Alder cones

The Alder (Gaelic : feàrn / Latin : Alnus glutinosa) is one of my favourite tree species ... and this happens to be one of my favourite Alders :-)

We have planted nigh on a thousand native trees here since we arrived, and this is one of a strip of mixed deciduous ones down by the burn. Apart from looking nice and being good for wildlife, planting trees at the burnside helps stabilise the banks and also stops stock polluting the watercourse. Anyway, this particular tree was 25cm tall and as thick as a pencil when it went in, but it has thrived, and in 8 or so years it has grown to about 8 metres tall and is about 25cm thick at the base. There are even seedlings from this one growing naturally nearby too :-)

This shot is of some of this year's ripening Alder cones ... these ones are about 3m above ground and were taken with a telephoto lens during a Sunny break in today's Autumn showers.