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

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Woodland Ways mission:

Education for sustainable development through local action and global awareness.

Discover our educational policy and vision here

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help change the landscape too!

MAY 2025

Newsletter

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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.

Woodland Condition

How good are our woods? Are they in good condition or is the combination of public use, deer grazing and historic management reducing their value? During our May work party we’ll work that out. Meeting at the Community Centre, we’ll learn the technique of assessing the condition of woodlands, based on the ‘Condition Assessment’ technique initiated by Natural England and now provided by Defra. It looks at numerous aspects of woodland species and structure, resulting in an assessment of ‘good’, moderate’ or ‘poor’. After the learning, we’ll visit Pond Covert, as the nearest wood, and assess its condition. The results indicate what improvements can be made, by us or by the Council.

Mistletoe

 In February, we tried to propagate mistletoe in our traditional orchard at Pond Covert. We collected over 100 mistletoe berries from a large estate just outside Bury St Edmunds, squeezed the seed from each berry and wiped the seeds off our fingers onto branches 3cm – 5cm diameter, on the underside so rain runs down onto them to keep them hydrated. We’re now going to monitor early success in germination and seedling survival, in our June work party.

Each group of four seeds inoculated onto the apple tree branches was marked with a coloured tag, so we know where and how many we set out. At the work party we’ll try and re-find the seed locations, to see how many seedlings we can find. We’ll map out the seedlings, to follow change over time. Many seedlings are expected to die from drought, failure to penetrate bark or eaten by invertebrates, which is why we planted so many. We hope that even a few will survive.

Germination has non-parasitic and parasitic phases. In the first non-parasitic phase the seed extends one or more green ‘hypocotyls’ which bend towards the host bark, forming a disc-shaped holdfast when they reach the bark surface. After this the parasitic phase begins as the seedling begins to penetrate the host tissue, connecting to the host’s cells just below the bark and stimulating the growth of a connecting haustorium. This haustorium, which will appear as a swelling where the mistletoe is attached, is a mix of both host and mistletoe woody tissue. For the next year, through 2025 and into 2026, all growth will be beneath the bark's surface so we won’t see any changes. After that, external growth will start but it might not be until 2029 or 2030 before we will see a decent-sized mistletoe plant.

News from the woods

Home Covert Did you notice the little greeny-yellow flowers of dog's mercury earlier this spring? By now you will be able to find the paired fruits on little stalks above the leaves. It was named after the Roman god Mercury, well before the planet was named or the runny metal was discovered. ‘Dog’s’ mean that it is inferior, suitable only for dogs and not people.

Woodland Ways Pond

 If the water in Woodland Ways Pond persists for a few more weeks, the smooth newts which breed there will produce efts (tadpoles) which should survive to adulthood. Frogs breed there too. Together with the toads which breed in the nearby pub's pond, this is a little amphibian hotspot in the area. If you did a garden pond you may well get one or more amphibians breeding in it. for most of the year, amphibians are land animals and they do find new ponds fairly quickly

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!