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This tree was young when Culloden was fought This tree was young when Culloden was fought
(7 months later)
Aigas Field Centre, Beauly, Highlands I am struck by the way the willow expresses the richness entailed in a drawn-out death
Mark Cocker
Tue 20 Jun 2017 05.30 BST
Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 22.05 GMT
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Just 10 minutes down the valley from this outstanding educational institute is the largest goat willow in Britain. The veteran is tucked away at the roadside amid a line of alders and so sunk in a deep and almost subaquatic gloom that you could easily miss it. A visit also requires a minor girding of loins to brave the midge-laden atmosphere, although meeting the tree on intimate terms is worth any amount of insect nuisance.Just 10 minutes down the valley from this outstanding educational institute is the largest goat willow in Britain. The veteran is tucked away at the roadside amid a line of alders and so sunk in a deep and almost subaquatic gloom that you could easily miss it. A visit also requires a minor girding of loins to brave the midge-laden atmosphere, although meeting the tree on intimate terms is worth any amount of insect nuisance.
As if one spectacular specimen were not enough, the willow has stood by the side of the same wild cherry for possibly two centuries. The latter is also among the 10 largest of its kind recorded in Britain and, like its neighbour, is an entire ecosystem unto itself. Many of the branches are tusks of smooth ivory-white timber that have been riddled by woodpeckers or beetles, while the main bole is an elephant’s belly of heartwood smothered in mosses, lichens and ferns.As if one spectacular specimen were not enough, the willow has stood by the side of the same wild cherry for possibly two centuries. The latter is also among the 10 largest of its kind recorded in Britain and, like its neighbour, is an entire ecosystem unto itself. Many of the branches are tusks of smooth ivory-white timber that have been riddled by woodpeckers or beetles, while the main bole is an elephant’s belly of heartwood smothered in mosses, lichens and ferns.
The cherry is wonderful, but it is modest in comparison with the structure of its companion. The willow was a sapling when the Battle of Culloden was fought, and some combatants must have passed it on their way to war.The cherry is wonderful, but it is modest in comparison with the structure of its companion. The willow was a sapling when the Battle of Culloden was fought, and some combatants must have passed it on their way to war.
The tree seems to have secured its own survival by throwing out successive trunks, each of which has eventually collapsed under its own weight and succumbed to rot. Then at the places where these limbs have fallen they have re-rooted and risen again as more fresh uprights.The tree seems to have secured its own survival by throwing out successive trunks, each of which has eventually collapsed under its own weight and succumbed to rot. Then at the places where these limbs have fallen they have re-rooted and risen again as more fresh uprights.
No single photograph can do justice to all these avatars. In fact, even tracing the genetic connections between one part and the next is difficult because the fallen trunks have sometimes rotted away completely and their replacement limbs look like several separate trees. Yet via this mechanism of death and resurrection one vegetative organism has managed to step over 2 metres of water-filled dyke and spread outwards across more than 15 metres of ground.No single photograph can do justice to all these avatars. In fact, even tracing the genetic connections between one part and the next is difficult because the fallen trunks have sometimes rotted away completely and their replacement limbs look like several separate trees. Yet via this mechanism of death and resurrection one vegetative organism has managed to step over 2 metres of water-filled dyke and spread outwards across more than 15 metres of ground.
Despite a livid-green pelage of moss, the whole thing has an oddly spider-like quality for me. I am struck also by the way the willow expresses the richness entailed in a long-drawn-out death, as much as the merits of one magnificently enduring life.Despite a livid-green pelage of moss, the whole thing has an oddly spider-like quality for me. I am struck also by the way the willow expresses the richness entailed in a long-drawn-out death, as much as the merits of one magnificently enduring life.
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