Continuing this week’s theme as it is National Tree Week, today I’ve been looking at willows. The commonest has a number of names such as Goat Willow and Pussy Willow, but also Great Sallow. Willows are particularly associated with water and ‘osier beds’ are (or mostly were) planted in low-lying land prone to staying damp. You will often see a group of willows isolated in a large field in a depression unsuitable for the plough, or lining the banks of a ditch or water course.
Pussy Willow or Great Sallow Salix caprea
Other species of willow abound including this most iconic of willows in a pub garden by a pond on the corner of the appropriately named ‘Old Tree Road’.
Weeping Willow Salix babylonica
The intention of the outing was not to photograph trees but to check out some fishing lakes, like the one below.
