Tree of the Week

HOLLY -Ilex aquifolium

Holly is mostly seen in gardens and often used for hedges, but it can also form a substantial tree (up to 20m tall). The leaves tend to be spikey, glossy and dark green in colour, towards the base of the tree (to protect itself from wildlife grazing) and smother, less spikey towards the top of the tree. Holly bark tends to be smooth and grey, forming small pimples, often becoming silvery grey in older trees.

• An easy way to identify this tree is to look for the red berries, popular with Mistle Thrush and Holly Blue butterfly.

Tree Of The Week

YEW -Taxus baccata

The Yew tree is one of the world's longest lived trees, with some more than 2,000 years old. Crowns in young trees tend to be coned-shaped, becoming columnar, then domed. Yews are evergreen trees which means they keep their leaves during the winter, making them green all year round. All parts of the tree, except the aril, are poisonous to humans and livestock.

• An easy way to identify the yew is to look out for the red aril, 1cm long with a black seed. The bark tends to be scaly and red-brown and purplish in colour.

Highlight of 2015, twit twoooooo..........

Finally we can share some amazing news from 2015.
Remember this old post??? Click here!
The Janitors built an Owl box to specification made from materials we had laying around.

And we are delighted to inform you that 3 happy healthy chicks fledged from it last year!!!!

Video to follow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy New Year!!

(All photos taken this morning)

Merry Christmas

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

See you in 2016.

Rufford Ranger Team

It's Chrissssstmaaaaas, nearly

Here at Rufford we have been working on Christmas for quite a while now, whether it be weaving a willow hat for the snowman or making running repairs to the ever popular Christmas Trail.

A lot of work goes in to making sure things are to a high standard for the public to enjoy on their visits.This year we have re-located the tree to the Coach House courtyard and placed a lovely Victorian lamp in the inner courtyard, from mid afternoon as the light darkens it creates a magical atmosphere.

Also this year we are running a small ticket only event involving a Story teller, details on the photo below.

Autumn colour.

Not only are the leaves showing varying colour but the wildlife is too. Butterflies are still venturing out on sunny autumnal mornings, and dragonflies are making the most of the sun's rays by basking on every available warm surface.

Obviously we could not leave out a photo of the changing of lush green leaves to withering autumn colours. Below is an Oak tree making those such changes.

On a different scale of colour the Trailcam shot this image just after a Kingfisher had dived for it's lunch.