Wild Service Tree

It had to be a botanical blip today. These are the autumn leaves of the Wild Service Tree (Sorbus torminalis). I've been looking out for this in the woods around Arnside Knott since we've lived here, but until today I had never found it. And today as we were walking along a route I have walked dozens of times, I spotted several one foot high plants with the unmistakable palmate lobed leaf. These had to be suckers thrown up off the roots of a tree, and there it was, directly overhead with several other small trees nearby.

This isn't strictly a rare plant as botanists would define rarity, it is well distributed in ancient woods in England and Wales. But where it is found it is never abundant and usually restricted to just a few small patches where several trees will grow together (all likely derived from suckers from a single parent). In Cumbria it is known from only 8 localities, two of which are said to be in the Arnside woods. Today's plant was not in one of those two localities, so it has possibly escaped the notice of the many botanists who have scoured this botanical hotspot over the years. I've only seen it at two other locations in the county, and one of those we found the dead leaves in winter but failed to find the tree (and the location isn't one of the 8 known sites).

An exciting day in several respects. A fine weather day, perfect for a relaxing walk around the Arnside Headland with our visitors.

When we got home I spotted a commotion in the back garden, and when I looked out the window, there was a female sparrowhawk perched on a rock with a sparrow in its talons. Earlier in the day I had been watching the sparrows in the rambling rose in their favoured warm spot, and I guess it was one of those that was plucked from its perch by the opportunist hawk. I always have mixed feelings at times like that, excitement at seeing a bird of such beauty and stealth, but regret for losing one of our small colony of house sparrows. Still, a good population of sparrowhawks reflects a good population of prey species.