Tree Hugging – Canned Wildlife

Alder (Alnus glutinosa)

Mar 2, 2023Mar 3, 2023Posted in Birds, Canal, Countryside, Exploration, Garden, Greenbelt, Insects, Lakes, Local, Natural History, Plants, Walk, WoodlandTagged A Bugs Life, Action For Insects, Alder, April, BBC Countryfile, BBC Springwatch, BBC Wildlife, Botany, Canal, Canal Walk, CPRE, Days Out, February, Flora, Gay Naturalist, March, Natural History, Nature, Park, Rewildling, River, RSPB, Springwatch, Suburban, The Wildlife Trust, Tree Hugging, Trees, Walk, Wetlands, Wildflowers, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Wildlife Gardening, Wildlife TV Presenter, Woodland, Woodland TrustLeave a comment

Dwelling in moist places; Alder grow near rivers, ponds, lakes and in wet, swampy woods, also known as Carrs.

Their flowers were used as green dye, to colour and camouflage the clothes of outlaws, like Robin Hood and to also colour the clothes of fairies 🧚🏻‍♂️

Flowering between February and April, Alder catkins provide an early source of nectar and pollen for Bees, and the seeds are eaten by Goldfinches, Siskins and Redpolls.

The pale wood turns a deep orange after being cut, giving the impression of bleeding. So, in the past, many people feared them and the Irish thought it was unlucky to pass one on a journey 😅

The roots have nitrogen-fixing nodules, conditioning the soil and improving soil fertility on former industrial wasteland and brownfield sites.

Alder leaf beetles (Agelastica alni) feed on the leaves of alder trees. They’ve become common in parts of England and Wales since 2004.

It was said that a few Alder leaves placed in the shoes before a long journey would cool the feet and prevent swelling 🤷🏻‍♂️

Being a tough species of tree, their wood doesn’t rot when waterlogged, instead it makes them harder and stronger. Plus, mature trees can reach a height of approximately 28 metres and live to around 60 years.

Thanks for reading ✌🏻

Day 6 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 6, 2020Jun 6, 2020Posted in BBC, Birds, Challenge, Environmental, Exploration, Film, Greenbelt, Local, Natural History, Nature Reserve, TV, Vlog, Walk, WoodlandTagged #30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, A Focus On Nature, Adam Canning, Adam O'Hare, AFON, BBC, BBC Earth, BBC Midlands Today, BBC Wildlife, Birdsong, Birmingham, Challenge, Chris Packham, CPRE, Days Out, Earth Capture, Environmental, Exporation, Film, Flora, Frankley, Green Belt, Green Birmingham, Green Space, Greenbelt, Huawei, June, Natural England, Natural History, Nature On Screen, Nature Reserve, New Frankley, Outdoors, Random Acts of Wildness, RSPB, Semirural, Springwatch, Springwatch 2020, Suburban, Suburbia, The Wildlife Trust, Tree Hugging, Trees, Video, Vlog, West Midlands, Wild June, Wildlife Filmmakers, Wildlife Trusts, Wildlife Vlog, Woodland, World Land TrustLeave a comment

Today’s Random Act of Wildness is inspired by BBC Springwatch, they have been doing a Mindfulness Moment on the show.

So I decided when I was out on my walk around Bourlay Wood, I would get some footage, to make into my own short mindfulness video (See below).

Thanks for visiting! 🙂

Day 2 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 2, 2015Mar 17, 2016Posted in Challenge, Country Park, Film, Local, Nature Reserve, Plants, WoodlandTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, country park, Film, The Wildlife Trust, Tree Hugging, Trees, Video6 Comments

For my second day of the challenge, I wanted it to be something more ‘proactive’ and it to require being outdoors. Also, if it was to be a video, then I wanted it to be considerably better than my first one. It had stopped raining, so I couldn’t do “Dance in a downpour”…

DECISIONS
Early in the afternoon, my friend Gary came to help choose what I was going to do for Day 2 of 30 Days Wild. I was quite inspired and had several ideas (thanks to the handy challenge booklet provided by The Wildlife Trust) which I was going to put my spin on and make a film of. I found it quite difficult to decide which one to go with! I briefed Gary on all the ideas and how – with his help – I’d like to execute them (so to speak), in the end we agreed upon “Give your favourite tree a cuddle”.

PRE-PRODUCTION
My spin on the idea; was that I cannot pick one individual tree as my favourite! And to create a fun video of how I had to hug 4 of my favourite species of tree, 2 of which I have a connection with… Of course I hug a few other trees too! Haha.
There wasn’t a script exactly, I just finalised what I wanted to say etc.

TREE HUGGER
I didn’t have to travel far for the first tree, it is quite close to my family home. All of the trees in fact weren’t too far away. I decided I would do the Intro and Outro for the video at an ancient woodland/nature reserve approx 10 minutes walk away, Balaam’s Wood – where I became generous with my hugs. The second and third tree weren’t too far away from the first, the fourth was located in a country park approx 5 minutes walk away – but it is deep into the country park! So in all it took around 35 minutes to get to! I will reveal more about this particular country park and it’s name another time 😉

TIME
Due to starting it in the afternoon, I was very much aware that time was not going to be on our side. Obviously we had to allow for any last minute changes to the filming schedule and for any possible outtakes, but there was strictly no dilly-dallying! Editing took time, naturally, as you have to import the footage onto your computer and choose what clips that are wanted and needed and so on. I am very grateful that Gary stuck around for this process, his opinion helped a lot. It was great getting feedback from a ‘viewers’ point of view, so there were a few chops and changes before the finished film.

I wanted it to upload quicker to YouTube, so I chose a Standard Definition preset – resulting in it unfortunately appearing a little small in frame.

To see the final edit and find out the trees I chose and hugged click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ2MRENaeQY