Early Spring (or not)

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by Poirot

Appoligies they are so common around the Uk I never would of thought that they were not native. It doesn't help when i typed in sycamore and got this defenition on the web.

English Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) COMMON NAMES: English sycamore, sycamore plane

Ahh well thats how reliable the internet is

Jez was correct ....i just caught up with this thread and my face was like this SYCAMORE and native OAK in the same sentence?

There is nothing good about sycamores in my book apart from i have about 2 years worth of wood for the fire now we got some felled.

On a lighter note....i saw a group of 15 swallows today! some flying so close they made my hair ruffle ( ok so im nearly bald but hey)

[Kayleigh]

Glad your back Dan, You always make me laugh

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Jez was correct ....i just caught up with this thread and my face was like this SYCAMORE and native OAK in the same sentence?

There is nothing good about sycamores in my book apart from i have about 2 years worth of wood for the fire now we got some felled.

On a lighter note....i saw a group of 15 swallows today! some flying so close they made my hair ruffle ( ok so im nearly bald but hey)

Well I can tell you something good about sycamores... they may not support the diversity of invertebrates that an oak does but in terms of sheer volume of insect weight they don't compare too badly - they're mainly stuffed full of aphids and feed lots of young tits and warblers late in the season fuelling them up for the winter. - Particularly good in urban areas where big trees are sometimes few and far between.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Well I can tell you something good about sycamores... they may not support the diversity of invertebrates that an oak does but in terms of sheer volume of insect weight they don't compare too badly - they're mainly stuffed full of aphids and feed lots of young tits and warblers late in the season fuelling them up for the winter. - Particularly good in urban areas where big trees are sometimes few and far between.

Blah blah...trust you Gill to fight the sycamore cause!...those aphids also caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to my shiny new car =( but yes......the sycamores along the woods by our drive are full of tits that is true....i still hate them tho

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Blah blah...trust you Gill to fight the sycamore cause!...those aphids also caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to my shiny new car =( but yes......the sycamores along the woods by our drive are full of tits that is true....i still hate them tho

well I think its important to differentiate between non-natives that are all bad and those that actually have some good. If you just rip out all the sycamores in an area where there are no other mature trees it could take decades for the area to catch up again in terms of its ability to support such a large volume of invertebrates which then has a knock on effect on the whole ecosystem and for what? So humans can be pleased at the lack of sycamores? No doubt there are non-native species that do a lot of harm but I think blanket non native bad / native good judgements can be quite dangerous.

There was a really good article I read abut trees and their value to invertebrates - I can't remember whether it was a British Wildlife article or an English Nature research report - wish I could track it down though, it was very good.

[Dan Salter]

Ok that all very vailid ill let you have that one Gill

but anyway.....i came on this thread to say i saw my first Orange Tip today while doing a tractor driving course! ...i LOVE orange tips!

[Kayleigh]

I saw a brimstone today. Am I late

[Poirot]

Its taken 5 years but i think the birds are finally using te bird box i put up

Poirot

[Dan Salter]

Oh nice one! and yeah i forgot to mention that 2 of my new boxes i made are occupied! just when i was thinking i got them up too late yay !

[Poirot]

There is definatly a sparrow that flys in and out c ause i saw it, but wetherits nesting its hard to tell as myt bird box is right next to my feader so it could be just finding a place to shell the sunflower seeds. But ill keep an eye out over the weekend and see if i do have nesting birds or not.

Poirot