skull in a sallow! Mind you, less macabre than my journey to the Reserve: I saw eight road killed badgers and a deer whose bloody parts were strewn across both carriageways.

This was the tree Ian had spotted. It had a window! A lovely oak that he reckons is about 150 years old. I think it might be older, but then I always want trees to be verging on the ancient. It was very beautiful and to be honest I wanted to sit and meditate with this tree for half an hour or so, but I had to get home. Bloody work. So I took the end of a dead branch in the hope of attempting some remote communion. That had worked with the wand I made from the seedling that was generated by the King Oak.

Just a few yards away, I saw another tree - this one was just as special. It may have been coppiced at some point and even older than the first. Coppiced and perhaps cut again. This tree had the most incredible architecture! And it was climbable. I took some shed leaves from this one.

It also had a window - but the window was like an arrow slit! Ian said that however old the tree is, the mycelial network will be even older.

As we were heading back, I saw another remarkable sight and couldn't resist!

The gurning grin is explained by the fact that a nettle stung me in a place where the sun don't shine...

This wood was a treasure trove. The paired trunks on the left below looked to me like the paws and legs of a cat or dog... just imagine the size that beast would be! On the right, the trunk of a field maple - they are the most characterful trees.