Wildlife and Photography
Wildlife and Photography
16 - Trees, myths, legends and the science
Episode 16 – of the Wildlife and Photography podcast is all about Trees, myths, legends, and the science that surrounds trees. Trees have been part of our culture and providing us with material goods for tens of thousands of years. Over that time we and our ancestors have revered, and worshiped trees. We have come to rely on the tree to provide warmth comfort and protection from the world.
Most of us, however, know very little about the woodlands we love to visit, and even less about the trees which grow there. It is only in the last few decades that our understanding of trees and the role they play in our lives has started to emerge.
It is a truly fascinating subject and you will never look at a tree in the same way after listening to this podcast.
If you want to know even more after listening to this episode, the next episode number 17 will be about trees as well. Because we couldn’t get all that we wanted to tell you into one episode.
Chapter timings
Alder 10:52 mins
Ash 16:17 mins
Aspen 21:29 mins
Beech 26:22 mins
Birch 31:22 mins
Elm 36:29 mins
Organisation
Trees for life - https://treesforlife.org.uk/
Woodland Trust - https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/
American Forests - https://www.americanforests.org/
The World Wildlife Fund - https://www.wwf.org.uk/
Wildlife Conservation Society - https://www.wcs.org/
Social media
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MarkandJackyBloomfield/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/mandjbloomfield
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mandjbloomfield/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/m&j-bloomfield/
Buzzsprout - https://wildlifeandphotography.buzzsprout.com/1491085
Donation
We have a dear friend who's husband passed away. In his memory, a grove of trees is being planted here in the highlands. If you would like to help with the planting of new trees you can make a donation here - https://treesforlife.org.uk/groves/g5891/
Welcome. You're listening to Mark and Jacky's Wildlife and photography podcast. Explore and learn about the natural world and how to take pictures. This episode is all about wildlife and nature, understanding the natural world is important. It's what makes life on this planet possible. Our podcast gives you insights into just how complicated and fascinating that world is. Episode 16 Trees, Myths, Legends and the Science. If only trees could talk, but they do. The local tree population is chatting away. It's just that you don't understand them. As you may have guessed, this episode is all about trees. When we started taking wildlife and nature pictures, we never realized just how complicated it was going to be. I'm not talking about taking the pictures here, although that does have more than a few challenges. What I mean is what do you do with the picture once you've taken it? It's important that you can name what it is and not just its common name, but also its Latin name before long. You've built up a library of reference books about the subject you take pictures of. It then starts to grow as you realize that you need more and more information We have all sorts of books from ones that help you identify mammal poo to ones that help you identify slime mold. Lots more on a host of different subjects. You spent many hours searching the Internet trying to confirm your ID inevitably. Well, in my case, at least, this leads to getting sidetracked. The Internet, as we all know, is a big time waster there ends up lots of well, I didn't know that. Oh the Internet. It's so easy to click on the link and disappear down a totally unrelated rabbit hole. But you start slow. And as the years go by, you build up your knowledge. Soon, whenever somebody asks you a question, all that knowledge comes spilling out. Even if all they want you to know was, was a spider? Before long, you've board or your close friends and you have to start looking for a fresh outlets. What you really need is an audience. So we give talks. We run photographic courses. A lot of the content is about photography, but we include lots of other information about wildlife and the nature we photograph. The Internet is another outlet. One reason you're listening to this podcast. So welcome to Trees, Myths, Legends, and the Science. We're going to tell you some amazing facts, myths and the science surrounding trees about the trees we live next to in the woods that surround our house. These tree species are not only found in our part of Scotland, but they're also present over vast areas of our planet. When we started preparing this episode, we soon realized we had so much material we couldn't possibly cram everything into one episode. So we split into two parts. Episode 16 is part one, then a break, and then episode 17. The final part now that will be available in about four weeks time. We've recorded both episodes with chapter timings for each tree species. Then if you want to skip forward or go back and listen again, it'll be much easier. All the timings will also be in the show notes. We've included links to organizations we support use to find out information about trees here in the UK. We hope you find them useful. The scientific world is not one of certainties. New research changes our current beliefs and understandings with that in mind. If you think we're wrong about something, please let us know. So we can update our knowledge. Our relationship with the trees is as old as the human race itself. Our ancestors in Africa probably use them as a method of escape from predators looking for an easy meal. They would provided safety comfort somewhere to sleep just as modern day chimps use trees today. Later in our evolution, trees provided us with shelter. Later still fuel for our fires. No wonder, then, that trees and forests have become part of our belief system. Seen as powerful systems of growth, death and rebirth. Deciduous trees and the shedding of leaves are significant in many mythologies. No matter what it's called, in many different cultural mythologies. The tree of life played an important role for our ancestors and still does for us to this day. 12,000 years ago, in the Neolithic period, we find evidence to the importance of trees in the lives and beliefs that these people. Perhaps the most famous prehistory monuments are stone circles constructed to celebrate or glorify perhaps a festival or a common belief system. Most famous in the UK is in southern England, known as Stonehenge. It was built in the late Neolithic period four and a half thousand years ago. It consists of rings of long standing stones, each weighing over 20 tons. But before the building of Stonehenge. We see evidence of a tree henge. Now, typically a henge is an earthwork built by Neolithic tribes. Archeologists have uncovered in the UK what they've called tree henges, large pine totem poles, like posts placed in circles or as an avenue. These tree henges date from between ten and a half to 9000 years ago. Currently, it's impossible to understand the meaning of these henges, but the investment of so much time and effort in there construction must surely point to the fact that they were held in significant importance in the lives of our ancestors. Trees also play an important part in many of the world's religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, and many others have trees or sacred groves central to their teachings. For instance, planting a tree in Islam is seen as a form of charity. Gold, frankincense and myrrh were bought by the Magi to the birth of Jesus as gifts. Frankincense and myrrh are both tree resins, frankincense from the trees that bring the Burseraceae family and Myrrh from Commiphora. Revered and treasured commodities, throughout the African continent and beyond. Pharaoh Hatshepsut, is credited with acquiring Egypt's first Myrrh tree. The Roman Empire and Rome itself paid tribute to trees. Romulus and Remus were nurtured under the shade of a fig tree The Celts in Northern Europe use sacred groves, especially of Oak in their everyday belief system. When Druids arrived just after the Celts it is believed they took the Celtic name of the oak tree as their collective name Druid. To this day, we still worship or have collective memories of the sanctuary trees offer. Many Christian churches were constructed on sites of old religions, sacred groves of trees, the number of ancient oak new trees that grow in church grounds pays homage or a small remnant of what was celebration of the winter solstice in late December. The shortest day, if you like. The longest night. Saw the bringing of branches of evergreen trees and plants into dwelling places We continue the practice today with Christmas trees and holly and ivy. The first Christmas tree was documented in 1441 Not as many people believe by the Victorians, but in the Georgian period of Queen Charlotte. Now we've missed many thousands of examples. Please forgive us. It's not that they're unimportant and far from it. It's just that we can't fit them all in. We had to make a choice. Rightly or wrongly, this is our choice. And it's the ones that we know most about. But don't despair. Listen on. You never know. Your cultures involvement in trees may be one of the sections on the individual species. Trees as you've seen, played, and continued to play a big part in everyone's lives, Look around you. Do you see a tree? Maybe it's only the timber of a dead tree, but much of a material world relies on tree product furniture. Buildings, heat and incomes are all bound up in trees. Think about trees in your life. For example, both Jacky and I grew up in an area with ancient woodland close by. These ancient trees were part of our everyday lives. For me, climbing a tree hundreds of years old, was a great adventure. Not the fact that it was so old. But the fact that it was easy to climb. Only now, with the passing of time and the gaining of knowledge has the true wonder of my childhood playground dawned on me. The things I still don't know about trees and forests would take a lifetime to explore. What we're going to try and do. Is provide you with just a glimpse of the lives of trees. By sharing our limited knowledge about several species of tree. I should try and clear up one thing before we go on. I use the terms woodland and forests. They are, in fact, my technical definition, the same thing. Land understands stands of trees with a canopy cover of at least 20% or 25% in some places. For most people, a forest means trees. But it also means an area that used to be covered in trees or will be in the future. It can be a bit confusing to go to an area with forest in its name, only to find no trees growing. We are going to use both terms. Just remember they mean the same thing. So let's start. We're going to start to Alder Alnus glutinosa, also known as the black or European alder Alder is a deciduous tree, meaning it loses its leaves in autumn, regrowing fresh leaves each spring. The trees are monoecious each tree has both male and female flowers. The flowers are wind pollinated making them ideal for quickly spreading into new areas. Their trees of wet areas. It grows best in boggy areas or close to water. Native to the UK. To be classed as a native plant or animal in the UK. It's usual definition is that they colonize the land soon after the last ice age. The Loch Lomond Stadial which was about ten to 11,000 years ago before this point it would have been much too cold for anything to have survived. But as the ice melted, it revealed soil that was ripe for trees and plants. This process would have taken perhaps a couple of thousand years so Alder, along with a lot of the other trees, are considered native to the UK. But they found throughout most of Europe, Russia, Iran, Turkey, North Africa. It's been introduced to Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Northwest United States of America. It's a true pioneer species able to grow quickly. Short lived at about 100 to 150 years. That's short by tree standards, they reach about 20 to 30 meters in height. They are probably the first trees to colonize the land after the Ice Age. There are common species in riparian forests, which means of forests and woodland adjacent to rivers or streams They have a crucial role to play in these woodlands. The roots go deep into the soil. This helps to counteract the effects of erosion on lochs and riverbanks. Being so close to the water's edge. All the foliage in summer provide shade moderating the water's temperature beneath it. This is a benefit to fish Atlantic salmon and brown trout numbers have decreased here in Scotland over the past few years. One cause is the increase of water temperature in the spawning grounds because of the lack of tree shade. When the leaves fall in autumn, they are quick to decompose in water This abundance of nitrogen due to the leaves in the water provides lots of foods for invertebrates, and they in turn become food for fish to feed on. The fallen leaves also act as a soil improver. Adding humans to impoverished soils. This soil improvement prepares the land for more colonization by other tree species. The male calkins a mature before leaves apear in spring. The female flowers are smaller than the male form into a cone. These growing clusters at the ends of twigs or small branches, the seeds these cones release in autumn have small wings and they also float on water. Seed dispersal takes place both by wind and water. Alder has a symbiotic relationship with a bacteria called Frankia alni. The bacteria forms nodes on the tree's roots Frankia is a nitrogen fixing bacterium, taking nitrogen from the air and making it available to the tree, which in turn provides Frankia with carbon produced by the leaves photosynthesis. Alder is, of course, happiest in workplaces and has gained a reputation in mystery and secrecy associated with such places in mythology. One weird thing about the timber produced by the Alder tree is although often white when first cut? It turns red as the timber ages. If exposed to water, the timber grows harder and becomes stone like as it becomes waterlogged. It's very resistant to rotting. This unusual property for timber has been utilized in construction. Crannoch's which were wooden strongholds built in the middle of the Scottish lochs in the Bronze Age were built on piles of Alder trunks. Later on in a lagoon in Italy, people wanted a safe place to live. They decided that living surrounded by water was the safest way to protect themselves. By driving Alder piles into the ground. The 117 small islands gradually started to stabilize, and it became possible to build on top of these piles. The Alder piles are still there to this day, supporting the city of Venice. When canals became the way to transport industrial goods in the UK, many a bit of canal furniture, lock gates, water, etc. were built using Alder. The tanning industry. The process of turning skins into leather has also used Alder in its tanning and dyeing process, as the bark and twigs contain high levels of tannic acid. And that's the wonderful world of the Alder tree. Ash Fraxinus excelsior. Ash or All European or common ash is a deciduous tree. It's found throughout Europe and some parts of Asia, from southern Scandinavia to the cooler north of Spain, Portugal and Greece, from Ireland in the west to Turkey and Iran in the east. The ash tree grows natively. It's also been introduced into Canada and the United States of America and New Zealand. It's used as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens has ensured that it's been found in many other countries all around the globe. Here in parts of the UK, It's a very common tree found in many a wood. They grow to a height of 30 meters or so, although this is very dependent on the prevailing weather conditions In Scotland it's probably 20 meters is more normal height. Identifying ash in winter, it's made easy for the photographer because it's twigs have smooth bark on them. They also have a big give away, which are easy to spot from a distance, which is the black velvety leaf buds. These are arranged opposite each other all along the branch or twig. In late summer, identification is also made easier by the large clusters of seeds which hang down. The common name for the seeds. Is keys, because they look like a big bunch of keys. Fortingall in Perthshire Scotland, is famous for two of its trees. The Fortingal Yew and nearby the Glen Lion Ash. The Glen Lion Ash is one of the largest and perhaps oldest in Scotland with a girth of 6.4 meters. Estimates reckon it to be three to 400 years old. Very old for an ash tree. Their normal lifespan is about 200 years. Now the Glen Lion ash has been pollarded. This is an ancient technique still used in woodland management today. When your chosen tree reaches about two to three meters above the ground, you cut the tree stem or minor branches off the trees and left to regrow. It will send up smaller branches from the cuts. These are left to mature until they achieve appropriate diameter. And then they are harvested. The tree will then start its growing cycle all over again. Pollarded trees tend to attain much greater ages than a maiden tree. A maiden tree is one that's not been trimmed or cut in any way. The pollarding keeps the tree in a juvenile state, and without the weight of a full canopy, they suffer less damage during gales. Poles produced by pollarded ash are highly flexible and shock resistant and not easily split. They are used, because of this property tool handles such as hammer, axes and spades in the sports world. Ash is used for making hockey sticks. Rackets, and even skis have been made from in the past. As with so many things, modern materials have in some sports like tennis. Replace the ash tennis racket. Fraxinus the species name of ash in Latin gives us a clue to another property. It means firelight. In Latin, ash timber is a wonderful fuel for you wood fire it burns for a long time with an intense heat. It's one of the traditional woods used as a Yule log in the midwinter solstices. In Norse mythology The Vikings have strong links to the ash. Yggdrasil an ash tree in the Viking mythology grew on an island in the depths of the ocean surrounding the island. Dwelt the world, serpent. The ash reached up to the heavens and its branches spread across the earth. His roots reach down into the underworld. Odin a god of the Vikings hung himself from Yggdrasil as a sacrificial ordeal. Both Odin and Thor the god of Thunder had Spears made of Ashwood. With all these God protection. You may think the ash trees well protected, but today we see a threat from a fungal disease known as Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus or ash dieback. It blocks water nutrients in the trees, leading to a significant leaf loss. Bark lesions and dieback of the tree's crown This fungus is spread from mainland Europe into the UK. It poses a major threat to our woodland areas, and as ash makes up a large portion of our woodland, it's a disaster in the making. A beetle, the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis also poses a major threat to all ash species. It is a native in the Far East and is spreading westwards towards Europe. It is now established across many thousands of square miles in the US and Canada, and it's a threat to all ash species. Aspen Populus tremula. The other common names for this tree a common Eurasian European Aspen or quake in Aspen Aspens are deciduous growing new leaves each summer. The male and female flowers grow on different trees who rely on wind pollination to move the pollen from tree to tree. Wind pollination is a common method of pollination for trees, and it allows isolated trees to breed with others. Female flowers or catkins, ripen in late summer, producing tiny, fluffy seeds. Here in Scotland, seeds are seldom produced, and it's not well understood why this is so. It could be because of our oceanic climate. Perhaps the age of the trees. Whatever the cause Aspens have another trick of reproduction suckers or ramets. A mature trees underground roots produce suckers. They sprout in mid-to-late summer, and by the autumn the shoots can be 20 to 40 centimeters high. We witness this process every year as the stand of aspens in our garden produce lots of suckers. They appear in our grass from early summer. We have left a few to grow into mature trees. Others we attempt to pot on so we can transplant them into new areas. Aspen roots can remain viable underground for many years after the parent tree has died. Suckers can suddenly appear where there are no mature trees above ground. Sucker self propagation can and is taken to the extreme in Populus tremuloides. Trembling, American, Mountain, Golden Aspen. In the Fishlake National Forest in Utah. In the United States of America grows the Pando tree. It's a male Populus tremuloides. A single genetic organism. Its colony measures 43.6 hectares or 108 acres. It's made up of over 40,000 individuals to all share the same DNA of the parent. The Pando Tree has been regenerating for at least several thousand years and perhaps from the last Ice Age Stadial. 14,000 years ago is perhaps the biggest living single organism on our planet. The names, quaking and trembling in the naming of Aspens, are referring to noise. The leaves make in the wind. The leaves, stalks or petioles, are flexible where the leaf and stalk join, enabling the leaves to flutter in the lightest of wind making the characteristic summer noise of the aspen. A pioneer tree the aspen moves in very quickly after fire or clearance its fast growth habit and the use of suckers to colonize the ground allow it to quickly become established. The parent tree may only grow and prosper for 50 to 100 years, but its clones, its genetic copy will be growing for many generations to come. Scotland's aspens are not faired as well as one might have expected. Red Deer find the leaves and shoot of Aspen, a welcome addition to their diet. The large population of Red Deer in the highlands use for sporting purposes has limited the Aspen spread and as well as Red Deer, the reintroduction of European beavers has not helped. Beavers will and do feed on Aspen in preference to almost anything else to try and counteract this assault on the Aspen more Aspen is planted in the Highlands than you would find naturally. This is a way to try and ensure we have Aspen in our woods and wild places. Even after losses due to Deer and Beaver. Aspen, are tree of Heroes and kings, a crown made of Aspen leaves was a sign of importance. Highlanders also see the Aspen as a magical tree, a gift from the Fairy Queen. A popular wood in the making of shields because of its magical properties. This is because they provide a spiritual as well as physical defense. The bark of Aspen has been used as a medicine. In North America, Native peoples have used the salicin and populin in the bark as a pain reliever. These two chemicals act in much the same way as the more powerful Asprin. All Aspen are important for biodiversity. They play host to many insects, lichens and fungi that can be found on no other tree. Beech Fagus sylvatica or common beech. Beech is a tree of my childhood. We lived very close to a wood called Burnham Beeches. It's a woodland I first visited with my parents and then as I got older with friends on our bikes, it was a playground, a place to let off steam. It was also a very ancient forest. The woodland probably traces its roots back to the end of the last Ice Age. Ancient monuments in the wood show signs of habitation since the Iron Age. The site is a heady mixture of woodland pasture, copious pond streams, Mayan heathland. It also has some veteran Beech and oak pollarded trees. Some of these trees were saplings 800 years ago. What a Beech trees there are deciduous tree native to temperate areas of Europe and the North America's. If it is native to southern England, it is the subject to debate and scientific research. Evidence seems to indicate that Beech made it to England four to 6000 years ago. If this is the case, the UK would have been in island because of the English Channel. This would have made it difficult for seeds to arrive naturally. Monoecious, bearing both male and female flowers on the same tree. These are wind pollinated and in good years they produce beech nuts, also known as beech mast. Mast when ripe in autumn falls to the ground, the outer case splits open, enabling the seed to be in contact with the ground. They lie dormant until the following spring, when small seedlings will start to appear. Beech mast is edible, though it's only got a week, nut like taste. It is, however, loved by local deer populations who gorge on the mast given the chance. In the past our ancestors may have carried beech mast has a year round supply of food. This may just explain how Beech came to the UK. Mast was perhaps discarded or even planted as a source of food. Mast is produced on an irregular basis. Trees that are close together will coordinate the production of mast. Thus all trees in an area produce mast. This is known as a mask year. The abundance of food means that although a lot gets eaten, some will survive the munching next year and for a few years following the mast year, the trees will porduce very little mast birds and mammals that gorged on the abundance will see lean years. It encourages them to move away from the trees they gorged on. And as the population moves in search of other foods, another group of trees will be having the mast year. It is in this way that the trees can fight back, ensuring that their genetic heritage is secured for generations to come. With a spending habit, a woodland, of beech is a dark and shady place. Fallen leaves form a dense carpet beneath the leaves this makes it very difficult for other species to gain a foothold in beech woodland. Even in the winter, young trees will retain their dead leaves. This produces shade, trying to kill off any competition there may be. If you can survive the shade of summer by getting in early you can do very well in the Beech woodland here in the UK, bluebells do especially well on the Beech. They flower and set seed before the leaves appear making the most in the lack of competition. As I said, native to the south of England, Beech has been moving northward since the last Ice Age. In the north they're not considered a native tree and in some cases they're removed to reduce the competition for native species, allowing them to grow. Timber from the Beech is hard and strong and easy to work. It's a popular timber to the manufacturer of furniture. One particular type of furniture made almost exclusively of Beech became famous the world over the Windsor chair. With its solid wooden seat high curved back with a bow shaped top rail and they supported by turned poles. Because it is made entirely of wood it requires lots of timber and that's where in the 1800s, the abandoned of beech woodlands in Buckinghamshire in the Cotswolds became a major source of beech timber. High Wycombe became the center of the Windsor chair production, along with other furniture. Beech, as well as being part of our childhoods, is linked to Jacky's family history. Members of her family were involved in the design and manufacture of furniture. A simple tree had an important role in both our family histories. Beech, the queen of the UK's trees. Birch When we talk about birch trees in Scotland, we're really talking about two different species Silver Birch Betula pendula and the Downy Birch, Betula pubescens, these two species of Birch and the most common species. Native to Scotland, there is a third species of Birch the dwarf, Birch Betula nana. Whereas the silver and downy Birch are s abundant throughout Scotland Dwarf birch is restricted to here in the Highlands. Dwarf birch grows in cold, wet areas above 150 meters, up to about 800 meters, although a tree you could be thinking it's more of a shrub, it rarely reaches the dizzy heights of 30 centimeters when fully grown. In part, this is due to overgrazing by sheep and red deer. Regeneration and its spread is also hampered by the burning of heather cover undertaken by sporting estates. To stand any chance of reproduction. Each tree has both male and female flowers. The male catkins are about eight millimeters long. The female flowers are slightly larger. And the tree, uses wind pollination to reproduce. Silver and downy birch are a lot easier to see they grow all over Scotland in vast numbers. Like the dwarf birch, silver and downy birch is a native trees pioneer species they move in and one of the first trees to colonize any bare land. They have the same type of catkins as the dwarf birch and use wind pollination to reproduce. Birch is not a long lived species. About 60 to 90 years is typical for a mature tree and reaching about 20 to 30 meters in height. The leaf canopy of birch is not very dense, allowing for lots of light to get to the woodland floor. In turn, this allows plants to grow under birch. Birch are an important species when it comes to the colonization of new land. They survive on poor thin soils each autumn the leaf litter they produce enriches the soil beneath the trees. Over many decades, birch will enrich and deepen the soils enabling other species not intolerant to move in. Birch roots and fungi form a mycorrhizal association. The trees use the fungi to communicate with other trees in the area. The fungi produce nitrogen in return for carbon. The trees is manufactured by photosynthesis Fly agric Amanita muscaria, which is a mushroom, are associated with birch. And even if you've never seen a Fly agaric mushroom you probably know what they look like because Disney based the mushroom on the film Fantasia's Mushroom Dance on the Fly agaric. And ever since, mushrooms with bright red caps and white spots have been making appearances in cartoons and drawings as a representation of the typical mushroom. But a mushroom we look forward to hearing each year that grow in association with Birch, the Chanterelle Cantharellus cibarius. The Chanterelle or Girolle is used in many dishes and is a favorite of the chefs everywhere. Taphrina beulina is a fungus that grows not on the roots of birch, but on its branches. It's known as a witch's broom because the fungus causes a densely bunched bowl of small twigs, easily mistaken for abandoned bird's nest or for the drey of a squirrel. Birch timber is used for furniture, roof shingles and the bark strips can be used to make small containers or shoes. It's very flexible and easy to work. Birch burns very well as twigs make great kindling for starting your fire. In the UK, Birch timber uses are limited due to the diminutive size, the trees that grow here. In other countries, the timber from the birch forms an important, and valuable resource used in all types of manufacturing. If you have a good number of birch trees, you can produce birch sap, or birch water. Each trees is carefully tapped so that the sap can be drawn off normally, only harvested as the seasons move into spring. This is when the trees in producing the most sap each trees is tapped for a short period before being allowed to rest and produce leaves. Birch symbolizes renewal purification in Celtic mythology. Bundles of birch twigs are used to drive out the old used spirits at the winter solstice. In Finland, branches of the birch are used to beat oneself while in the sauna. Perhaps its a sign of renewal and purification in Scandinavia as well. Elm. We have or perhaps I should more accurately say had two species of Elm in the UK. English or field elm Ulmus procear and Wych elm Ulmus glabra. Elm because of its plentiful ness, was used a lot in construction. Many churches in the UK have bell towers that use them to make the stocks for supporting the bells. Elm timber is used in the building of the great wooden hulls of the sailing ships used to ply trades with other nations. And then in the late 1960s, a deadly variant, the Dutch Elm Disease was imported on shipments of the Rock Elm Dutch Elm Disease is a fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi. This fungus has effectively decimated all the elm trees that were once so numerous. The fungus moves from tree to tree, hitching a ride on the elm bark beetle. The beetles breed in the bark of cut and disease elm boring holes in the tree. It is here they come into contact with the spores of Opiostoma novo-ulmi when the beetles disperse to find a new tree where they can build a home and start a family. They carry the spores with them. So another healthy tree is infected with Dutch Elm disease. Thus, tree by tree Dutch disease spread out across the UK starting in the south of England. It took only ten years for it to reach Scotland. Tens of millions of Elm have died in the UK in countries like France and many of the other European countries hole forests of elm have been laid waste. The result of Dutch Elm disease is the lost elm from our countryside. A few Wych elms survive in Scotland. Perhaps some of the last down woodlands once so abundant near us is a witch elm growing in the precinct to the Beauly Priory founded in 1230, for the Valliscaulian order of monks. Because of its size and some dating evidence estimates are that the tree was planted about the same time as the priory was built, making 800 years old. Unfortunately, Dutch Elm Disease caught up with the tree and now only about 10% remains alive. For how much longer we all wonder. Whereas just down the road and the remote Glen Afric is Scotland's tree of the year 2019. It's another Wych elm. The hope is that it is such a remote location it would be protected from the elm bark beetle and therefore from Dutch Elm Disease. Elm, which once made up a large part of our woodlands and forests. Is now all but gone from these lands. Its downfall was imported timber carrying a disease we can't control This scenario is being played out again and again as our need for more imports brings disease and the destruction to our shores. That is the last species we are going to cover in this episode. We hope you've learned a little and enjoyed listening. Because we had so much material about trees. There is going to be another episode next month. We will cover some more tree species and have some more general facts. If in the meantime, you've any questions you think we can answer? Please reach out to us on social media. All the links are in the show notes. Also, we've included in the show notes links to some of the tree based organisations here in the UK. They have a wealth of information about trees and the ongoing efforts to save and protect our remaining woodlands. So for now, thank you for listening. My name is Mark Bloomfield. And you've been listening to a wildlife photography podcast produced by MJ Bloomfield. For more information and details about us and our work, visit our website at mandjbloomfield dot com. Thank you for listening and we hope you join us again soon. Chun an sin, mar sin leat.