I think the south of the UK has some amazing woodlands and individual veteran trees, but I think it’s a case of finding a place where you’re happy, and we certainly suit the wildness of the west coast and its (admittedly weatherbeaten! In Britain, if a couple wished to live together but not marry, they could step over a birch broomstick together. According to Hesiod, the people of the third age of the world (Bronze Age) were born of the Ash tree.

Food plants in the americas: a survey of the domesticated, cultivated, and wild plants used for human food in north, central and south america and the caribbean. This proves excellent for wild flowers like Wood anemone, Violets, Bluebell, and Wood sorrel, as well as for mosses. The healing power of Celtic plants: their history, their use, and the scientific evidence that they work. I think it’s likely that you’ll have a Hazel rather than a birch, but double check And enjoy painting those catkins, no matter what species they belong to! Therefore as the caterpillars, and associated moths,are part of the wildlife a healthy garden supports and should be preserved.The cat had acquired a nasty reputation because of its use in prisons, and was replaced by the birch, with which the wealthy classes were more familiar, having been chastised with it during their schooling. They are relatively short lived trees, which are quick to colonise open areas: they are a pioneer species. The dwarf birch, as its name suggests, hugs the ground at a height of no more than two or three feet, and is often stunted even more by the grazing of hungry deer or sheep. which are widespread in the northern hemisphere with at least one species found in the Himalayas and China.

Yes, keep an eye out for greyhens and blackcock in the treetops, especially if you are up in the hills around Crieff/Aberfeldy. Soft, pliable birch wood has had many uses including in wood-turning to make broom heads, tool handles, furniture and toys.With her hand resembling a blasted branch, she would point a finger at your head and send you mad or put her hand on your heart, stopping it dead. Wind, bend, ease, tease…until all the tendrils are wrapped around each other, locking it all into place. Most gardeners make their plant supports in late April or early May, when the perennials have begun to spring out of the ground.

Woodpeckers and other hole-nesting birds often nest in the trunk, while the seeds are eaten by siskins, greenfinches and redpolls. My friends cut back one branch on their BirchTree a couple of years ago and it wept copiously , actually creating a puddle! Planted birch appears to be susceptible to birch dieback, which is caused by two fungal pathogens, Marssonina betulae and Anisogramma virgultorum. I, too, have been aware of the toxic substances affect of our land, and it is a very real concern here in the Midwesteren United States. The Isle of Man caused a good deal of controversy by continuing to birch young offenders until 1976.In the United Kingdom, birching as a judicial penalty, in both its juvenile and adult versions, was abolished in 1948, but it was retained until 1962 as a punishment for violent breaches of prison discipline.

We were aware that we were just on the margins of the sap being about to rise, therefore causing weeping, but we just got away with it, probably because of the Beast From the East.Dedicated to the moon, or sometimes to both the sun and the moon, because of its iridescent appearance, the peeling curly bark is actually highly flammable and has been used in torches. The birch was also used on offending teenage boys until the mid-1960s on the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey. It was used to make bobbins, spools and reels for the Lancashire cotton industry; and herbal medicines were made from different parts of the tree. A simple alternative position known from school discipline is horsing, where the person to be punished is held by the arms over the back of another person (e. The leaves of a silver birch are triangular and finely serrated, while downy birch leaves are more rounded at the base with fine hairs on the underside.