The tree in the feature photo is a cherry tree in the deer park at Studley Royal. This is a shot of it in flower, as it has blossomed every year for the last four hundred years. By rights, cherry trees don’t normally live beyond thirty years old. Forty is pushing it. This tree has a pedigree, and can prove its longevity, but as you can see, it’s in quite a bad way, and may not last much longer.
Our home patch is home to many vintage specimens. Look at this oak tree about a mile from our house. It could have been pushing its first tender roots down into the soil as William the Conqueror was sailing to our shores in 1066.
Come and have a look at some of our wonderful local trees, shaping the landscape, and now accorded legal protection: a right they surely deserve.
Even when their lives are finally over, their majestic fallen trunks and branches continue to feed the earth from which they came, and the creatures who call them home.
I have probably posted one or two of these shots before. Too bad. I think these trees deserve more than fifteen minutes of fame.
For Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #12: Trees
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
The cherry tree is extraordinary. I wonder how it’s managed to live so long.
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I really don’t know. It’s been cared for very well, especially since its antiquity became a ‘thing’. But it’s still extraordinary.
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Fabulous specimens
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They truly are.
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Fabulous tree photos, Margaret! Lots of gurning and faces going on in there. Have a great week!
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You too Jo. And you’re right. Every tree root tells a story.
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Wonderful with all the gnarls and burls
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Aren’t they just?
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What wonderful gnarled specimens! And that cherry tree is quite extraordinary!
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They all are, in different ways.
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Wonderful. A fitting homage.
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Thanks Sandra. I suspect you have a lot of very old trees round your way too?
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We have indeed. I love them.
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These are trees to celebrate! I enjoyed looking at this post. Lucky to live so near them and keep an eye on them.😊
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I think it’s a real privilege. We have more than our share round here.
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I absolutely love trees, especially old ones and stand-alone ones. Your pictures are absolutely beautiful. Thanks for that.
Funnily enough, I have just posted a review of a book that talks a lot about trees: The Island of the Missing Trees by Elif Şafak. I think you might like the book.
You might also like my picture of a tree which I posted on Wordless Wednesday.
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I’ve neglected you Marianne. I need to catch up. The Shafak’s on my list, but is never in stock in the library! That’s a fabulous old tree you’ve posted on Wordless Wednesday.
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Absolutely beautiful. It’s in the garden of the Belgian king in Brussels. He opens the gardens every spring for the public and we’ve been several times.
And don’t worry, we all write as much as we can as often as we can. I have not been posting as much lately because I need to catch up on lots of things, as well.
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A wonderful ode to trees. Such magnificent shapes and textures beautifully photographed Margaret.
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Thanks Jude. I love them.
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Wonderful. It’s easy to see why so much folklore and fairy tales are centred around trees!
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Exactly. They do inspire awe.
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A wonderful collection of ancient trees Margaret. It may flower but does it produce cherries? Love the massive Oak 🙂
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No cherries that I know of. That might be a miracle. And isn’t the oak wonderful?
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Awesome! The trees are – as are your photos.
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Ah, thanks Elke. They do stand still while you get your camera out.
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There is definitely that. 😃
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I love seeing your ancient trees, whether in person or via your photos 😀 It’s always amazing to contemplate their age and all that has happened since they first started to grow! And the gnarled bark is so photogenic, as are the roots. Have you experimented with black and white for these, given your new interest in that medium?
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Venerable is absolutely correct.
Great texture photos.
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Thank you. They’re easy to love, and pretty photogenic.
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What an amazing collection of ents.
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Thank you!
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Oh Margaret, you are so lucky to have so many old trees that are protected around you. These are all marvelous photos. That oak tree trunk is impressive. 😀 😀
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Isn’t t just? I’ve never had enough friends with me to see how many we’d need to hold hands encircling the trunk.
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That one would take a few people that for sure.
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The barks are all so interesting. I particularly like the first one in the gallery where the bark seems to be spiralling round the trunk.
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It’s extraordinary. This tree has lots of similar siblings.
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I wish that I could speak tree language. What stories they would be able to tell me.
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Ah, but Rebecca, you can. Sort of: https://margaret21.com/2022/05/02/just-listen-to-that-tree/. I heard this tree a whole year ago, but I’ll never forget its murmurings.
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The oak tree is magnificent, Margaret! So are these local trees. Thank you for showing different parts of these trees. Beautiful details. 🙂
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Thanks Amy. These trees can have me inspecting them for ages.
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I agree; these trees deserve much more than a passing mention! They deserve all the celebration we can give them. Beautiful photos. I love the close-up details of the bark and that cherry …. ! Fabulous!
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We’re so lucky to have so many locally. Your local land has been more intensively farmed, so perhaps you’re not so lucky?
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They are a rarity here, you are quite right. Some in old hedgerows and others in private parkland.
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A beautiful gallery of trees. 😊
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Thank you!
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You are welcome. 😉
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Amazing trees you got here, Margaret!
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Aren’t they just? We’re so lucky to have them, and so many too.
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😃🌲🌳🌴
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Wonderful selection of ancient trees Margaret. That cherry tree for one has some stories to tell.
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It certainly does. As do they all. I feel a certain reverence for them.
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I am learning a lot about trees and reverence from a druid podcast I follow.
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Maybe you’ll tell us more in a future post?
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Lovely selection of trees Margaret.
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We’re lucky to have so much choice.
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One could say that it is rather grounding to walk past a tree that has been there all your life, and will be long after you’ve gone.
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Yes: it’ll know far more than we ever will.
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