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13/7/2023 0 Comments

Insects on the Meadow

Some insects (and spiders) you can see on the new meadows by the viewpoint and around the Parkwood Springs site in the summer.

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30/6/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: July 2023 - The Lime Tree

The Lime (or Linden) Tree is a fast growing tree that can reach 40 metres in height. There are several species found in Britain, but the most commonly planted is the Common Lime, a natural hybrid between the small and largeleaved Lime. The Common Lime is tolerant of many different growing conditions which has led to it being planted widely in parks, churchyards, country estates and along urban streets. Many Sheffield roads, including several local to Parkwood Springs, are lined with Lime trees. The bark is ridged and mature trees will typically have many shoots and burrs near the base of their trunks. The Lime is an elegant tree, even in winter, with its downward-sweeping branches.

In late June and July many clusters of honeyscented flowers develop and fill the air with their elusive scent. The flowers hang below pale green bracts which stay on the tree long after the flowers have faded, as the seeds develop.

Wildlife value of the Lime Tree: Many moth caterpillars feed on the leaves of the Lime tree but the most spectacular is the Lime Hawkmoth. This large, beautiful moth has no mouth parts since it is one of the moths that don’t actually feed in their adult form. They only live for 2-3 days, long enough to mate and lay eggs for the next generation. Honey made from Lime flowers is much valued but their attractiveness to Bumblebees is a cause for long-term research. For many years there have been occasional reports of Bumblebees, in big numbers, being found dead underneath Lime trees, especially the less common Silver Lime. The theory being researched by Kew gardens is that the heady clusters of Lime flowers contain caffeine or some chemical that lures Bumblebees back and back over long distances to feed on the pollen and nectar. The nectar is of low quality so it is possible that the chemical structure of the scent enhances memory, deflecting the bees from richer nectar sources and these long, repeated journeys exhaust the bumblebees.

Lime flowers are hermaphrodite, comprising both male and female elements, and are pollinated by a range of insects. The tannin in Lime leaves attracts aphids in large numbers. The aphids suck on the sap and excrete a sticky honeydew substance which is ‘farmed’ by ants. Bacteria grow on the honeydew and the result can be a hard-to-remove sooty, sticky substance falling on cars and surfaces under the trees.

Uses of leaves and flowers: The young, fresh leaves can be used in salads and the sap was used in medieval times to sweeten drinks.

The flowers are frequently used to make teas, sold as Linden Tea, and as well as a refreshing drink it is thought to aid digestion. Herbally it has been used to treat coughs, colds and infections. The flowers are used to make perfumes.

Uses of Lime wood: The light-weight, fine-grained timber is highly valued by a range of wood-workers. Puppet and model-makers often use Lime wood, and its acoustic qualities have led to it being used for drum-shells, guitars, recorders and piano-keys. It is also used to make blinds, and the early Germanic peoples used it for their shields. In the Orthodox Christian world it was used for the panels of Icon-paintings. Lime also yields a fine charcoal.

Lime wood is particularly suitable for intricate carving. One of the most remarkable exponents of Lime-wood carving is the famous Anglo-Dutch Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721). A whole room of his extraordinary carvings can be seen in Petworth House, West Sussex. Important pieces are in the in the V and A and other national collections.

Uses of Lime tree bark: Bast is the common name for fibres made from the inner bark of the Lime (and some other plants). The bark is peeled off the tree, and soaked in water for several weeks before the inner fibres, or ‘bast’, are separated out, softened and prepared. The Lime bast has been used for millennia to make a range of products from fishing nets, baskets, shoes and ropes, for paper and material for clothing. The Ainu, indigenous people of Japan, and the people of Bronze Age Britain are among those known to have favoured bast for clothing.

Local avenues of Lime: There is a famous avenue of Lime trees at Wentworth Castle but it was the second-longest Lime Avenue in the UK, along the Rivelin Valley in Sheffield, that drew the headlines as part of the Sheffield Tree Action Group’s campaign against the City Council’s street-tree felling programme. 31 of the 700 trees in the Avenue were due to be felled, many of them in good health. Eventually, after thousands of street trees were felled, STAG was successful in its city-wide campaign.

The Lime tree in mythology: There is a myth that it is impossible to tell a lie under a Lime tree, which probably derives from its long association as a symbol of justice. In Germanic culture the Lime, or Linden as it is known in Europe, is associated with justice and peace. In rural Germany verdicts for small misdemeanours were decided ‘sub tilia’- ‘under the lime tree’.

In many Eastern European countries the Lime tree is called the Holy Tree, and some villages in Poland are named Swieta Lipka, or Holy Lime. It is the national emblem of several countries, including the Czech Republic.

The Greeks referred to the Lime or Linden tree as a tree of virtue. At the end of her life Philemon, one of the pious couple Baucis and Philemon, was changed into a Lime tree and Baucis into an oak. The legend goes that the couple welcomed and fed Zeus and Hermes when they were disguised as travellers. For their kindness they were honoured by being changed into trees, twined together forever in death.

The Lime Tree in the arts:
Shakespeare also knew the Lime as the Line tree. In the Tempest:
Prospero asks “How fares the King and his followers?”
Ariel, the sprite replies “Confined together … all prisoner’s sir,
In the Line-grove which weatherfends your cell.
They cannot budge till your release”

The use of Lime wood, or Basswood as it is known in America, is referenced in the poem Hiawatha, by Longfellow, 1855:
“Sumptuous was the feast Nokomis
Made at Hiawatha’s wedding
All the bowls were made of basswood
White and polished very smooth”.
Hiawatha, on whom the poem is based and about whom there are many legends, was probably a real person, a member of the Native American Onondaga tribe, and thought to date from around the 1100’s.

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18/6/2023 1 Comment

An update from our 2023 May AGM

We moved our Groups AGM back to May time this year. In doing so, we want to update on all that has happened since November 2022, in addition to providing a space to illustrate our ongoing events and activities on Parkwood Springs.

Firstly, a range of activities and events have continued to be held on site, primarily our Forest Garden and Conservation sessions (look at our new steps!) and guided walks. The Dawn Chorus, fungi and wildflower walks continue to be very popular indeed! In October last year we were able to hold another spectacular Lantern Procession once more.

AGM update

On the 9th May, our AGM focused on three major areas of discussion: the development of the Places to Ride project, the restoration of the closed Landfill site and the potential redevelopment of the old Ski Village site.

We will explain those three areas outlined above in more detail and how we approached the challenges and benefits linked to the redevelopment of the site.

As you can see from the above photo, work on the new paths and cycle paths has started to take shape on Parkwood Springs. There will be more work to make the paths easier to walk on in the autumn.

In a past update we discussed the four packages of work as part of the Places to Ride scheme. Later on in the summer the next work package, the provision of toilets, a kiosk and storage units will begin construction. The Council is also beginning the process of appointing an operator for the kiosk.

As a result we expect some potential challenges around accessing parts of the main car park off Shirecliffe Road, but we will keep you updated on progress.

Landfill Restoration

As we all know, the Landfill has been closed for some years now. The restoration is moving forward, and we know that before long we’ll have access to a growing network of paths across it. But it’s moving forward quite slowly. It hasn’t been helped by the change in ownership from Viridor to a new company, Valencia. There have been issues about drainage with Yorkshire Water, and legal issues to do with land ownership, but we gather these are now being sorted out.

The good news is that everyone is committed to the public having access to that network of paths. Valencia want to make sure that people are safe using the site, and obviously we do too. Therefore there will be restrictions for some while yet. However we understand that Valencia are now trying to speed things up, and we hope that this will mean we can go to at least some new areas by the autumn.

The outstanding issue for us is about our wish to see a wetland area on the closed Landfill, for nature, biodiversity, and to be an attractive feature for people. We have been pressing for this for years. We thought that we had agreement from Viridor (the previous owners) and were pleased to see it in documents submitted to the Council for planning permission. When permission was granted, the wetland area was reflected in the planning conditions attached to it. However, what was dug out was a rectangular ‘tank’, with steep sides on three of the four sides (steep sides really limit its value for wildlife). The area can be glimpsed through the trees from the ‘Beacons’ Viewpoint (where the poles are).

We realised that what Valencia dug out meets the need to manage the drainage of surface water, but it was a long way away from what we wanted, and thought had been agreed. The committee has spent a lot of time pressing for improvement. Council officers have taken our comments and representations seriously, and we understand that there are on-going discussions with Valencia. It looks as though there will be some improvements achieved through planting of vegetation and some softening of the edges. However we fear that it will not be as good an outcome as if Valencia had taken the issue seriously earlier.

Ski Village redevelopment and Transport Options Study

The Council are continuing to try to bring in investment to redevelop the old ski village area, which they have called the ‘Opportunity Site’. The main obstacle to development is transport access, which is currently only available through the narrow bridge on Douglas Road. The Council’s consultants Mott MacDonald began a transport assessment last year which is looking at all aspects of access to the site, highways, public transport, walking and cycling. The output from this assessment will be a critical part of any future submission for funding from government.

The Friends group and other local groups have participated in the assessment, and we are continuing to monitor what is happening. The first phase of the study has been completed and we are waiting to see the report which will show what has been done, and what will be happening next. We understand that three highway options will be investigated with detailed costings and modelling of the effects on the wider transport network. These will be brought together with the public transport, walking and cycling options.

We will be looking in detail at the first phase report, and have urged the Council to continue involving other local stakeholders such as the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery, KINCA and the Upper Don Trail Trust.

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3/6/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: June 2023 - Walnut

Our young Walnut Tree in full leaf at the Forest Garden, Parkwood Springs

The Walnut is not a native tree. It was first introduced to Britain by the Romans, who valued it for its nuts. It is a fast-growing, hardy tree able to reach 35 metres in 60 years. When young the bark is smooth and deep olive/brown. As the tree ages the bark becomes fissured and gnarled. It takes around five years to start to bear nuts and from then the harvest will steadily increase.

The Walnut, is encased in a wrinkled shell, growing inside a thick husk. It ripens mid-autumn and naturally falls to the ground, where mice, squirrels and other mammals eat it. Squirrels often spread the tree when they fail to retrieve all their caches of food. Don’t pick the husk until it opens to reveal the shell.

The Wildlife Value of the Walnut Tree: It is not only the nuts that prove valuable to wildlife (they are eaten by Squirrels, Mice and other mammals)- the leaves are a food plant for moths, including many micro-moths. Around 1,850 species of our 2,500 moth species in the UK are micro-moths (having wing-spans less than 20mm). They are often hard to identify- there are whole books dedicated to these tiny moths. Moths are underrated in our ecosystems - they are invaluable pollinators for many cultivated crops and wild plants.

Human Uses of Walnuts: Walnut Trees carry both male and female flowers. The wind carries the very fine pollen from the male flowers (catkins) to fertilise the female flowers. The Walnuts that result are very good for our health, and thought to help lower cholesterol. They can be eaten raw, roasted, salted or pickled. The ground nutshells are used as an abrasive.

The Oil can be used to make salad dressings and the sap is edible and sweet to taste. The oil has also been used as a wood polish, as a basis for varnish, used to burn in lamps and used in soap, shampoos etc.

Herbal uses have involved much of the plant. The leaves and bark are used as an astringent and detergent. The leaves can also be used as a hair-dye, for acne and to treat other skin conditions.

In the past the bark been used as a purgative and the shell used to treat blood poisoning. Juice was extracted from the husk of the nut and used as a throat gargle, as well as yielding a dark yellow dye.

The Walnut does produce a noxious substance called ‘juglone’ that is released into the soil and can affect other plants nearby, so it is often planted a little away from other plants. This chemical, present in much of the plant also led to its use as an insecticide. Fishermen are said to have used the bruised branches to stun fish.

The deep green, glossy ‘pinnate’ leaves cast a dense shade, which also inhibits the growth of other plants under its boughs. When crushed, the leaves smell like polish. As it matures, the Walnut Tree makes a great specimen tree so they were widely planted in parks, the grounds of country houses and large gardens.

Walnut timber: In the late 17th Century English Oak was overtaken by Walnut as the most sought-after timber for high quality furniture. It has a complex and fine-grain pattern and is a very stable wood. Walnut furniture can be seen in many of our old Country Houses but the fashion shifted as two thirds of the mature Walnut trees in Northern Europe were killed by a severe winter in 1709. By 1720 the French banned the export of Walnut, which was gradually replaced by Mahogany from Central America. Our furnituremaking ‘Friends’ member Robert tells us that Walnut is one of his favourite woods- most used now is American Black Walnut. European Walnut has varied heart and sap, and is dried with steam to lessen these differences. Sunlight, unlike for other woods, tends to lighten Walnut wood.

Aesop’s Fable- The Walnut: ‘The Walnut Tree’ is one of Aesop’s Fables (620-564 BCE). A moral tale like many of these early fables, it expresses the idea of how cruelty and ingratitude can be shown towards those who do good- people gladly enjoy my fruits, it says, but they have a terrible way of showing their gratitude, throwing sticks and stones at me to bring down my walnuts. One translation recounts “O wretched me! That those whom I cheer with my fruit should repay me with these painful requitals!”

Legends associated with the Walnut:
- The botanical name for Walnut, Juglans, is linked to the Roman myth of the god Jupiter who was said to favour eating Walnuts when he lived on Earth.

- An early Sanskrit legend tells of young men kicking the tree to make it flower so the tradition of beating Walnut tree trunks to make them fruit is clearly widespread and long practised - “the more you beat them, the better they be”. There is no truth to this long-practice - it is a myth. Through the ‘doctrine of signatures’, where plants that have the appearance of a body-part or disease were thought to be beneficial for healing that which they resemble, the Walnut, looking like a miniature brain, was thought to be good for brain-health. While there has been no direct link made in research, the fact that Walnuts are high in antioxidants, ‘good’ fats, minerals and vitamins means they are still regarded as good for general health.

The famous American poet Mary Oliver wrote:
The Black Walnut Tree
“My mother and I debate we could sell the black walnut tree to the lumberman,
and pay off the mortgage….”
Two women trying in a difficult time to be wise.
She concludes to leave it as selling it would cause them shame “in the emptiness we’d made”

Random facts:
- Oxford University is trying to develop a Walnut Tree better suited to our climate.
- Turkey is a big walnut-producer but by far the biggest is California.

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28/4/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: May 2023 - Hawthorn

Wildlife value of Hawthorn: The leaves of Hawthorn are the food-plant of many butterfly and moth caterpillars, including the Brimstone Moth, several Pug Moths and the Lesser Yellow Underwing. The flowers provide nectar and pollen for small beetles, many hoverflies, several species of solitary bee including Andrea, Halictus and Lassioglossum. The honey produced by Honey Bees feeding on May blossom is a deep, rich amber. The flower buds are also fed on by the protected Common Dormouse. The berries in autumn supplement the diet of our native Thrushes and Blackbirds, winter Thrush visitors (Fieldfare and Redwing) and another special winter visitor: the Waxwing. Small mammals also feed on the haw berries, as do the larvae of the Hawthorn Shield Bug, while birds and mammals often shelter or nest in dense Hawthorn hedges and thickets.

Human uses of Hawthorn: The finegrain wood has been used for woodcarving and, with its magical properties, for wands (the fictitious Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series has a wand made from Hawthorn!).

The berries, high in pectin, anti-oxidants, Vitamin A and C, are used in making jellies, though the small fruits, with their large stone, make this a fiddly task. The leaves, known commonly as ‘bread and cheese’ are edible when young and can be used in salads. As children we would eat the leaf-buds on the way to school.

Hawthorn berries have been used as a tonic. Herbalists have long used Hawthorn to treat cardiac and circulatory conditions.

The 17th Century herbalist Culpeper, in his book ‘The English Physician’ recommended Hawthorn as a remedy to remove thorns, treat dropsy (known today as oedema), remove stones and for “inward tormenting pains.

The mythology of the Hawthorn tree: Supernatural powers have been associated with this ‘enchanted, magical tree’ and these beliefs persisted well into the 19th Century. It was sacred in many Celtic cultures and the Mayday tradition of the Maypole is associated with the tree, as are the ancient spring rituals of Beltane, where it symbolises new life, love and protection.

The legend of the Glastonbury Thorn is based on the belief that Joseph of Arimathea, who was believed to have buried Jesus after the Crucifixion, travelled to Glastonbury, planted his hawthorn staff in the ground there, from which grew the tree.

Planting a Hawthorn tree near your house was believed to protect you from lightning-strikes and to keep out evil spirits. To cut one down was thought to bring bad luck.

The mythology of May blossom: Bathing your face in the dew on May flowers, at dawn on May 1st was common, thought to bring you good health and complexion. In his diaries Samuel Pepys expresses his concern at his wife and maidservants leaving the house at dawn to do just this. Garlands of flowers and leaves of May are included in the wreath of the Green Man and many spring brides would wear May flowers in their hair, though you should always ask the fairies for permission to pick the blossoms they protected.

The flowers were said to be unsafe to bring into homes, except on the first of May. Recently the scent of May has been found to contain Trimethylamine, a chemical present in decaying bodies. At a time when many more people would have laid bodies out in their houses before burial, greater familiarity with the smell of decay probably led to this belief.

Random facts about Hawthorn/May:
- The oldest known Hawthorn tree is the Hethel Old Thorn, in Hethel, Norfolk, thought to be over 700 years old.
- Some of the miles of Hawthorn hedgerows in Normandy were so dense that, in 1944, 600 allied tanks were fitted with sharpened steel blades welded to the front to allow the advancing armies to penetrate the hedgerows.
- Hawthorn is a member of the rose family. The scientific name Craetaegus is derived from the Greek for strong.

The Hawthorn in Shakespeare:
The Hawthorn is mentioned in 5 of Shakespeare plays. In As You Like It, he writes about Orlando:
“There is a man haunts the forest that abuses our young plants with carving Rosalind on their barks, hangs odes upon hawthorns and elegies on brambles.”

In Henry VI Part 3 he writes:
“Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds looking after silly sheep
Than doth a rich, embroidered canopy
To kings that fear their subjects treachery.”

In King Lear Edgar speaks of winter winds so strong they can pass through a “sharp hawthorn”. He refers to a ‘young dandy’ as a “hawthorn-bud”

John Clare:
The great English poet and naturalist John Clare (1793-1864) wrote of Hawthorn. In ‘The Thrush’s Nest he writes:
“Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush that overhung a molehill large and round I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush Sing hymns to sunrise and I drank the sound With joy; and often, an intruding guest, I watched her secret toil from day to day How true she warped the moss to form a nest….”.

How much the widespread, resilient Hawthorn represents the English countryside is expressed in Siegfried Sassoon’s poem, to his son away at war:
The Hawthorn Tree (extract)
“I know my lad that’s out in France
With fearsome things to see
Would give his eyes for just one glance
At our white hawthorn tree”

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26/3/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: April 2023 - Ash

Ash is a fast-growing, native tree, quick to colonise woodland and openground. Ash is the UK’s third most common species after Oak and Birch and makes up 13% of our broadleaved woodlands. In some areas Ash is the dominant tree species. The flexible wood has many uses, and, though no species is dependent on Ash, many birds and insects benefit from it. Sadly an estimated 6 out of 7 Ash trees could succumb to the devastating disease of Ash die-back.

Throughout winter, the big black buds and silvergrey bark really stand out. In spring dramatic flowers burst from the buds. There can be male and female flowers on the same tree, and unusually the flowers on a branch can change between male and female in different years. The pinnate leaves emerge soon after. Their light canopy allows sunlight to reach the woodland floor, where many flowers can thrive. Ash ‘keys’, single winged seeds develop later in the year and are dispersed by the wind

Wildlife value of ash: Among flowers that can thrive beneath the light canopy are Ramsons (Wild Garlic), Dog Violet and Dog’s Mercury.

The bark is an important habitat for many lichens and mosses, especially in mature trees, where the splitting wood and hollows also supply great nestsites for birds like Nuthatches, Woodpeckers and Owls. Bats also nest in mature Ash and when the Ash dies, many invertebrates and fungi live and feed on its wood. Several moth caterpillars, including the Privet Hawkmoth, feed on Ash leaves.

When Ash leaves are shed, they return more nutrients to the soil than most leaves, breaking down quickly and supporting good mycorrhizal fungal growth in the earth.

Human uses of ash wood:
The Ash is an almost-white, shockresistant, strong and pliable wood which has led it to be used for many things including:
• Sports equipment such as snooker cues, tennis rackets, hockey sticks and skis
• Boats, oars, spars, tool-handles, frames and furniture
• Long-bows, shields, and spear handles - the name Ash comes from Old English ‘aesc’ meaning spear.
• Ash is good for wood-turning
• Quickly growing, and coppicing well, it is valued for wood-burning
• Ash was often used by parishes as a boundary-marker

Ash has been used herbally in the past for a wide range of conditions. It was once used as a cure for snake-bites and was used before to treat conditions as varied as kidney-stones, warts, gout, fever, fluid retention and earache. The bark and leaves were used as an astringent.

The wind and the Ash: Ash flowers are easily overlooked. Like many trees, the flowers don’t have to be brightly coloured to attract insect or other pollinators as they are wind-pollinated. Once pollinated the flowers form the seeds we know as ‘Ash-keys’, single-winged, and hanging down in bunches.

They gradually mature until they are themselves dispersed by wind, spinning long distances much as Sycamore ‘aeroplanes’ do. Bullfinches, Wood Mice and Dormice are among the wildlife that feed on the calcium-rich seeds.

Ash die-back: This disease, Chalara, is caused by a fungus which is easily carried by wind and spreads rapidly. It quickly affects young trees, which need to be felled if near public access. It takes longer to kill mature Ash. Ash die-back is radically changing our local landscapes. For example the Peak District has an estimated 8-9 million Ash, many of which are mature.

Their downward-sweeping branches, turning up towards the ends, are an elegant feature of the landscape, as well as supporting important wild-life.

Although the science is complicated a small quantity of Ash seem to be resistant to Ash die-back and this may lead to the ability to slowly replace some of the millions we lose, though this will take many years.

The Ash in legend:
In Norse legend the Ash was worshipped as a sacred tree, Yggdrasil, the Tree of the World. Yggdrasil was a giant tree whose roots penetrated deep into hell and whose highest tips reached heaven and around which all else exists. Odin, the most powerful of Norse gods, was believed to have carved the first human out of a piece of Ash wood.

The Vikings and Gauls believed the Ash to be protective and three of the five legendary trees of Ireland were held to be Ash trees. On the Isle of Man, Ash was believed to purify spring-waters.

In some areas a sick child would be passed through a cleft in the tree as a cure. Into the 19th century this was still being practised in parts of London. Burning Ash logs was thought to drive out evil spirits from a home.

Extract from ‘Ash Tree’ by Chris Poundwhite:
‘In so few strides I circumambulate the tree, its centuries, centred in rings of heartwood, sapwood- the circularity of years, charted seasons, bud and leaf-fall, bloom and icicle myth in its fibres, wood made word; the fissured bark of Yggdrasil, world tree, tree of Ask- the first man, tree’.

Extract from John Clare: Christmas:
‘Hung wi’ the ivys veining bough/ The ash trees round the cottage farm/ Are often stript of branches now/ The cotters christmas hearth to warm’.

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26/2/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: March 2023 - Blackthorn (Sloe)

Each month we will be featuring a species of tree found on Parkwood Springs. Visit our tree of the month page for further details here. This month we will be highlighting Blackthorn (Sloe).

The Blackthorn grows to a height of 6-7 metres and can live for 100 years. It has a dense growth and naturally suckers to produce thickets which, together with its long, strong thorns, make it a safe nesting and roosting site for many small birds and mammals, including the nationally threatened Nightingale and Turtle Dove. The same properties make it a valuable hedging plant.

The beautiful 5 or 6 petalled flowers appear in March, well before the leaves. Against the dark, almost sooty-looking branches the mass of flowers are a welcome display of early blossom. A cold spring is known as a ‘Blackthorn Winter’ and the early blossom is a source of nectar and pollen for many early bees, butterflies and other insects. The flowers can be crystallised. Early frosts, as with related species of plum, can diminish the later crop of fruit.

Sloes, the blue-black fruit that appear in autumn, provide food for several bird species and are also popular for making the attractively coloured Sloe Gin, Wine or Jelly.

Wildlife Value of Blackthorn/Sloe: A safe nesting and roosting site for some birds, Blackthorn is the most important food-source for the elusive Black Hairstreak Butterfly. This butterfly lays its eggs in autumn. They hatch in spring, the caterpillars feeding on the leaves. It is also important for the Brown Hairstreak and the caterpillars of several species of moth, including the Lackey and the Magpie Moth.

Sloe berries are a valuable food-source for several species of birds, including the Hawfinch and the thrushes that arrive here in winter from Scandinavia and Continental Europe - the Redwing and Fieldfare. The ‘bloom’ that develops on ripening Sloe berries is a type of yeast and it is believed to enhance the reflection of UV (ultraviolet) light which may make the clusters of berries more visible to flocks of birds flying overhead. The Blackthorn is subsequently spread as the indigestible hard stones are defecated by the birds as they perch or fly off.

Uses: Blackthorn wood is tough, knotty and gnarled and in addition to burning well it has long been used for things like walking sticks, marquetry, tools and the teeth of hay-rakes. It is the wood traditionally used in Ireland to make Shillelaghs, the clubs that were used to protect households and settle scores. It is still a symbol of Irish heritage, as seen in the logo of the American basketball team, the Boston Celtics.

Recipe for sloe gin:
500g Sloes, best picked when plump and after first frost (Can also use Bullace or Damson). NB: Frost ‘blets’ the sloes, making them softer and more juicy. If you pick before a frost, put the sloes in a freezer for a day or two to simulate a frost.
250g of sugar (golden caster is good)
1 litre of gin (or you can use vodka)

Wash sloes lightly, pat dry.
Each sloe needs to be pricked at least once- they used to say with a silver fork as the juice is very acidic. However you can use any fork or needle (and who has a silver one?- although my Grandmother kept one just for this purpose!)
Place in a jar or two with the sugar and gin, seal with a lid. (You can do this direct into a bottle if the bottle has a wide enough top for the sloes to be pushed into).
Shake well to dissolve the sugar, then turn or shake up every day or two for ten days, and occasionally after this. Leave in a cool, dark place.
Keep for 2-3 months before using. The liquid will go a gorgeous plummy colour.
Decant into bottles, straining from the sloes, although you can keep the sloes in.

Sloes and their variants: Our native Sloe/Blackthorn is likely to be one of the parents of many of our varieties of damsons and plums, and they can cross naturally with related species. Sloes have quite small leaves, are dense bushes and always have multiple thorny side shoots, the ends of which may become snapped off over time. A common form of wild prunus is the Bullace. The name Bullace derives from the Middle English Bolas. Bullace are not thorny, have larger leaves and produce bigger fruit than Sloes but a little smaller than Damson. There is a purple-black variety of Bullace but Bullace fruit can also be white, yellow or green. Bullace is probably a cross between the sloe and cherry plum, but as they cross easily the main way to distinguish any variants from sloes is by leaf-size, growth-density and the presence of thorns! We do have Bullace variants on Parkwood Springs.

The Mythology of Blackthorn: The Blackthorn is often associated with the darker side of the year and life (in reality the long thorns can produce a septic wound and act as a strong barrier) but their toughness is also associated with overcoming devastating difficulty and with protection. The medieval name for Blackthorn was ‘straif’ which is thought to be the origin of the word ‘strife’. In Celtic mythology the Goddess of winter emerges at Samhain, the 1st of November, to take over from Brighid, the Goddess of Summer. One of many images of the winter goddess is as the ‘dark crone of the woods’, gnarled and tough like Blackthorn wood, and depicted, a Raven on one shoulder, carrying a Blackthorn staff. Witches were said to use Blackthorn for their wands, to curse and cause trouble. In 1670 Major Thomas Weir of Edinburgh was burned, along with his Blackthorn staff, for witchcraft.

In Irish folklore Blackthorn copses are guarded by spiky fairies called Lunantisidhe or Moon Fairies who are unfriendly to humans. They will curse you if you cut the wood during the fire festival of Beltane (30th April) or Samhain. The Moon Fairies were thought to only leave the Blackthorn during the full moon, to worship their Goddess, so that was believed to be the best time to pick the Sloe Berries.

Herbal uses: The berries, bark and leaves have been used to stimulate the metabolism, cleanse the blood and heal stomach upsets, to ease rheumatism and to treat sore throats.

Use as a dye: The bark, leaves and flowers yield a yellow dye and the fruit a blue or pink dye.

A Blackthorn Winter (extract) by Ann Leahy
‘..spring was stark. Blackthorn in arthritic angles occupied a nether region, leafless, pricked with hard-nosed buds in pink, caught between death and regeneration, as if the year was loath to burgeon again, within the bark’.

Kipling (Puck of Pook’s Hill):
Of all the trees that grow so fair
Old England to adorn
Greater are none beneath the sun
Than Oak and Ash and Thorn.

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2/2/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: February 2023 - Hazel

Each month we will be featuring a species of tree found on Parkwood Springs. Visit our tree of the month page for further details here. This month we will be highlighting Hazel.

Pollen sampling has shown that Hazel was one of the first colonisers after the Ice Age. The wood, used since prehistoric times, is smooth greybrown, with yellow pores. Hazel can grow up to 12 metres and live for 80 years but when coppiced, this can extend to hundreds of years.

Hazel Nuts were a vital part of iron-age diets but are also valuable for much wild-life including Squirrels, Dormice, small mammals, Jays and Woodpeckers, sometimes cached for winter months.

Hazel leaves are serrated with a pointed tip, and downy underside. They are valuable food for many moth caterpillars and, along with the young shoots, were used in the past as animal fodder.

In January and February the Hazel Catkins are easy to spot. ‘Catkin’ comes from the Dutch for kitten -‘Kattekin- and our common name for them is ‘Lamb’s Tails- both names referring to Catkins’ resemblance to fluffy tails. A Catkin is made up of 240 small, male flowers which become heavily laden with pollen. The flowers don’t need to be showy or scented as the Hazel is wind-pollinated. The minute grains are blown over long distances. Produced in huge numbers they can only pollinate female flowers from a different Hazel tree, and thousands are ‘wasted’, though the pollen is a valuable food for early insects

Other Uses of Hazel Wood
Since pre-historic times Hazel has had many uses, including:
- the frames of buildings, coracles etc. It is the ‘wattle in the wattle and daub of medieval houses.
- being flexible, the split poles and sticks have long been woven into hurdles, to keep stock in, and are still used as screens beside busy roads.
- for hedging, including layered hedges, where hazel rods are also woven together for the hedge-top.
- easy to shape, they are made into hoops for securing thatch, curved for the handle of walking sticks, shepherd’s crooks, thumbsticks etc
- woven into baskets
- as staffs for combat
- for divining rods
- for beanpoles, plant supports

Food and health: Hazel Oil, like the nuts it comes from, is rich in vitamins and ‘good’ fats and is used in cosmetics and cooking. The nuts were ground into nutritious flour for bread. The nuts are still made into ‘nut butter’. Herbally, the catkins have been made into a tea to treat colds and all parts of hazel used to heal wounds. You may want to look up Benjamin Ebuehi’s recipe for Vegan Hazelnut Cake.

Wildlife value: The nuts are eaten by Woodpeckers, Pheasants, Pigeons, Nuthatches and Jays, as well as by Mice, Dormice, Rats and humans. The pollen is a useful early source of food for our bees. The leaves are food for a number of Moth caterpillars, including Tussock, Buff Arches, Buff-Tip and Light Emerald Moth, and for the Hazel Sawfly. Many small birds also roost or build their nests in Hazel Trees. The trunks of established Hazel are home to a range of Mosses, Liverworts and Lichen and the Fiery Milkcap mycorrhizal Fungus grows particularly under Hazel.

More Hazel History: Hazel has long been a vital part of human life. Evidence in Scotland shows Hazel Nuts were being processed for food at least 9,000 years ago, as well as the wood being used for shelter, boats etc. The Gaelic word for Hazel- ‘Coll’- appears in several placenames in Scotland and the emblem of the Clan Colquhouns includes Hazel. The English name derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Haesel Knut’, where Haesel meant cap, referencing the ‘involucre’ or green ‘envelope’ that surrounds young hazel nuts as they develop.

Nutteries
The Hazel and cultivated forms like Filberts and Cobnuts have long been grown in ‘Nutteries’, orchards dedicated to these highly nutritious nuts. In the UK they were grown on a large scale until the early 1900’s. Filberts get their name from St Philbert’s day, 20th August, when these cultivated varieties were judged to start maturing. Holy Cross Day, 14th September, was a traditional day for nutting and until World War One was a day off school for children in England to go nutting. There’s nothing tastier than a fresh Hazel Nut and going nutting is still a lovely activity to share with children, though the Grey Squirrel now often takes a lot of the wild crop.

The Hazel in Poetry:
W.B. Yeats is one of many writers familiar with Hazel. He conjures an evocative image in his poem, ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus:
‘I went into the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream,
And caught a little silver trout…’

The Hazel in Celtic Legend: With such a long history of value to humans, it s not surprising that Hazel occurs in many legends. The Celts associated the Hazel with wisdom and poetic inspiration. One of various forms of these myths involves nine hazel trees growing around a sacred pool. As the nuts drop into the pool, Salmon come to feed on them, gaining wisdom. The number of spots on a Salmon was believed to represent their level of acquired wisdom. Another variant features Fionn Mac Cumhail. In this story, one Salmon acquired all the wisdom. A Druid Master caught the fish and ordered his pupil to cook it, without touching anything from the fish, so the Master could absorb all the wisdom himself. Whilst cooking the sacred Salmon some fat spattered onto the thumb of the pupil and he instinctively licked it off. The pupil grew up to become the wise Fionn Mac Cunhail, a heroic figure of Irish legend.

Nightingales were believed to sing to Hazel to aid its growth. Druids used Hazel staffs in their rituals and they were frequently carried by pilgrims. They were thought to be the best wood for magic wands and for divining or dowsing for water. Until the 16th Century in parts of Ireland they were thought to be able to detect or ‘divine’ thieves. Hazel is associated with the goddess Brighid thought to bring ‘divine inspiration’. Hazel Nuts were worn as charms and to ward off rheumatism.

Keats: To Autumn
‘...And fill all fruit with
Ripeness to the core
To swell the gourd
And plump the Hazel shells
With a sweet kernel…’

Tree of the month: January 2023 - Alder and Italian Alder

Each month we will be featuring a species of tree found on Parkwood Springs. Visit our tree of the month page for further details here. This month we will be highlighting Alder and Italian Alder.

Alder

Our native Alder, a member of the birch family, can grow to 30 metres and live to be 150 years old. It is a ‘colonising’ species and particularly thrives in wet land, or with its roots in marshland, or by river, canal or pond. We have some in our woodland, and nearby there are many beside the River Don and around Crabtree Pond

The roots ‘fix’ nitrogen so can enrich poor soils, and also prevent erosion of riverbanks, as well as providing ideal nest sites for Otters. The pollen from catkins helps feed early insects. The fruiting bodies, or ‘cones’, which start off as green ovals, but become darker as they are pollinated, release seeds on which several bird species feed in autumn. The best time to identify Alder is in winter, when the dark cones and pale mauve, young catkins are very visible

Other uses for native Alder Wood:

It made the best charcoal for gunpowder
Many old uses are associated with the timber being waterproof, e.g. casks, drainpipes, the foundations of bridges and cathedrals and the old washing ‘dolly’. In some areas it is called the ‘dolly-tree’
Its strength and durability meant it was used for shields, arrows, clogs, stilts
In smoking to preserve meat and fish
For early flutes
It is still used for Fender guitars
The leaves, bark, fruit and ‘flowers yield dyes including the Lincoln Green of ‘Robin Hood’ fame

Herbal uses: The Alder, like so many of our native plants, has old associations with herbal remedies. It was used to treat rheumatism, and as a gargle for throats and tonsillitis. The leaves were believed to cool the feet, so were placed in shoes for the long walks many of our ancestors had to undertake.

Wildlife and Alders:
A wide range of wildlife benefits from Alder, especially from our native form, including:

Early insects feed on the pollen
Seed-eating birds benefit in late autumn and winter, including the Redpoll
Many species of moth, including the Tussocks feed on the leaves
The Alder Beetle can sometimes pepper the leaves with holes in late autumn - the tree survives
Many lichens, mosses and fungi live on the bark
Fish and Otters shelter in the roots.

Myths and Legends:
The native Alder tree has several myths and stories surrounding it Some arise from the deep orange of the wood when cut, and the way it can appear to ‘weep blood’ with its dark sap.

Because of this, many myths link it to the releasing of malign spirits when it is felled.
For similar reasons, there is a legend that Adders lurked in Alders.

The Alder’s qualities of yielding dyes probably led to the belief that Fairies used it to dye their clothes. This belief appears in the German legend Erikonig”, the Alder King, immortalised in the Music of Schubert. The green dye is still used, extracted from the leaves. The leaf opposite has been eaten by Alder Beetles, but shows the distinctive shape of our native Alder leaf.

The strength and durability of the wood probably gave rise to it symbolising strength and protection. In Irish legend, man was made from Alder and woman from Rowan. It was a sacred tree for Celts and Druids.

Some cultures believed it would help you find your way back to reality when lost in ‘other worlds’. A branch left in a cupboard by our ancestors was thought to protect the wood of the cupboard from woodworm as they believed woodworm would choose to eat the Alder first!

Italian Alder

There are two species of Alder on Parkwood Springs - the Native Alder and the Italian Alder. The Italian Alder has similar shaped ‘cones’ to our native Alder, but they are larger. This species is not so dependent on damp soils. It has been planted extensively around Sheffield, and other urban areas in our parks, along streets and roadways and on brownfield sites. This is because the elegant Italian Alder is fast-growing, tolerant of different soils and can cope with urban pollution and brownfield sites. Italian Alder has glossy leaves which are more elongated than the native Alder tree and they stay on the trees until early winter.

The pollen from the long catkins of Italian Alder feed many early insects so they are useful for our wildlife. Like the native Alder, the seeds attracts birds like Siskin and Redpoll, in late autumn and winter, and the smooth bark is a home for several lichens and fungi

The Alder Tree also gives it’s name to some well-known places in our area, including Owlerton and Owler Bar (locally pronounced ‘Ouler’) - the place where Alders grow. ‘Owler’ is the Middle English word for Alder and is a Northern English dialectic word for the tree.

The first known use of the name ‘Alder’ is in the 14th Century, deriving from the Early English ‘Ouller’ and Old English ‘Alor’. Although many areas have been drained and therefore are less likely to be the home for Alder, place-names can help identify where they once grew.

Alder Carr is the name given to the habitats Alder creates, together with willow, along our waterways.

The Alder turns up in the renowned Irish poet Seamus Heaney’s translation of the medieval Irish poem ‘Sweeney Astray’. The poem is about an Irish King cursed by a Saint to always wander the Irish landscape. He became familiar with all the trees:

‘The Alder is my darling/ All thornless in the gap/ Some milk of human kindness/ Coursing in its sap’.

The Venetians understood the particular qualities of Alder. Realising it didn’t rot when wet, they used it for the foundations of much of Venice, including the famous Rialto Bridge.

In fact, Alder gets harder when underwater.

There are some worrying signs of ‘Alder die-back in some areas- identified by lesions in the bark, ‘bleeding’ red sap.

Tree of the month: December 2022 - Silver Birch

Each month we will be featuring a species of tree found on Parkwood Springs. Visit our tree of the month page for further details here. This month we will be highlighting Silver Birch.

The graceful, delicate-looking Silver Birch is actually very hardy. A ‘pioneer’ coloniser, it can grow up to 30 metres and, along with Rowan, it grows at greater altitude than other species. It can live for over 100 years, and supports more than 300 insects, including the Angle Shades and Buff-Tip Moth and in some areas the rare Camberwell Beauty Butterfly.

Silver Birch carries male and female catkins on the same tree, producing thousands of seeds in late autumn/winter, providing food for many birds, including Redwing, Siskin and Greenfinch. Caterpillars that feed on the leaves also feed many birds in spring. It is the favourite nest-site for the increasingly rare Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Several fungi live on the birch, including the Birch Mazegill and the Birch Polypore (The Razor Strop), the latter eventually killing the tree. The light canopy encourages several fungi, including the iconic Fly Agaric, to grow in its shade.

The bark typically develops diamond-shaped fissures as the tree ages, and the white bark sheds its layers.

Each tiny nutlet on the catkins of Silver Birch can be carried up to a mile on the wind as they disperse in autumn and winter. The seeds are a valuable food source for several bird species.

Some of the uses, past and present:
• The bark was used for tanning leather
• Native Americans used the wood for canoes
• Long bunches of the fine twigs are used for besom brooms and for fire-beaters
• The wood has been used for race-course jumps, plywood, veneers, skis, and tool handles.
• Lengths of bark used for roof shingles
• High in resin, the wood is used to light fires
• The resin is a source of waterproof glue
• The sap is used medicinally, as a drink and to make beer in much of North Europe
• Used herbally to treat inflammation, and kidney stones
• To be given the birch, using the strong twigs, was a common punishment for children and to drive out the ‘evil spirits’ for those believed to be ‘possessed’

Some myths and legends: The Welsh associated the Silver Birch with love (the Welsh ‘Berth’ means ‘bright’) while residents of Colonsay draped twigs over their babies cradles to protect them from Fairies. They are important symbols in much of Russia and often thought to ward off evil spirits. Some Celtic tribes saw it as a Holy Tree. It is the First lunar month of the Celtic tree calendar and the Druids believed it to hold sacred powers of renewal and purification.

Fungi associations: Silver Birch develop strong mycorrhizal fungi associations beneath the soil, as well as the ‘fruiting bodies’ we see above ground, both on the tree and growing under its light canopy (see Fly Agaric below). Here are some of the fungi closely associated with the tree.

The Birch Polypore is particularly interesting. It is one of two fungi carried on the belt of ‘Otzi’, the 5,000 year old animal-herder found preserved, buried in the ice of the Alps. He could have been carrying it for two reasons: it was used as tinder to light fires and also medicinally against intestinal parasites which were found in his gut. Also known as ‘Razor Strop Fungi’ the dried strips were used until recently by barbers to sharpen cut-throat razors.