Ilkeston - The Trees Of Victoria Park
w/e 15 November 2009
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

Since uploading Part 01 of this series I have resolved the discrepancies between the numbers shown on a Council leaflet and the information posts adjacent to the trees in the park. See the Introduction for more. The identification to each tree in the format (L-/P-) refers to the leaflet number and the identification post number. Part 04 - On the Manners Road side The final part (for the time being) looks at five more trees on the Manners Road side of Victoria Park. Since the last part in this series a month ago, the flower bed at the end of Bristol Road (left) has benefited from its winter planting but will need a little more time before it can be seen to full potential. We begin this part at the side of the Lombardy Poplar (right) seen here in silhouette against a low sun and in the image above, showing Manners Road from close to the Poplar, the first of the remaining five identification posts is visible towards the left of the picture.

That post stands at the foot of a Field Maple (L14/P17) seen here from a position within the park and with a backdrop of the Victoria Leisure Centre. At only 15m high when mature, this native species is a common sight in woodlands and hedgerows but doesn't look at all out of place in this park setting either. The Field Maple displays small green flowers in the summer months followed by winged seeds. Although not all the leaves have dropped, we've probably missed the best of the golden colour that they turn during autumn but come winter the tree should be distinguishable by corky twigs.

A little further along Manners Road and again with the Victoria Centre as a backdrop is the next tree of note. This is the Common Beech (L15/P18) another native tree and this species grows to double the height of the Field Maple. It is widely planted in parks and gardens and is also a common sight in woods.

Although it has now lost most of its leaves those that still remain give an indication of the dense shade they create during the summer. The tree produces "masts" in autumn that are much sought after by squirrels and birds. I did not see any on this visit but squirrels are often to be seen scampering through the park.

I was a little apprehensive when I discovered the discrepancies between the leaflet and the posts and that this series would run into November that all that would be left to see would be skeletal-like trees at this time of year. My fears were not unfounded particularly with the next tree, the Common Ash (L16/P19), the largest in this group seen here from near the children's play area in the park. Unfortunately this time round we've missed the attractive leaves that are among the last to open in spring and the first to fall in autumn. (Note to self - come back next year).

By contrast the fourth tree in this section, a Turkey Oak (L17/P20), is still covered with a fine display of leaf growth. The species was introduced to Britain as a source of timber but the climate meant that the wood was too brittle to use and now it is grown for ornamental purposes only. It is a quick growing species and soon attains its mature height of 30m.

I've always associated Maple trees with Canada but the final tree in our tour of the park, unlike the native Field Maple, was introduced to this country in the seventeenth century and the name suggest it came from Europe. This is the Norway Maple (L18/P21), a 20m high variety that is a popular tree in parks and on streets as it is very tolerant of poor compacted soils and pollution. This is another example where the tree has already lost its leaves but most of them have settled around the base of the tree and the information post (left) where their well-known shape can easily be distinguished.

That completes our circuit as we are now near to Drummond Road (right) and I am pleased that none of the trees identified on the leaflet or by the information posts have yet had to suffer the same fate as these two either side of the path that leads back to the centre of the park. I'm sure it is a necessary evil but it is always so sad when pollarding seems so brutal and the new growth is still awaited. Victoria Park does not cover an excessively large area - that's Bristol Road in the distance, Manners Road is just behind and Drummond Road to the right - but parks are green open spaces that act as the lungs of urban areas helping clean the air that we breath and they provide peaceful havens amid the surrounding noise and turmoil. For those reasons alone they are well worth looking after and enjoying. Victoria Park - we'll be back. Back to Part 3 The Trees of Victoria Park Index

Site Navigation Home "Pick A Picture" Weekly Favourites Latest Images Holidays & Days Out Special Features The Guest Page Archives Site search Web search powered by FreeFind Jigsaw Puzzles Recommended Links Terms & Conditions of Use This website is copyright but licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence. Please credit the photographer Garth Newton, or add a link to these pages.