Disclaimer

This blog is written by employees of Nottinghamshire County Council, the views in this blog are personal and may not be shared by the County Council.

Thursday 25 February 2016

Tree of the Week

Silver birch -Betula Pendula

Native to the UK and Europe, this is a fast growing and sometimes invasive tree, growing up to 30m tall. Birch trees are associated with specific fungi particularly Birch Polypore (razor strop), which is a bracket fungus that grows on the trunk.

  • Identifiable by it's silvery white bark, often flaking away and revealing greyer patches below. 
  • The leaves on a birch are up to 7cm, triangular and pointed with large jagged edges separated by smaller ones. In the Autumn the leaves turn a golden yellow before dropping.



Friday 19 February 2016

Tree of the Week

Scots Pine -Pinus Sylvestris 




















Scots Pine is one of only three conifers native to the British Isles, being more open and flat topped with a long trunk. The bark tends to be red-grey/brown lower down and red-orange higher up with a flaking scale like appearance.

  • Look out for the blue-green paired needles, 5-10cm long, along with the egg shaped pine cones 5-8cm, which become light brown and rounder as they mature.
  • This is a useful timber tree, producing wood for buildings, furniture, telegraph poles and chipboard.




Thursday 18 February 2016

Build a Bird Box success!



Well once again the Bird Box event was a sell out success, loads of new homes were made for lots of the garden birds around the county. People aged 3-83 enjoyed hammering nails into wood to create new homes for wildlife.

Monday 15 February 2016

Bird Ringing


Two recent bird ringing sessions provided us with some close up views of everyday birds.
Above we have a male Bullfinch, Marsh Tit, male Goldcrest and a male Siskin. 
Other birds caught during the sessions included, Nuthatch, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Coal Tit.


Monday 8 February 2016

Tree of the week

Candy Tree- Candyus Maximus


This tree is a one off native of Rufford Country Park, no other Candy Tree exists. It can grow up to 85m in height and trunk diameter of 10m.
  • The bark is white and sparkly. It provides candy canes for children who behave themselves at Christmas.
  • It has no leaves just really really really really sparkly glittery bark and branches, and lights up blue and white during Christmas time.

Saturday 6 February 2016

Events 2016

Check out the header tab EVENTS 2016 for a list of upcoming events.
This includes, build a bird box, brass bands and many more!!

Tuesday 2 February 2016

Tree of the Week

Wellingtonia-Sequoiadendron giganteum


Evergreen and coniferous,the Wellingtonia is native to California and outstandingly large. It can grow up to 85m in height and trunk diameter of 10m.
  • The bark is thick, spongy and rich red-brown in colour. It provides niches that are used by roosting birds, in particular Treecreepers.
  • The scale-like leaves tend to curve away from the twig with egg shaped cones ripening from green to brown in the second autumn, growing 4-5cm