Otto the tree-feller

Last Thursday night, Storm Otto raged furiously across the northern part of the kingdom. He spent much of his anger in Scotland, and in the far north of England. By the time he reached here, he was wearying, but rallied sufficiently to squall and blast at 65 miles an hour. Trees fell. Branches toppled, ripped away from the fabric of the parent trunk.

When we walked through the deer park at Studley Royal on Monday, we found casualties . Despite the destruction, I found beauty in the ravaged branches.

Click on an image to see it full size.

Here’s another:

This ancient tree however, hasn’t suffered at all.

It’ll take more than Storm Otto to fell most of these sturdy residents of the Deer Park.

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and living in North Yorkshire, where I walk as often as I can, write, volunteer, and travel as often as I can.

57 thoughts on “Otto the tree-feller”

    1. Those particular ones aren’t oak. It’s a long-ago planted avenue of lime trees, I had to look Ironbark up. It looks a mighty tree – so sad for it to lose its top.

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  7. Nature always wins, in the end. But holy moles, at what cost?! And same as you, I marvel at the rugged beauty of those limbs torn off, the force of pulling and breaking those old trees must have been tremendous. And now, I hope nature preservation will keep much of the ‚damage‘ as it is for the birds, worms, and animals to feast on. England does this so well!

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    1. Yes indeed. Dead wood is always kept in the Deer Park for it to do its thing for all the other wildlife. While I’m happy to inspect the trees now, I wouldn’t have wanted to be there while Otto was tearing about..

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  8. A shame for such old trees to be damaged, but they do create some beauty when they fall! It must be wonderful to spend so much time there, it’s a beautiful place.

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  9. Ah, we missed this storm! Last year we returned from Costa Rica to land in Storm Eunice – not much fun but a challenge for the pilot! I hate to see ancient trees felled like this so I’m glad most survived, but I do see what you mean about the beauty, especially where you’ve focused on the details of the splintered wood.

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  13. Lovely pictures of our venerable friends Margaret. I used to love being out and about in strong winds, and have experienced my fair share in the Outer Hebrides and St Kilda (No trees to worry about there).

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    1. Indeed not. It would have been silly to wander about near trees, but I too absolutely love walking in strong winds on a mild or warm day – for a while anyway. So energising!

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    1. You’re right. Studley isn’t short of trees. And though many of them are ancient with a long history, there are plenty of young upstarts too, planning to last just as long.

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    1. This wasn’t TOO sad. Few trees were actually felled by the wind, it could have been a lot worse. I think the winds you get over your way are far more serious.

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  17. We have so far been lucky that road/streets around us haven’t lost our old pohutukawa trees. Luckily for Studley the odd one won’t be missed too much. Felled trees at various angles make for interesting shots, I enjoy looking at the finer details of their rings.

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  19. The colours of the ripped wood are really beautiful in their raw, freshness. It is a pity to see trees down and damaged, but it would have been far worse if they had been in full leaf. (I am trying the glass half full approach to life at the moment – it is an effort!)

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  21. Wow, the north of the UK has certainly had its share of strong winds in the last year or two! Tragic to see so many great trees uprooted. Marvellous to see the ones that resist!

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  23. Well done those old trees for resisting too much damage…. Your images showcase the lovely colours of the bark, textures too. Thanks for the preview the other day, and good to see these again

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  24. Your last looks better than the Yew the Woodland Trust wants us to vote for as European Tree of the Year. It’s sad to see them splintered but the broken one is fascinating with the layers.

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