Ash before Oak

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From my casual annual observations, Ash is even more of a sleepy head than Oak. It always seems last in the spring sprint for leaf growth, and as it loses its leaves early in the autumn too, it amazes me that the species is so widespread and succesful. So is Ash ever out first and if so has this changed in historical times? Hawthorn is regarded as a sacred tree, great misfortune was threatened to come to those who destroyed it.

Perhaps because of the oak’s size and presence, much of its folklore concerns specific, individual oak trees. Many parishes used to contain what became known as the Gospel Oak. This was a prominent tree at which part of the Gospel was read out during the Beating of the Bounds ceremonies at Rogantide in spring. In Somerset stand the two very ancient oaks of Gog and Magog. These were named after the last male and female giants to roam Britain. The trees are reputed to be the remnants of an oak-lined processional route up to the nearby Glastonbury Tor. The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is purported to be the tree where Robin Hood and his Merry Men hatched their plots. It is now a popular tourist attraction although this particular tree probably does not predate the 16th century.One lesson that this column frequently hammers home is that animals, birds, plants and medieval saints tend to be as unreliable in predicting long-term weather patterns as the writers of those hyperbolic, dodgily-sourced tabloid articles that warned us last November of an impending Arctic white-out. Hazel has a reputation as a magical tree. A hazel rod is supposed to protect against evil spirits, as well as being used as a wand and for water-divining. Stirring jam with a hazel twig prevents it from being stolen by fairies!

On the other hand, new growth in ring-porous species - such as ash, elm and oak - spreads downwards rapidly from the twigs and appears at the base of the trunk within days. The wood produced by ring-porous trees in early-spring as a result is generally of lower density and contains fewer vessels – though these are significantly wider and longer than those found in diffuse-porous species ( Fig. 1). Wide and long vessels can transport water up to the leaves at high-volumes and speeds; for example, movement of water in ring-porous species has been found to be in the region of 20 m per hour, compared to 1-3 m per hour in diffuse-porous species. The traditional Besom is made out of three kinds of wood; the handle of ashwood (representing the phallus, and the Yggdrasill or ‘Steed of Woden’) … . Sweeping with the ashwood besom has however an additional use: Ash makes the first exchange between this world and the other realities, and designates the space which will become a ‘place out of time’” Ash & Snakes And very little of the outside world intrudes - he doesn't watch television and it is some considerable time before he begins to read periodicals - the TLS and New Statesman his journals of choice. But it’s not just what you see around Roundshaw, it’s what you hear as you step into the woods, too. Or rather, what you don’t hear. The Green Man is wreathed in oak leaves.The acorn is considered a symbol of immortality and to carry one will prevent illness and ensure a long life. Elder

Collecting the folklore and uses of plants

Then we’ll surely have a soak! An oak tree (bottom left) in leaf earlier than three ash trees at different leafing stages

Otherwise, the Biodiversity Team provides volunteering opportunities on Tuesdays through Thursdays every week of the year, undertaking practical habitat management, including botanical surveying during the summer months. More info here.In the British Isles the rowan has a long history in folklore as a tree which protects against enchantment. Pieces of the tree were carried by people for personal protection. Ash before Oakis a novel in the form of a fictional journal written by a solitary man on a secluded Somerset estate. Ostensibly a nature diary, chronicling the narrator’s interest in the local flora and fauna and the passing of the seasons, Ash before Oakis also the story of a breakdown told slantwise, and of the narrator’s subsequent recovery through his reengagement with the world around him. Written in prose that is as precise as it is beautiful, winner of the 2018 Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize, Jeremy Cooper’s first novel in over a decade is a stunning investigation of the fragility, beauty and strangeness of life. In Leicestershire the Topless Oaks in Bradgate Park were said to have been pollarded as a sign of mourning. This was due to the beheading, in 1554, of Lady Jane Grey who had lived nearby. After the battle of Worcester in 1651 King Charles II hid from the Roundheads in a large oak at Boscobel. In 1660 he instigated the 29th of May as Royal Oak Day to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. Can’t begin to write what it actually feels like – even writing that I can’t do so is soberly expressed, declining the desperation that washes through me.