2021
SD4487 : Flag Yews on Whitbarrow Scar
taken 4 years ago, near to The Howe, Cumbria, England

Flag Yews on Whitbarrow Scar
There's a very diverse woody flora on the limestone plateau of Whitbarrow Scar, including all three native conifers as well as broadleaves and the occasional exotic such as Larch and the weed Sycamore. This exposed part of the Nature Reserve has very shallow, dry soil and biting winds, but most of the tree species seem to have coping strategies which keep them in their normal shape. The ones which aren't coping so well are the Ash trees which seem highly stressed with many succumbing to what I can only assume is Ash Dieback disease and the Yews, all of which are surviving, but pretty uniformly as flag trees. Buds on the windward side die mainly through dehydration and only the lee branches develop, resulting in this distinctive shape. This is one of those shots where the camera GPS disagrees with the handheld unit, in this case putting the photographer about 30m further east. It's clear that would be the other side of the path, so the handheld Garmin (which had been switched on all walk) has been accepted over the camera (which had only just got a fix).
