Salix caprea; ‘Goat willow’

Also known as Pussy or Goat willow, Salix caprea is sometimes considered a shrub but mainly has the height of a small tree. The habit is distinctively upright with being almost oval in outline.

The 6-10cm dark green leaves have a slightly crisp and crimpled margins. The yellowish to brown stems are studded with purple-brown buds that open to show soft furry greyish male catkins in March-April.

Goat Willow is a small deciduous tree with a dense spreading head of shoots that weep into the ground. It tends to become congested and top heavy. With a spread of 2.5 meters and a height ranging from 1.5 meters to 2 meters.

This species can grow in most soil conditions, but particularly well in moist soil conditions and preferring full sunlight.

This Goat Willow was found in Chorlton, the soil conditions seemed damp as we were next to a large body of water. there was also a number of goat willows growing in a close radius. 

Crataegus monogyna; ‘Hawthorn’

The leaves appear early in March and are well developed by the time the flowers open in mid may, With the scent of the flowers filling the area from May to well into June.

Slow growth, but rapid in thickness,  abundant branches and a thick mat of twigs, making the tree valuable for use as a wind breaker or in a tree belt.

Hawthorn is tolerant of all but extremely wet or acidic soils. The preferred soil is rich stiff loamy with a moderate amount of moisture.

Crataegus monogyna Endures wind and cold and can will grow densely in exposed conditions.

Hawthorn is seen as a pioneer of forests, woodlands and a component of scrubs on all types of soil except peat marsh or very dry conditions.

It associates in mixed communities with bramble, briar, holly and other scrub plants. Although it is best known as a hedge plant and forms the vast majority of field hedges throughout the country.

This hawthorn was found in damp soil conditions in Chorlton park, there were six others in a clearing all of similar height and looking healthy.

Corylus avellana; ‘Common Hazel’

 Corylus avellana or the common hazel is native to Europe and western Asia.  One of the hazels main uses in Britain was for creating hedgerows which are traditional boundaries between lands

Corylus avellana is a normally a shrub reaching up to 6 meters in height with deciduous rounded leaves around 6-12 cm long and across, both sides are hairy with a double-serrate margin. However the hazel is often described as a bush rather than a tree, as its often produces several trunks or shoots rather than just one. The brown bark is shiny, and peels away in strips, with the twigs being covered in hair.

Hazel is also cultivated for its nuts, the kernel of the seed is edible and used raw, roasted or ground into a paste. the nuts are in clusters of 1-5 together, the nut is inside a husk with encloses about three quarters of the nut. The nut is roughly spherical to oval, the nuts fall when ripe after about 8 months after pollination.

The flowers come out before the leaves in spring with single-sex wind pollinated catkins. Males catkins are the large of the two by being around 10cm, compared to female catkins which are hidden in buds

Pinus sylvestris; ‘Scots Pine’

Scots pine can be a small shrub to large evergreen trees up to 25 meters, depending on the way they are managed as they can easily be trimmed and used for ornamental parks and large gardens.

The bark on Scots pine can be quite variable, young bark being papery thin and orange-red colour. The bark on a mature tree can vary from grey to reddish-brown which creates layered plates of flakes of up to 5cm, with deep fissures in between.

With a life span of 250-300 years and have been found to be as old as 520 years old in a western pinewood in Scotland.

Scots pine leaves are blue/green needles that grow in pairs and about 5cm in length, which alternate around the stems. These leaves normally stay on the tree for 2-3 years, with old needles turning yellow in September before they shed.

Scots pine is the only coniferous native tree in Britain; it gets the name scots pine as its one of the few trees which can grow to maturity in the harsh landscape of the Scottish highlands.

This Scots pine was found in Platt Feilds park, in the small ornamental garden, there were a line of Scots pines in a row which worked as a screen blocking noise and wind.

Taxus baccata; ‘Yew’

Taxus baccata is an evergreen native to Britain much of Europe and Part of Asia and Africa, a conifer tree growing to 15 meters with a slow growing rate.

Yew trees prefer to grow in well drained soils and don’t like to grow in wet or water logged soils, this is why Yew trees often grow in sandy of chalky soils which offer good drainage.

Yew trees are hardy when it comes to soil Ph. And can handle the extremes of both acid and alkali soils.

Taxus baccata are very tolerant of trimming and can easily be cut into hedges, the trees are often grown into topiary.

The Yew tree is entirely poisonous except from the red fruits which help feed many animals but mainly birds.

This Yew was found underneath the canopy of an mature scots pine, its looked healthy and were a number of Yew trees under Scots pine.  

Alnus glutinosa; ‘common alder’

Alnus glutinosa is also known as the common alder, the European alder or the black alder. The common alder is best suited to wet conditions. Most commonly found by rivers and lakes. Alder can also survive in marshes with its roots submerged in water, but can also grow in drier ground Alnus glutinosa prefers wetlands.

In ideal conditions alder can grow up to 35 meters, alders can be coppiced or cut to promote new growth this has been a traditional way of managing alder growth in Britain. Copping is so woods can be managed for regular supplies of wood and creates rich range of habitats in woods for other species of animals.

A fast growing medium sized native tree found all over Britain up to 25 meters in the right conditions, with a spreading habit.

Due to alder growing in damp soil there is often problems with erosion. The alder root system keeps the soil in place and reduces erosion.

Five petalled creamy white flowers grow in flat clusters of 6-12. These are followed by greenish berries, or haws which ripen to red by September, each haw contains a single seed.

Alder is nitrogen fixing, this is by when nodes on the roots fix nitrogen back into the soil, this increases the nutrients in the soil to improve soil quality , so alder can help improve soil in areas of poor soil quality.

Leaves are rounded but taper towards the leaf stalk, a pear shaped looking leaf. The margin is toothed with 6-8 veins, with the leaves staying on the tree until quite late in the year.

This Alder was found on the edge of a line of planting which faced a number of public football pitches, it was going next to a number of mature silver birches.

Fraxinus excelsior; ‘European Ash’

The European Ash is one of Europe’s largest native deciduous trees. Often seen as a strong resilient fast growing tree that has recently become under attack from Ash dieback disease which is caused by a fungus which cause leaf loss and crown dieback, this is becoming a large cause of concern for many people involved.

European Ash is a large tree with growing up to 40 meters with a girth of around 6 meters. Ash has rapid growth to around the age of 50 years then slows down greatly with an average live around the 150 year mark.

Fraxinus Excelsior grows best in chalky and limestone soil types and also likes damp and mineral rich soils, if these are present than Ash can develop an impressive crown size.

Leaves are pinnately shaped around 20-35cm’s long with 7-13 leaflets from a size of 3-12cm long each.

Due to the time of the year which I found this tree, there were no leaves on the Ash which is the most recognisable element of this tree in the winter is its black bud which occur in pair at 90 degrees.  

This Ash was found next to a Path in a small Woodland near my house, the ground around it was very compact due to human usage, but seemed healthy as it was very large and a impressive amount of stems coming from the base of the tree.

Betula pendula; ‘Silver Birch’

Betula penula commonly known as silver Birch is very recognisable with its papery white bark which can be found in many cities in England and in native woodlands.  This tree is rather elegant with its unusual bark colour and its delicate branches and stems have made this a very popular tree in many different types of planting schemes.

Beltula pendula is pretty hardy tree, it prefers sunny to shaded spots but can grow in woodlands with poor light levels.  Beltula pendula grows well in most soil conditions from well drained to moist, but I most commonly found in damp conditions such as on peat or clay soils.  With little preference to alkali, acidic or neutral soil types as well as favourable to chalk, clay, sand or loamy soil. Making this tree very useful in cities as the soil is normally at a rather of Ph. levels due to pollution and soil conditions due to building developments of industry

In the right conditions Betula Pendula can grow up to 12 to 25 meters; this is if there are few competitors and favourable conditions.

The leaves of the Silver Birch are deciduous being green in spring and summer yet turning yellow in autumn, with triangular leaves about 3-6 mm’s long with serrated toothed edges on both sides.

This Silver Birch was found in a collection of silver birches on the side of a football pitch with well drained soil, as it was facing a clearing it had amounts of sun for most of the day.