The penultimate blog post of my species a day challenge for January. I’m in two minds what to do after tomorrow, to continue writing one every day or to make it twice a week. The issue with every day is running out of things to write about, and that will invaraibly mean writing about more and more obscure things which would need more research, which means more time. I’m liking that it’s a quick process right now but it soon won’t be. On the other side I can easily slip from writing two a week to none at all, I know how my scatterbrained mind works! Any suggestions are welcome.
Today’s species is an amalgamation as I’m not sure on the identification, there is an avenue of trees in my local park which are veteran and ancient in their makeup (ancient are ‘remarkably old for the species’ and veterans are slightly younger). There are two types which were planted centuries ago; Small-leaved Lime and Common Lime. The former are commoner and the latter rare, but were commonly planted in parks.
What: Lime Tilia sp. L. (sp. means “a species”)
When: 30th January 2020
Where: Poynton Park, Poynton, Cheshire, UK
Who saw it? Me
How was it recorded? I haven’t, but two of the avenue are on the Ancient Tree Inventory https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/
Is it bigger than a blackbird? Well obviously, they’re huge trees which can hold many blackbirds!
What is it? (I’ll focus on the small leaved lime Tilia cordata as it’s more ‘wild’) A large deciduous tree with heart shaped leaves. Are thought to be the amongst the first deciduous trees to colonise the British Isles after the end of the last ice age when the islands were still connected physically to mainland Europe. Occasionally known as Linden trees. They are not related to the citrus limes. They host numerous insect species which depend on them for food and shelter.
A fact I have learned about this species: The lime is a sacred tree in Slavic mythology. (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/small-leaved-lime/)
Is it charismatic in my opinion? Yes, trees are amazing. Old trees even more so. They host so much wildlife and will have witnessed so much, they were here before us and hopefully will be here long after us as well.
A Species a Day 