Random Tuesday

I understand that this year we’re having a mast autumn in the south of England. Something that happens every 5 to 10 years when all the trees synchronise to produce a vast quantity of fruit- far too much for the predators to eat so saplings can grow and flourish. And it’s true, the hedgerows are dripping with berries and the quantity of conkers and acorns, crab apples and beech masts make walking a dangerous business, any small gust of wind and the thud of conquers hitting the ground makes Dylan the dog and I stop in our tracks!

But in amongst the burnished leaves

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I saw these interlopers

With bright candy colours the plump pink seed case surrounds orange berries that look far too exotic for this damp neck of the woods. But I’ve learnt that it is native and it’s a Spindle Tree. Colin Williams in The Guardian says:

‘The spindles are a rebellion against the pallor of their neighbouring trees; they are brave impressionist paintings among the ash and crab apple.’

As well as being a thing of beauty it can live for more than 100 years and its’ hard, dense, straight wood is used to make spindles for spinning and holding wool, knitting needles and artists’ charcoal.

It reminds me of the pink and purple Tinkle-Tinkle tree in Roald Dahl’s The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me and now that I’ve seen one of course, I see them everywhere

The orange and pink Spindle-Spindle tree!