Painting seats is rather easier than painting animals.
Here's one I did earlier.
Just call me Leonardo.
In all seriousness, I have to write a paragraph about my favourite tree on the Reserve. And I was thinking about that on my drive home.
This is what I will post:
In general, Oaks are my favourite trees. Now I know that they support the most invertebrate life, which makes them valuable; but really it's because there were a lot of Oaks on the farm where I grew up, including some very old ones. When someone said 'tree', it was an Oak that I imagined. These days I have a soft spot for Ashes as they battle Die-back; and I love it that there is an old Elm on the Reserve, that feels like a kind of blessing. Even so, my favourite tree on the Reserve is a Poplar. It is not a Black Poplar (of which there are only 7,000 in the UK - and these are truly native trees!), just some kind of hybrid. Poplars aren't that popular, it seems. My reason for this favouritism is convoluted. I saw a Poplar that had fallen in one of the big storms early in 2022 and, though only a tiny part of the trunk was attached to the roots, it was still coming into leaf. So valiant, I thought, such a lesson in resilience! Then, I noticed that the leaf buds smelled of lemon sherbet! Really! Some hybrids have more of a Play-Doh scent, but they all seem aromatic, as are Black Poplars. This led to me investigating the trees and, somehow, that was involved in my decision to apply to become a Volunteer Officer. When I saw my first Poplar at Pitsford, I knew I'd made the right decision!
Yeah, well. That's my story of a life-changing meeting with a tree.
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