After the wrestling match the other day I was a little apprehensive of taking Fred back into the woods this morning, but my worries of a repeat performance didn’t happen.
I saw a very autumnal yellowy orange tree which seemed more advanced in its autumnal colouring compared to the others around it. It was very striking and the colours really attracted me and I looked really closely to find out what kind of tree it actually was? It looked like some kind of maple tree but turned out to be The Wild Service Tree. I had heard of this tree as being quite rare and historically significant. It turns out this tree is an indicator that you are in an ‘ancient woodland’. I know the wider Blean complex of woodlansds were Henry VIII’s hunting forests when he visited Canterbury and that these woodlands have Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status. It’s not often I become so struck by a particular tree and I wanted to research it further. The colour attracted me so much I had to know more. It has berries called chequer berries that if eaten need to be ‘bletted’ some kind of over ripening? They were used to flavour beer before hops were used and somehow ‘Chequer boards’ used to symbolize pubs? Also a herbal remedy for colic stomach pains. Apparently the wood is very close grained and hard and was used to make screw threads on wine presses and parts of musical instruments. I saw four of these trees on our walk this morning.
