Wow what a spectacular year for Hawthorn flowers! I have never seen such a great display up and down the country, that lasted for so long. It got me thinking about Hawthorn and what a fantastic tree it is, for so many reasons. I think perhaps the humble Hawthorn is a bit underappreciated.

We are in the middle of bird nesting season and it is fascinating and a joy to watch the local birds courting, fighting, gathering material, building nests, and coming and going with food for the chicks.

After topping out an ash tree I discovered the stem was hollow and full of honeycomb! Oops.

Ash dieback (hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is a disease which has spread through Europe and into the UK sadly killing most of our ash trees.