Those with children (young and old) may like to print the activity sheet before leaving home and bring a crayon and some tape with them to do bark rubbings and take a fallen leaf from the tree.
Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
The ash is the third most common tree species in Britain. They can live up to 400 years and sometimes longer when coppiced. Ash trees are often grow together, forming a domed canopy. Easily identified in winter by smooth twigs that have distinctively black, velvety leaf buds arranged opposite each other. Ash is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers typically grow on different trees, although a single tree can also have male and female flowers on different branches. Both male and female flowers are purple and appear before the leaves in spring, growing in spiked clusters at the tips of twigs.
Height: 35m tall
Trunk circumference: 2m
Bark: The bark is pale brown to grey, which fissures as the tree ages.
Leaves: Pinnately compound, comprising 6-12 opposite pairs of light green, oval leaflets with long tips, up to 40cm long. There is an additional singular 'terminal' leaflet at the end. The leaves can move in the direction of sunlight, and sometimes the whole crown of the tree may lean in the direction of the sun. Another characteristic of ash leaves is that they fall when they are still green.
Ash thrives best in fertile, deep and well drained soil in cool atmospheres. It often dominates British woodland. Ash trees make the perfect habitat for a number of different species of wildlife. The airy canopy and early leaf fall allow sunlight to reach the woodland floor, providing optimum conditions for wildflowers such as dog violet, wild garlic and dogs mercury, and consequently insects such as the rare and threatened high brown fritillary butterfly.
The main threat to ash trees is Chalara dieback of ash, a disease caused by a fungus called Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (previously Chalara fraxinea). The disease causes trees to lose their leaves and the crown to die back, and usually results in their death.
The ash tree was thought to have medicinal and mystical properties and the wood was burned to ward off evil spirits. In Norse Viking mythology, ash was referred to as the 'Tree of Life'. Even today it is sometimes known as the 'Venus of the woods'. In Britain we regarded ash as a healing tree.