Page background images and galleries: Scenes from the Woodland Ways circular walk by a WW volunteer

Voulunteer Tree image on front page by Sarah White: Creative Commons image

November

Newsletter

Site Map

Web site design, hosting and content by Thirdsectorweb | Part of SmithMartin LLP Graphic Design by Radha Clelland | Code development by Natasha Smith

Woodland Ways mission:

Education for sustainable development through local action and global awareness.

Discover our educational policy and vision here

Check out our volunteer page, you can

help change the landscape too!

January 2025

Newsletter

View, print or download

a  copy here

(.pdf file)

Find us on Facebook

This month's Tree Quotation

“Rilke wrote: 'These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased.”

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926),
shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (German: [ˈʁaɪnɐ maˈʁiːa ˈʁɪlkə]), was an Austrian poet and novelist

Discover more  here

Trees

Part of the planetary mosaic of life...

Have you visited

Natterer's Wood

lately?

Page background images and galleries: Scenes from the Woodland Ways circular walk by a WW volunteer

Voulunteer Tree image on front page by Sarah White: Creative Commons image

Web site design, hosting and content by Thirdsectorweb | Part of SmithMartin LLP Graphic Design by Radha Clelland | Code development by Natasha Smith

Typewriter image: Florian Klauer,

Creative Commons, Unsplash

Happy New Year! Your trustees are looking forward to a year in the
woods and where our wildlife benefits from our work parties.

Mistletoe
As we come out of Christmas, some of us may have indulged in the pastime of kissing someone under a sprig of mistletoe held aloft. Its use as a seasonal decoration probably derives from a long history of use in ritual, which may have started with Celtic druids. It’s seen variously as a symbol of fertility, love, and peace across European cultures. However, the kissing tradition itself appears to have developed more recently, perhaps in the 18th century. Most mistletoe on sale before Christmas comes from Europe, where it is common in places. Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire are strongholds in England.

In Suffolk, mistletoe grows mostly on lime, poplar, and apple trees, and occasionally on ornamental trees such as false acacia and ornamental hawthorn. Its thinly spread across Suffolk; you can see its big balls of leaves high up trees when driving around Ipswich, on the lime avenue at Kentwell Hall and in Ickworth Park. Interestingly, mistletoe colonised Moreton Hall earlier this century where it now grows on an ornamental alder tree in Tassell Road.

Mistletoe relies on other trees to survive. Mistletoe isn't like a normal plant. It's parasitic, which means it has to grow on other trees to survive. It grows in round clusters, giving it the appearance of sprouting magically from tree branches. Its roots, adapted to grow into bark and connect into the tree’s vascular system, takes the nutrients and water from the tree it grows on. Although it doesn't usually kill the host tree, it can weaken it. Mistletoe can also make some of its own food as it has evergreen leaves which photosynthesise to create additional energy for the plant.

Mistletoe berries are rather glutinous and sticky. When pecked at by a bird, sometimes the berry flesh is eaten but the seed rejected, or sometimes the whole berry is rejected. The bird has to wipe its beak on something, often a branch, to clean the sticky mess off itself. Excreted undigested seeds are also sticky. That’s how seeds get transferred to new trees, and a small proportion of these seeds will be able to germinate, send roots into the bark and establish as a new plant.

In February, we’ll try to propagate mistletoe in our traditional orchard at Pond Covert. We’ll collect mistletoe berries from somewhere nearby, and squeeze the seed from each berry. Seeds come out enclosed in a ball of sticky jelly-like viscin, so we’ll try to remove as much of this jelly as possible, as the seeds seem to germinate better when fairly clean. We’ll wipe the seeds off our finders onto branches 3cm – 5cm diameter, on the underside so rain runs down onto them to keep them hydrated. Germination rates are high, so a few weeks later we expect to see several little seedlings. The seedlings are prone to naturally die, be eaten by pigeons or invertebrates, so seedling survival is low.

Hopefully we will end up in a few years with some of this lovely plant adding to the character and biodiversity of the orchard.

Membership renewals
Thanks to most of our members, for renewing your membership in the autumn. The membership year is October to September, with a discount for people joining part way through. If you haven't yet renewed, or can't remember if you have done, do get in touch!