And then there were four (and Cas). A final trek up High Force before everyone went their own way.

Arb awards and the New Inn

Loose Ends.

Hi jinks and Jolly Japes as ND2 Arb play with an assortment of hammers, spades, bits of timber and sharp pointy things.

Thinning sycamores in Flass Vale local nature reserve. These ladybirds look like Orange Ladybirds from the pictures at The Harlequin Ladybird Survey website. This cluster was found on a very young beech tree. Come to think about it - they look a bit like the ladybird I found at Gibside on the felted beech scale.

Roadside tree planting at the Nest Roundabout on the A72 between Galashiels and Innerleithen.

There are Prunus Kanzan, P. 'Tai Haku', P. avium 'Plena', P. 'Kiku-Zakura', and perhaps some others.

Roadside tree planting on stretches of the A66 Trans-Pennine route. These are taken at a few spots just a few miles west of Scotch Corner

Tree planting work at Hamsterley Forest

We returned to Bill Quay Community Farm to plant a hedgerow of Hawthorn, Field Maple, Hornbeam and Holly.

Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park is part of the Tees Forest.

Surveying mature Acer pseudoplatanus, Sorbus intermedia, Ulmus glabra and Fraxinus excelsior in a suburban Sunderland street.

As part of Urban Forestry and Community Woodland modules we had to walk around the woodland near the cathedral and river and look at its management. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

Community Woodland: Walters Wood is a Woodland Trust wood near Ouston, County Durham

British Native trees and shrubs are my usual trees of choice and most of my garden is managed for wildlife. But since starting the arb course one non-native has grabbed my imagination; Cercidiphyllum japonicum, The Katsura tree. I bought this one from Trees Online. This is a good shopping site for trees but you have to endure their cretinous newsletters for ever after.

Sitting in Blackfriars I noticed through the (arched) window, people scuffling around under a leafy tree. At first I thought they were collecting conkers. Couldn't identify it at a distance, but had to investigate. Turns out to be a walnut. Genus Juglans but don't know the species.

A great arboretum. Third visit now and it gets better every time.

A hedgerow planting project for the Bill Quay Community Farm