How the mighty have fallen...

This blip follows on from my blip of the 8th January when I recounted Aesop's fable of the reed and the oak. This mighty tree is a coppiced oak, which resides in a part of Old Sulehay Forest known as the King's Oaks, In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the trees here were reserved for the Royal Navy. The timber was taken via the Nene to Wisbech and on to the Chatham shipbuilding yards.

The tree itself is probably between 300-400 years old, maybe more, and probably hasn't been coppiced for at least 100 years. The recent gales have taken their toll and it has now been split in two. Interestingly this must have happened after the height of the gales, as I visited the site on the 6th January, when the previous days gales had subsided, and the tree was still intact. The tree will live on, and the fallen limbs have opened a large gap in the canopy, that will allow new tree seedlings to grow.

This is actually a back blip as I felt too tired and unwell to write last night. Probably my own fault as I had taken Chris into Peterborough in the morning, to sort out financial matters before he returns to Uni and then we took the dogs for a long walk in the afternoon. The cold seems to be drying up, but the excessive sneezing seems to have strained my diaphragm or intercostal muscles, which means that breathing deeply, coughing or laughing are all exceedingly painful. Thanks for all your kind wishes - I'm sure I'll soon be back to full strength :)