Tree of the Month - November
On a recent visit to Grizedale Forest, volunteer measurer Rob Lynley found that the champion Copper Beech in Mires Wood, 42m tall, had blown down in Storm Arwen, whose winds in November 2021 had been particularly destructive in this part of the Lake District.
But to show that every storm has a silver lining of sorts, the area of windblow meant that Rob was now able to view and measure some Norway Spruces further up the bank which had previously been hidden within a dense stand. One of these spruces becomes a new UK champion at 51m; it joins European Silver Fir, Grand Fir, Colorado White Fir, Noble Fir, Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Giant Sequoia and Coast Redwood as the tenth tree species to be reliably recorded at more than 50m tall in Britain. Along with European Silver Fir, Norway Spruce is only the second of these species not to originate from western North America.
Owen Johnson MBE VMM
(Photo: Rob Lynley)