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210416-nutmeg-03

What’s wrong with this picture? The Bute Park label says Torreya nucifera – Japanese nutmeg tree, family Taxaceae. Think about it and I will tell you what’s wrong later…

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It’s that time again for the monthly tree-following link box. It will stay open for your tree-related links until 7pm GMT on February 14. By then I hope to have shared a post about my new tree for 2017, too – although I am STILL dithering over which tree it will be.

If you’d like to cut to the chase, the link box is at the bottom of this post.

Some people have already chosen a new tree – but why not join us? There’s no rush, you can join in at any time and you don’t really have to do it every single month if that’s too much. If you are new to tree following, read all about it here.

But for now back to that “Japanese nutmeg tree”. I was intrigued by its label when I spotted it nearly a year ago, and even considered following it. But the other day I realised a big mistake… Continue Reading »

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Glamorgan Heritage Coast at Southerndown, seen from the viewing point in Dunraven Park on the clifftop

When I visited Dunraven at Southerndown on Christmas Day (see blog post here) I did say I would tell you some more about the cliffs of the Heritage Coast itself. So here goes. Continue Reading »

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The books I read in 2016 – click on the image to see a bigger version

I’m not a great believer in making resolutions on New Year’s Day – any day will do. So I have decided to “sign up” for the Reading Challenge on Shaz’s Jera’s Jamboree blog. It’s a way of getting out of your comfort zone of always reading the same sorts of books. Continue Reading »

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Clematis vitalba or old man’s beard beside Blackweir Bridge – I had never noticed how lovely the seeds were before

The other day after lunch with an old friend I decided to walk back from Cardiff city centre to Pontcanna Fields over Blackweir Bridge, as I hadn’t been there for decades. My hour-long ramble started in Bute Park and took me to areas I had sometimes wondered about as I viewed them from the path on the opposite side of the River Taff. Continue Reading »

Here is another selection of tree news articles from around the world. Click on each of the pictures if you would like to read the full stories.

What does a gorilla want with a Christmas tree in January?

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Unused Christmas trees are donated to the Toronto Zoo for the animals to play with, says the Toronto Star…

Tribute to iconic tunnel tree sequoia

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A personal tribute to the tunnel tree sequoia, fallen in a storm in California, from a writer on the New Yorker…


Continue Reading »

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If you know Poole in Dorset, can you identify where you will find these two versions of the town coat of arms?

I love Poole in Dorset (where my mother was born) and have always been intrigued by the place’s coat of arms, with its heraldic dolphin and three shells – I thought they were cockles, as the town history trail is called the cockleshell trail, but Wikipedia says they are scallop shells. So I thought I would write a post about it, and share my images of three “sightings” of the arms. Continue Reading »

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Frosted oak leaves on January 3, 2017

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Before I turn my attention to a new tree to follow in 2017, I am looking back with fondness at the old oak (Quercus robur) I have followed throughout 2016 in Thompson’s Park, Cardiff.

I visited again on a frosty day last week but now it’s winter there is not going to be much change until it starts the annual cycle again in spring.

The only new observation was this spent firework from the New Year’s Eve festivities…

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Firework shell under the oak on January 3, 2017

So here is a comparison of how the tree looked as the months passed in 2016. Continue Reading »