16/04/2024
It's definitely an "Oak before Ash, just a splash" season ahead 🤞. We are rolling with natures rhythm and love seeing the changes come 💚🌳🌳💚
"Oak before Ash, we're in for a splash. Ash before Oak, we're in for a soak". At this time of year there are two trees outside my house that I start to look at more carefully than usual. One is a huge, old oak tree and the other a beautiful ash tree, and I'm watching their buds very slowly appear and start to unfurl.
I'm not sure how accurate this old d weather-forecasting adage is because the oak almost always comes into leaf before the ash.
The majestic oak I walk past several times a day with my dogs feels like a family friend - strong, reliable, kindly and smiling down on us all. I'm now raising its off-spring after collecting lots of acorns and potting them up.
Oaks are incredibly valuable as a wildlife habitat: one single oak tree can support up to 284 species of insects - and there are hundred of different species of oak in England.
Watching the oak tree through the seasons never fails to make me feel more optimistic and reassured - no matter how bad life might be, the oak tree keeps growing and creating new life. It's resilient and uncomplaining, always there. I don't quite know why I feel the need to describe its personality but I'd say if it had a voice, it would be deep and always reasonable, offering good advice (only when asked), always ready to comfort and with a dry wit.
The ash tree feels a bit more fanciful, it's upper branches slightly less substantial and ready with a flamboyant flourish when it's time for its keys to grow and wave in the breeze. A bit, 'hello, I'm here. Look at me!'
We really need trees in our lives. We need them because they're up-lifting and beautiful. We need them because they help combat climate change. We need them because they help stop soil erosion and reduce flooding. There's an easy way to help plant trees in the Yorkshire Dales, and name them after loved ones if you wish, with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. You can plant a tree in the Yorkshire Dales as a gift or in memory of some-one, or just because you want to talk to a tree.
