The Corkscrew Hornbeam

I had a quick pooter around Markstakes where I'm supposed to be helping with the fungi walk tomorrow. I found very few fungi of any note - its incredibly dry in the woods so we may struggle tomorrow. This old Hornbeam is one of my favourite trees, its twisted trunk and outstretched branches seem to resemble a weightlifter or one of those corkscrews with the handles that you push down on. Hornbeam is an incredibly hardood - I believe it was the material from which police truncheons were traditionally made as well as various bits of windmill machinery. This one now sits in quite a dense deciduous woodland. The older oak trees have similarly well developed horizontal branches. One has recently been estimated at over 350 years old. The shape of these older trees, which is quite different to the younger oak, beech and hornbeams around, suggests that this was formerly pasture woodland and that the corkscrew hornbeam grew up in open ground. I recently came across an aerial photograph of the area from the 1930s which proved that the tree cover has increased massively since then.

PS The knee is slightly less swollen but decidedly more painful than before. I've now got it encased in a thick strapping and have promised to visit the doctor if it doesn't improve over the weekend.....