First Wiring for the Big Hawthorn

Tatton Park, Autumn 2014

A walk in Cheshire's Tatton Park, October 2014.

Tatton is home to a number of trees of interest. The "Beech Avenue Conservation Trail" contains a number of ancient Fagus sylvatica, some dating back as far as 1739.

Part of the plaque accompanying the beech avenue

Beech Avenue

There are a great number of ancient oak trees around the park. The specimen below is accompanied by a plaque containing information about the significance of ancient trees.

Plaque accompanying the ancient oak

Ancient oak

Carving of XL Hawthorn

The big Crataegus has had a year to rest since collection and is looking strong. Most of my trees are given longer to recover after collection, but with hawthorns, I feel that it is generally safe to do a little work after one year if they are growing vigorously, as long as the roots are not disturbed.

Hawthorns will often throw out long straight branches with smooth bark, known as water shoots. Wherever possible I remove these smooth, juvenile looking branches, in favour of aged, flaky bark. I recently went through this big Crataegus, cutting these smooth areas out and carving the stumps to hollows. Once the wood dries out I will tidy up the cuts and darken with a blowtorch.

One large water shoot

Same area after work



Another water shoot and an ugly stump below it

Same area after work



Finished for now