The Scots pine is a native British tree but is found only in its truly wild state in Scotland. Here in the south of England it was introduced for timber production and much of our heathland was covered in it after WW2 and it has prospered. It so likes the habitat that it readily seeds and young trees can be seen sprouting up almost everywhere.
It is easy to identify the Scots pine because the bark has a reddish brown rusty appearance, especially towards the top of the trunk.
The trunk grows straight and tall making it an ideal forestry product and the timber is used for telegraph poles, fencing, construction work, boxes, paper pulp and wood board. It was also used extensively for railway sleepers and pit props, the market for which has now all but disappeared so the demand for Scots Pine as a timber is reducing.
In common with other pines the leaves are the familiar needles, blueish green in colour. The twigs on which the leaves grow seem to be very brittle and prone to breaking easily, especially in strong winds.
As with all conifers the fruiting body comes in the form of a 'cone'. Partly this reason, and also that it is a native tree wildlife uses it, particularly in winter and it is the place to look for visiting crossbill, redpoll and siskin during the winter months. If you stop to look underneath any Scots pine you will often find ones that have been extensively chewed to get at the seeds and this is, usually anyway, the work of the grey squirrel.
Comments
Post a Comment