Raul Conde Vila, tree expert at Wisley, standing next to a Giant Redwood. This shows the scale of the tree, which measures over 5 metres around the base, indicating an age of approximately 100 years. The lower photo is a Metasequoia glyptostroboides or Dawn redwood. A prehistoric tree thought extinct, but discovered growing in China in 1943. Currently classified as endangered.
Nice to see one of my shots from last Christmas on the poster for the RHS Wisley Christmas Glow 2017 display.
Castanea sativa or sweet chestnut – from Old Men of the Woods portfolio at Wisley. Around 100 to 150 years old, these could live up to 700 years. So, like the Giant Redwoods, mere teenagers. Both of these trees are in the area threatened by the A3 widening scheme. Although the fruit has become part of winter or Christmas tradition, the chestnut is not a native species and is thought to have been introduced to the British Isles by the Romans. The Greeks dedicated the sweet chestnut to the god Zeus and its botanical name castanea comes from Castonis, a […]
Nice to have the cover of this month’s Gardeners’ World magazine, with their Gardens of the Year competition issue. Congratulations to all the lovely folk I met en-route in a slightly mad 8 day dash across the UK from Kent, Hampshire, Wales, up to the Lake District, Scotland and finally to the Orkney Islands. And thanks for all the 5am cups of coffee, bacon sandwiches and chocolate biscuits to keep me going…I promise, I wasn’t a judge!
A hand bound notepad with an existing paper block. I’ve not used this handmade cover paper before. Lovely texture, but it shrinks like mad, so it became a wrestling match as the paper dried. But a good finish in the end!
One of the trees that could be lost at RHS Wisley. In folklore, because of its heart-shaped leaves, the lime tree was dedicated to Venus, the goddess of love.
From Drawing Dark Waters….The River Thames from Tower Bridge.
In 2007 I took photographs for a folio called ‘Pinhole Impressions’, which is a record of trees at RHS Wisley using a pinhole camera. I was lucky enough to have this exhibited at both Kew and Wisley at the time. 10 years on, some of these trees are under threat from the proposed development of the M25 and A3 road junction. With the help of the folk at Wisley, I have started a new project with the working title ‘The Old Men Of The Woods’ recording some of the 500 trees that could be lost. Some are rare, some are […]
Shingle beaches on the River Thames, near Mortlake. Close-ups and details of the rocks and cobbles that have been washed onto the beaches.
Giant Redwood – Sequoiadendron giganteum. The girth of the trunk at its base is 5 metres, indicating an age of about 100 years. So in tree terms, just a teenager!
