Category: Environment

Old Oak damaged by storm Hannah

Today we received the photo below and a message from the City Tree Officer:-

‘Unfortunately one of the mature Oaks adjacent to the Jewish Cemetery suffered severe storm damage over the weekend.
The tree has been assessed and found to have several severe structural defects.
Due to the prominent location of the tree the decision has been made to have it removed.’
Birmingham City Council’s tree service provider will be on site tomorrow to undertake the work.

Normally the Tree Officer likes to leave the main structure of a tree standing as ‘habitat’ if it needs to be felled through age etc but unfortunately, as you can see, that is not possible in this case. It is very sad, but nothing lives forever and the main tree stock in Brandwood End is 125 years old or more, so losses have to be expected. The Friends hope we can work with the Tree Officer and Bereavement Services to plant young trees to naturally take over from these beauties!

 

 

 

St George’s Day and the Mushroom sharing his name!

We all know that the 23rdApril is St George’s Day, but did we know that there is a St George’s Mushroom? What’s even more exciting is that they are growing in the cemetery!

St George’s mushrooms are so named as they are usually ready to pick from about St George’s Day, and it was with great joy that Carola, a member of our committee, stumbled across a specimen whilst refreshing our notice boards! The link below will tell you a little more about them and it appears that the ‘River Cottage’ Chef, is most partial to recipes including these edible mushrooms.

https://www.mushroomtable.com/mushrooms-menu/wild-mushrooms/saint-georges/

Remember never to pick and eat mushrooms/fungi unless you are accompanied by someone who knows which is which- as eating the wrong sort can be fatal!

 

Major tree work continues in the cemetery.

Tree contractors, Idverde, have crown lifted many conifers (removed lower branches) and other species, as well as removing Ivy from the lower 6 feet of trunks along the Sunderton road boundary.

Regular visitors to the cemetery will have noticed a huge increase in tree work in the last year. This has followed a survey to determine the safety of many of the older and diseased trees, to prevent damage to graves, property and people in the future. Brandwood End was opened in 1899 and many of the trees were planted then or, in the case of some of the oaks, before that date. Oaks often live for several hundred years but many other species have a much shorter life expectancy and that is the case with many of our 1700 plus trees!

 

We have seen major crown lifting on both sides of our Wellingtonia avenue, large trees removed on the Broad Lane boundary, Poplars removed along the Sunderton Road boundary, Woodland reduced on the pool end of Sunderton road and various trees crown lifted or removed across the cemetery.

On the plus side, great care has been taken to consider wildlife with trees left untouched that are being used by Woodpeckers, ivy growth removed in some areas and left in others for nesting, standing tree stumps left to improve biodiversity and logs piled for Hedgehog use.

A tree replacement programme has been started and a number of new trees have already been planted by local pupils. The Friends hope that this can continue, provided funding can be found.

Litter Pick tomorrow…….

 

This is the final reminder that we will be holding our usual LITTER PICK tomorrow and everyone is welcome. This event is part of the annual event organised by Keep Britain Tidy, but we are holding it on our usual first weekend in March.

Saturday 2nd March 10am-11.30am. All welcome. Stout footwear and gloves advised. Litter pickers and bags provided. Meet at the Lodge on the main drive.

(We may not be quite as festive as we were in December !!)

The 15th of Shevat

Whilst tree planting this week we were reminded by a member of our Jewish Community that Monday is an especially tree related day in their faith.

‘The 15th of Shevat’ on the Jewish calendar—celebrated this year on Monday, January 21, 2019—is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees.

Commonly known as Tu Bishvat, this day marks the season in which the earliest-blooming Sweet Almond trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Members of the Jewish Community mark the ’15th of Shevat’ by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

On this day we remember that “man is a tree of the field”