Spring on the Southwell Trail - Part 17 (June 2018)

The theme for this selection from the Southwell Trail is a combination of leaves, the colour green, and tree identification. As I stated in my previous post it was becoming more difficult to photograph the trail itself due to the dense foliage and some bright highlights. The constrasty nature of the results didn't appeal too much and, unlike the winter shots where I thought there was still some variety in the photographs, the late spring compositions started to look very similar.

The alternative to the wide landscapes, was close-up work and the details of the trail at this time of the year, starting with compositions of hawthorn, oak, and possibly hornbeam leaves. I am still not sure about the hornbeam and I am basing my identification on the serrated edges of the leaves. Earlier in the season I photographed a catkin which I thought was hornbeam and now I am waiting to see if I can spot its winged fruit known as samaras.

I did spot a variety of winged fruit or helicopter seeds during June and I started to investigate the differences between them. In doing so I came across a great guide on the Woodland Trust website. They use the shapes of famous people's moustaches as fun way to identify the different seeds. For example:

1) The field maple or the Clark Gable:

2) Sycamore or Frank Zappa

3) And one that made me laugh - the ash tree or ? as "no one's quite sure who the ash seedling looks like"

Other tree fruit I spotted included:

Horse chestnut:

Blackthorn sloes:

Wild cherries:

Wild pear:

Some insects:

Red soldier beetle

Scorpion fly (I think)

Finally, there was lots of sunny weather during the early part of June and only enough rain to dampen the leaves on one particular day: