Conifer seedlings on the make

A typical array of introduced conifers on woodland edge - Douglas Fir, European Larch and Lawson's Cypress.

Today I went out to get some photos of a few conifer species for the flora ID guide, hoping to plug some gaps by re-finding certain plants I had photographed some years ago on the Felbrigg Estate. I was in for a bit of a shock as, in my six-year absence from the area, there had been a lot of work done and many of the trees I was after were gone. This is not as drastic as it might sound, since the trees I was after are non-native species, which have been removed to allow a return of some of the area to natural heathland.

We have a long history in the UK of introducing trees from other parts of the world, some as ornamentals and others for forestry purposes. At Felbrigg, a number of trial plots were planted of a variety of conifer species, mostly from North America. But trees will do what trees will do and what is interesting is the regeneration of seedlings that has been taking place since the land was cleared and this was of interest to me for two reasons. The first reason is from a recording aspect. When recording for national or regional plant surveys, we try to avoid recording plants that are not an established part of the landscape, so there is often much discussion (heated sometimes!) as to what should be recorded and what should be ignored. Is a tree recordable once it is established? And if so, at what point does it pass from planted to recordable?! The debate will rage on, no doubt; however, if a plant self-regenerates by producing seedlings, then those seedlings were not planted by anyone and are certainly recordable, so scratching around for proof of seedlings is a common pass time for plant recorders!

My second point of interest in these seedlings comes in the ecology aspect of the plants and the significance for habitat management. Great swathes of conifer seedlings were covering the cleared areas at Felbrigg and this made me ponder on this aspect of a tree species life cycle. Conifers produce huge volumes of seed, but most of these seeds will fall beneath the established trees and will never germinate since conditions in the deep shade beneath the parent trees will not be suitable for them to grow well - which seems remarkably wasteful. However, after clear-felling takes place, the seedlings are exposed to light and air and spring up in huge abundance. I imagine that human clear-felling produces the same (or similar) conditions as a forest fire or a major wind-throw and clears the way for the next generation of trees to get started. So, ideally, trees need only drop seed the year before a forest fire but, since they have no way of being alerted to when such an event takes place, their only solution is to produce copious amounts of seed every year, just in case.

Western Hemlock-spruce (Tsuga heterophylla) seedlings were present in great abundance at Felbrigg today.

For habitat managers, the abundance of such seedlings can be very frustrating as the dense cover they produce will easily swamp out smaller or slower-growing species such as heathers. Tackling such problems is a constant battle for conservation organisations.

The sun shone nicely today and gave me plenty of opportunity to get the photos that I needed. Though some of my target species were gone, there was plenty enough to keep me busy!

A carpet of Lawson's Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) seedlings blend in pretty well when covered in this morning's frost!

Being deciduous and thus leafless right now, the young plants of European Larch (Larix decidua) stood out readily among the other conifer seedlings.

Bright, glossy foliage and a fruity smell help to identify young Western Red-cedars (Thuja plicata).

There's an easy but painful way of confirming the identity of Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) seedlings - just stick your hand into the needle-sharp foliage!

My prize for today - a seedling Noble Fir (Abies procera)

Among the sea of assorted conifer seedlings today, I was pleased to find a single seedling of Noble Fir. This species does not feature in the floras for Norfolk or Suffolk, so finding confirmed regeneration certainly puts Felbrigg on the map!

2016 and Beyond - the project beginnings

In the dark and distant past of the early 2000s, I had the idea of producing an online identification guide to the Flora of East Anglia. Both Norfolk and Suffolk have excellent county atlas floras that illustrate and comment upon the flowering plants that are at large in the region. As guidance for where to find the plants of the region, they are invaluable and you really should own them already!! However, with space ever at a premium in books, few species are illustrated and anyone who is new to the wonders of plants will be wrestling with identification.

So, the idea is to provide an online resource that does not compete with the county floras, but instead complements them. The printed floras give you the distribution (as well as much interesting information on the regional histories of many species), while the website helps you with the identification. This is a major project, with over 2,500 plant species to be found, photographed and uploaded to the site, so it has already been no small undertaking!! Having wandered off abroad for a few years, it was not until 2016 that I actually began to put together the website, while many of the earlier photos are proving to be in need of replacement - digital technology is improving at an alarming rate! However, two years of uploading photos after much pondering on the design and lay out, now means that a good chunk of the species are covered and more will come.

Originally, I planned on keeping the site under wraps until it was ready to go 'live' and more or less complete, but then I figured that actually, maybe it's nicer to get people involved in the gradual development as more species get added and we stagger towards that seemingly unreachable number of species! So this blog is an invitation to enjoy the process. Follow this blog as I put up posts when new pages are added to the website - and enjoy having a go at using the site to help you identify the region's amazing flora. I'll also make posts about my adventures in the field as I track down species not yet photographed - and even occasionally post on new finds and species that may not even be in the atlases! 

Even in winter there's much to be done! Today, I was in South Norfolk, checking on some Eucalyptus trees that were clearly originally planted, but which have been left to become established and can probably now be considered part of the local flora (more on that some other time!). However, my winter trip was to get flower photos and it seems I was a few weeks too early - so another trip will be needed in a few weeks' time.

The flowers may not have been ready, but the distinctive bark was looking great. This is Cider Gum (Eucalyptus gunnii) which is overwhelmingly the commonest eucalypt planted in the UK and which occasionally turns up as a recordable plant in the wider countryside. The bark peels off in plates, revealing shades of grey and pink and is a little like a grey version of London Plane.

My particular interest in this stand of eucalypts (which I chanced upon last summer) is that the plantation is half made up of Shining Gum (Eucalyptus nitens). This species has never been recorded in East Anglia before, so I may have my name on a new find - which is always fun!! Shining Gum has very different bark to Cider Gum, as the outer layers peel off in long, vertical strips.