The way through Childwall Woods
I don’t go to Childwall Woods often, but I should, as one February morning last year I saw nine sparrowhawks displaying in the sky at the same time – a truly memorable occasion. Sparrowhawk after sparrowhawk came in from all directions to join the swirling display – if only I could have captured it on film!
Fast forward to August 2022, and I’m on a ‘Veteran Trees of Childwall Woods’ walk led by Brenda Cameron, secretary of the Friends of Childwall Woods and Fields (FCWF). On only our second stop on our way around the woods, as Brenda has her back to the veteran tree she is describing in great detail, a sparrowhawk flies towards a branch not far above our heads. It comically screeches to a halt on seeing us, hangs motionless in the air for a second (somewhat like a cartoon character suspended in mid-air as the cliff gives way beneath them), then sweeps off low to its right, into the safety of the trees. Like a trouper, Brenda carries on talking over our exclamations of surprise and delight, although she has unfortunately missed seeing the bird.
It’s a great start to our walk in the cool shade on what is the start of the second of 2022’s heatwaves. Brenda has already explained that, to count as veterans, trees must attain a certain age, which varies by species. Some, such as the beech and sweet chestnut, are veterans at 300 years old, as they don’t live much longer than this; others, such as the oak, are mere striplings at this age, not reaching veteran status until they have lived for 900 years. I can hear a question coming… How can we tell a tree’s age? Well, we can cut it down and count the rings – generally speaking, one ring forms for each year of its life – but that doesn’t do the tree much good. So we hug it, or at least run a tape measure around it, measuring its girth and estimating the age based on this. However, some trees are in better locations than others – maybe they’re near water, for example – and thus they grow faster, so it’s not an exact science – but it is better than cutting them down to find out.
As Brenda explains, Childwall Woods used to be treeless heathland, which is hard to imagine now, surrounded as we are by a multitude of trees, and heathland is usually shallow soil, which doesn’t support trees very well at all, as their roots are unable to grow downwards to provide the stability and nutrients that trees need to grow and remain upright. This particular heathland was on extremely unforgiving sandstone, adding to the problem. Thus, the trees’ roots grow outwards rather than down, and the trees are not as secure as they could be – which is a problem in any storm, especially one that comes from an unexpected direction, as trees also have the ability to strengthen their roots (buttresses) on the side that takes the force of the prevailing wind direction, so if this changes the tree is at risk of being blown down.
We will leave our trees there, teetering – metaphorically – in the breeze on this lovely sunny day, and resume our journey shortly…