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Talking Trees: Getting to Know the Arboreal Neighbours
It seems rude to pass our neighbours every day and not at least learn their names
‘It’s a Turkish hazel,’ says a voice behind me.
I’ve been standing in front of a tree, a young tree, still slight and unsure of itself, for the last few minutes trying to use the Woodland Trust’s app to identify it.
The man, a South West Water employee who’s doing a bit of community gardening, stops a healthy distance away from me and looks a little awkward.
‘I saw you looking for ages and figured I’d help you out, it’s not a very common hazel here.’
I realise that he’s likely under the impression that I have an exceptional eye for trees and stopped at this precise hazel because, whilst cycling past, noticed that it wasn’t quite the usual hazel. Subtly off.
This is not why I’m standing at this tree at all but I’m enjoying playing a character that would be stopped for such a reason.
I’m standing at this hazel, bike between legs, phone out, because spring is absolutely off its rocker this year and given our restricted reach, I’ve suddenly started spending an awful lot of time amongst the trees in a five mile radius. Where I live, that’s a considerable amount of trees…
