I need a tree book to go with my bird book. A quick search... Beech, I think.
What was lovely was the lichen-spottiness, like camouflage (so it merges in with the... er... vegetation??)
Actually, what was really lovely was that I leaned in to listen to the sap rising - in four of the beeches and two maybe-Elders. With my ear pressed hard against the bark, I heard the gurgle or flow - it differed tree by tree, with a higher pitched sound in one very young beech. I heard the creaking-grating of the internal structure as the trees moved in the breeze. They spoke. Without leaves, they spoke. Through smooth or rough bark, I could hear.
I held on to them and felt life.
Tree listening is, it turns out, a thing. Check this out.... Now, if you want to listen to a tree - nope, it's not a case of pressing your ear against a tree. You hire professional Tree Listener Alex Metcalfe. Don't get me wrong, Alex seems lovely and his project clearly inspired these people and Kew Gardens, no less, but... OK, you hear more through the headphones... I guess... but, truly, take your ear to a tree for free.
I'm mesmerized by the art work and keep coming back to the "family". So will they be left to re-sprout? Oh and the stuff about sounds and such reminded me of the books by this fellow esp The Songs of Trees. I read it and another a few years ago. Great writer. And you've reminded me that I want to read his latest which looks like it's especially about animals - https://www.amazon.ca/Sounds-Wild-Broken-Evolutions-Creativity/dp/198488154X