Discoveries on a north-east tree hunting trip
I found myself standing on a chilly field edge in rural Aberdeenshire, shocked into stillness by the sheer beauty of this twisting old beech tree. It appeared to be dancing, with a torso reminiscent of a marble statue, stretching its limbs away from the wind and towards the glimmer of mid-winter sun. I fell in love right there.
Intrigued by the ruins of a small cottage amongst a shelter belt on a high ridge, I climbed the hill and discovered this horizontal tree wriggling its way across the slope. I nicknamed it ‘sleeping dragon’ and took photos from every angle. I think it could have been a willow but it’s hard to tell without its leaves, perhaps I’ll find it again when it wakes in spring.
The easiest find of the whole trip was waiting for me in the grounds of a country park, standing magestically behind its protective fencing. Small birds flitted between the low lying branches, clearly loving the opportunities that accumulated dead wood affords. I usually think of beeches as being feminine, but this tree seemed like the king of the parkland.
After a frosty walk through dense blocks of forestry on the banks of the Ythan river, the path broadened and brightened as it emerged into an ancient landscape. Several people had told me I should visit this site, but the ruins of Gight Castle itself were not the memorable thing for me – instead it was the way that this ancient ash defied gravity, hovering above the pasture. The trunk combined living and non-living wood in a fascinating demonstration of the way trees adapt their forms as they age.
Walking through the small hilltop wood to this tree felt a little like a pilgrimage, since I’d visited it last winter and had a brief below-zero drawing session with it then. This year, being a luxurious 2 degrees above freezing, I managed to make 4 more substantial studies of this bizzarely balanced beech before my feet went numb. I have to get back to it on a warmer day…
Though I couldn’t possibly have a single favourite, I’ve saved the most spectacular tree from this trip till last. An ancient remnant of a parkland or wood pasture landscape, this ash was valiantly clinging on to life despite being a fragment of its former self and being surrounded by dead ashes, killed by Chalara (ash die back).
Its surface seemed to me to be like its own unique universe, with infinitely complex formations, ripples, whorls, nibbled edges and bored out holes. Sculpted by time, weather, humans and other animals, this single tree could be a lifeltime’s work for an artist like me. Where to start?