Birch and Birching

I've never been birched and you're unlikely to meet anyone who has, but the subject occasionally came up when my parents talked of their schooldays.

The punishment was carried out in the earlier parts of last century. It was a formal punishment and played its part in a much stricter approach to education generally.

http://www.westhighlandmuseum.org.uk/collections/the-fort/item-one/

Its' good that these days this elegant and fascinating tree has now begun to lose the painful association. In fact recent associations have gone the opposite way. The conservation industry's use of the word often comes linked to an exhortation for volunteers to join them in 'Birch Bashing', turning the punishment against the tree itself rather than some miscreant's buttocks.

One of BBC Radio 3's excellent series 'The Essay' was recently a talk about Birch in a short series on The Meaning of Trees. You can still hear it at this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vh8th

There are two native species of Birch both present on Blacka. Observation skills of a pretty high order are needed to distinguish between the two, Silver Birch and Downy Birch; that's not made any easier by their tendency to hybridise. Still, it's interesting to have a go, even if you're left in doubt at the end. Downy Birch seems less common here and I think I've detected it in the Strawberry Lee Woods near the car park. Some of these trees are straighter, less prone to go off at eccentric angles and there appear to be small patches of hairs on the back of leaves on the stem. But I'm putting no money on it.