10 December 2021

Morton

Friday was a pretty good day up here in northern England. Recently, I have been kneeling in the upstairs bathroom dealing with plaster and tiles. It was nice to be able to give myself time off.

With my trusty transportation vehicle, Clint, there is no need to mess about setting a satnav. I just have to tell him where we are going and his engine roars obediently into action. And so it was this morning.

Soon we were out in the north Nottinghamshire countryside, heading down to Elkesley on the A1. There were two Geograph squares I needed to bag there with my camera. This involved a forty minute walk on which I spotted the old car wreck shown in the top picture.

Then, after waking Clint up from his slumbers we headed to the sprawling "village" of Morton which is really a small agricultural region dotted with farms and cottages that all have the word "Morton" in their names: Morton Hall, Little Morton, Morton Grange, Morton Hill Cottage etc.. There's probably a historical reason for this but I am not inclined to research it right now.

I undertook four separate little walks in all and once I found myself crouching behind a hawthorn hedge as a couple of farm vehicles passed by on a private access road. Fortunately, they did not see me as I was wearing camouflage make-up like a marine. Bagging Geograph squares can be a risky business you know.

Over the years, I have taken many pictures of lone trees shaped by the countless seasons they have endured. There's something very characterful about such trees and it is easy to see them as in some way metaphors for human existence. Aren't trees meant to grow in the company of other trees? 

29 comments:

  1. The rusting car looks like something you'd see around here.
    Some trees, like some people, thrive when growing with others of their kind, some are loners, preferring to brave the elements on their own.

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    1. In essence which kind of tree are you Mary?

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  2. Love the tree and your musings about it.

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  3. Sympathy to you for dealing with plaster and tiles.

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    1. Sounds like you have been there yourself Red!

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  4. Characterful. I like that word and your use of it to describe lone trees. The composition of this tree photo is every bit as satisfying as that of the sycamore the other day. I love the clouds on the horizon.

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    1. One day soon I think I will showcase a whole bunch of my lone trees.

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  5. Anonymous7:24 am

    Trees are probably meant to protect each other and they do well to survive on their own. Lone trees are quite majestic.
    So you went out 'cammo'.
    What is the crop in the third photo?

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    1. I am not certain but I think it might be ripe linseed.

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  6. I wonder if the farmer will manage to grow a good crop of rust in that field in your top photo.

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    1. America has a region called "The Rust Belt". I wonder if that means there are rusting cars all in a line.

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  7. Nature has intended for all living things to procreate, for humans and all other animals as well as for trees and all other plants. Maybe the lone tree did have some saplings but they were eaten by animals, or pulled out during farming.
    Anyway, such trees always make great pictures, and it is easy to see why some of them became holy places for our ancestors, where they sought to communicate with whatever spirit world they believed in.

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    1. I suspect that modern agricultural methods have made many landscapes treeless. Many of the loners that remain have somehow avoided the chainsaw by accident rather than design.

      The oldest trees in England are yew trees. Is this the same in Germany?

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    2. I think so, yes. Last year when we were in the Bavarian mountains in September, close to our place was yew tree supposed to be 1,000 years old.

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  8. That distant copse on a bump of countryside is a common sight in England - does it represent some place of ancient human habitation?

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    1. Not always but sometimes it does - or a burial mound. The word "tumulus" in Olde English script is often seen on Ordnance Survey maps.

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  9. Perhaps the lone tree was once part of a wood, or even a forest many years ago. It's now the sole survivor, and one day the farmer may dispatch it - the way all the others have been.
    Clint sounds as though he is being remarkably obedient these days.

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    1. Like a bronco on a ranch, you need to show a Hyundai car who is boss. Eventually you can break them in. I rather think that many lone trees in agricultural landscapes were left or allowed to grow by mistake. I think it is what is called "happenstance" - which is not a word I am confident about using.

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  10. Good job they didn't spot you.

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  11. Love the tree, I think I like them better in the winter as you can see the distinct shapes of the various kinds.
    Briony
    x

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    1. Trees can seem happy when in full leaf but sad and exposed when those leaves have been stripped away.

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  12. I'm laughing at the image of you crouched down behind a hedge like a stealthy soldier. "Incoming!"

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    1. It was like Vietnam but without the cover of a jungle.

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  13. I finally googled Geograph Squares to see what the heck this is all about and I found a website talking about the game, goal and showing a map of coverage. What I wasn't able to find is how large one square is? Seems like a nifty project, kind of like Google Earth and StreetView combined for an on the ground look of the rural areas away from roads.

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    1. Each square is 1km x 1km - as in Ordnance Survey mapping.

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  14. I've grown attached to many trees over the course of my life. Characterful is a good word to describe them, as each seems to have its own spirit. Some of your tree photos are my very favorite.

    A house two doors down from us has been empty for a good while now, and last weekend we saw a handful of people show up and move out some old furniture. We fear that an elderly owner (possibly in a care home somewhere) must have died and the family is preparing the house to sell. My chief concern is for the gorgeous, stately old oak tree in the front. It has to be at least 100 years old! There are also two nice, but younger, holly trees flanking it that are beautiful in their own right.

    I don't care who buys the house or what they do, as long as they take care of the trees. It would be a sorrow if they cut them down for some reason.

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    1. Sadly, not everybody feels the same about trees as we do.

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