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Different Habitats

Different Habitats

It’s really interesting taking a walk through the woodland as you immediately come across different habitats.  I’ll be looking at the two main habitats in this blog although I do intend to look at some of the others later on in this series.

As the year continues I will be adding to this page as now plants appear.

This page was last modified on: 

8 November 2023

The Barren Beech

A really open part of woodland. The ground is covered by beech leaves and there's a path on the right hand side of the photo. The bulk of the trees in this section of the woodland are beech.
I always think of this area of the woods as being quite barren and devoid of undergrowth. The bulk of the trees in this section are beech (Fagus sylvatica). The beech trees aren't native to this part of Scotland and do outcompete the native trees. Normally in autumn there is a very thick layer of leaves in this area. Also, the leaves don't just cover any plants that are trying to grow but they also emit chemicals which prevent other plants from growing.
This area has several beech trees which are in full leaf. Some of the branches are nearly touching the woodland floor. At the ground level there are no plants and it is just soil with a few remnants of last autumns leaves.
This is quite a different area in spring and summer compared to winter. Now the leaves are on the beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) there’s colour in this area. However, we can see that the area is quite dark especially near the path. Straight ahead are a lot of small beech saplings which are now really dense. As this is a beech area there are very few ground-cover plants.

The Lush Native

This part of the woodland is really lush and green and is covered by native trees. There's a mix of Scots Pine, Rowan and Downy Birch. The undergrowth is covered in Great Wood-Rush.
I love this part of the woodland as even in the depths of winter it is really green. In this section most of the plants are native to this area of Scotland. We see a path coming up from the left hand side and it cuts through the Great Wood-Rush (Luzula sylvatica) on the woodland floor. Around us are native trees - Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Downy Birch (Betula pubescens), and Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia).
This is the lush native habitat as it was in May 2023. The great woodrush has the remains of its flowerheads, the trees are all in leaf, there are many more groundcover plants and the sun is shining through the tree canopy.
We now see that this area has come alive. The great wood rush has the remains of its flowerheads, the trees are all in leaf and we've got other ground plants. The main difference between this area and the beech habitat is now much sunlight is streaming down into the woodland floor - allowing a greater variety of plants to survive and increasing biodiversity.

Woodland Bench / Nursery Tree

A woodland scene which is dominated by a large structure from the lower left of the photo to just above the centre of the photo. This structure was the trunk of a tree. At some point someone has taken a chainsaw and has cut two indentations into the log. The log has now decayed and is covered in mosses, grasses, lichen, ferns and even a tree sapling.
This structure was the trunk of a tree. At some point someone has taken a chainsaw and has cut two indentations into the log. This then turned the trunk into a handy woodland bench. Over time the log has now decayed and is covered in mosses, grasses, lichen, ferns and even a tree sapling. This is called a nursery tree.

Fallen Monkey Puzzle

At the lower left hand corner we see the very badly decomposed remains of a tree. We see the rest of the tree trunk lying behind it and stretching to just above the middle of the photo. The other parts of the trunk are covered in moss. Occasionally we see parts of the trunk have collapsed due to decay.
I think this is a lovely comparison with the other tree trunk which was turned into a seat. This trunk has been covered in moss but there are no other plants making use of it. I wonder if it is because it is a Monkey Puzzle tree which is non-native.

This blog was originally published on:  

20 April 2023

This blog was last modified on:  

8 November 2023
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Alternative Perspectives