The Silver Birch is not a tree you would call Sturdy, Majestic, Trusty or even Stout, adjectives often used to describe some of our other native trees. The tall slim trunk, tapering towards its peak and fine branches that could be described as fragile appear far from sturdy….but don’t be fooled by that soft appearance. The Birch is a true survivor, it was one of the first to re-germinate after the ice age. I may not be long lived in tree time scales and whilst it can be found in gardens and woods, it can also be found in less hospitable locations of moor, crag and hill side…locations where many other trees would not survive.
This Silver Birch attracted my attention yesterday. It was its white bark glistening in the morning sunshine, a bright matt white more like the bark of it North American cousin the Aspen. Even the red tipped branches seemed to be reaching up to draw in the blue sky. Trouble was no camera only my smart phone with its not so smart inbuilt very low res camera. Still it was worth a try but on downloading back home it was a disappointing washed out image. So as I had a little time on my hands I open it up in Photo Tools (courtesy of OnOne Software) and after applying a couple of filters and mask the resulting image is above…..not perfect but better than nothing a salvaged image and good enough to encourage me to make more use of the phone!
19th December
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 