This Question Used To Have Me Stumped
Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHONI was walking past this stump this morning when I did a double-take (like one of those cartoon characters) and then went back to have a closer look. I was absolutely intrigued, not just by the colours, but also because the annual growth circles of the tree could be clearly discerned in the top left. I guess it's a good way to show exactly how thick a growth circle is in this part of the world. You see, they vary depending on the prevailing climate.
As a kid, I always wanted to know what a complete growth circle looked like. Some years ago, in the Yukon, Canada, I asked if a forest of slender trees were saplings. Saplings? No, they were more than fifty years old, but their trunks were slender because the growth circles were governed by extremely short growth seasons. Simple, when you think about it - but it had never occurred to me.
16 comments:
I can see that what takes your fancy to shoot is like mine. I have a couple of tree stump photos in my puters brain.
Love the shot.
i live in a heavily wooded area. there is also a bog nearby which is protected by a conservation district. you can take tours of it and before entering they have everyone put their arms around a 5o year old tree to feel how big it is. once inside the bog area they have another tree which you can put just your hands around and they tell youthis is also a 50 year old tree but the soil in a bog is so poor there are few nutrients, thus the more slender trees. interesting no?
Trees are fascinating.
Hi Imac,
Exactly, sir! I think I said pretty much the same thing when I first visited your blog Friday morning (Australia time).
Let me know if you post a stump photo ...
Keep smiling
David
Hi Lime,
That beats the socks off my Yukon tale. What a wonderful way to teach youngsters that we need to enrich the environment, not plunder it.
Keep smiling
David
Aye, Nessa,
I agree. And that's why I have the camera slung over my shoulder all the time.
Keep smiling
David
Excellent shot and good thoughts David.
We have a glen at the back of our garden, with massive Plain trees over 200 feet tall. Sadly they are coming to the end of their naural life (70-80 years old), and we need to seek permission from or forestry commission on a regular basis to take down the odd unsafe one. It's a costly business.
Hi Mushy,
Thank you. I felt like the Road Runner when I did the double take!
The light was very strong, but the dark green background was a help.
Glad you liked the shot and the thoughts.
Keep smiling
David
Hi Carol,
Wow - I can't remember the last time I saw a 200 foot tall tree.
We had some beauties in our garden when I was growing up in India.
Keep smiling
David
Ah, the tales dead trees can tell.
I think that the rings vary in width due to the weather with the more narrow rings produced during drought years.
For awhile I worked as a feller for a logging company and the oldest tree I cut down had a 125 rings and was about 100 feet tall. I have since been trying for atonement via the planting of several thousand trees.
I didn't know that either. Interesting post.
Hope that final chapter goes well.
Gotta love a good stump. :) My dad is forest engineer...I know a lot about trees. :)
Funny thing...as I admired your photo of that stump, I realised that you had captured (and aligned) a star shape in the centre of the stump itself (there are a few cracks that are a bit deeper and darker than the others - forming a star shape). Something tells me that this tree spirit was strong and vibrant. I feel as though I'm looking at a ghost...
Beautiful photo.
Yea, great shot. Artsy fartsy. You're a poet.
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