Sycamore Circles

Sycamore Circles, originally uploaded by e s c h e r.

When we got home from Coniston it was still early and I wanted to do something else before finishing up for the day.

This Spring for me has been really interesting. Most years I go trekking in Nepal for the Spring but this year I have stayed at home.

I don't know whether I do this every Spring or whether this is something new but I am noticing so many more colours and things growing than I ever have before. Either I do this every year or all this land art has attuned my senses to what is happening all around. I don't really know the answer but all the same I am really enamoured by all the wonderful plants that I have been noticing, the flowers and interesting leaves and a plethora of colours I thought were reserved for Autumn.

One thing in particular I have noticed is the huge quantity of new trees below existing trees. I have never noticed this before but just about every sycamore and beech I have looked at has dozens and dozens of tiny saplings sprouting underneath. Perhaps when the parent tree has its full covering of leaves these saplings are starved of light and disappear. I do not know but this discovery is fascinating to me all the same. I guess this has always been true and I just haven't noticed before but it makes me think what other hidden wonders there are to discover.

So following the current theme of sunlight and leaves I made some little stick circles and pinned fresh sycamore leaves to them. I considered trimming the extra leaf around the edges but I liked the shape of the whole leaf so I kept them intact.

These seemed to be particularly fragile. I wanted to take them up to Baines Crag at Littledale but didn't think they would make it that far so this picture was taken in my garden as I didn't think I would be able to get anything else.

When I went back out there later they were still fine despite the breeze so I went up to Littledale anyway. (Hi to the cyclist I met up there who was looking for directions to Clitheroe but meant Caton. Bit of a slog from there)!

Despite breaking one on the walk up there they did eventually hold together whilst gently flapping in the breeze. I left them up there so they can enjoy the view and gradually go back to where they came from.

I imagine this would work better with older, tougher leaves but by the time they are more robust the twigs will have stiffened and will be more difficult to coax into a circle.