Great to see effective disabled access in Cantabria, Northern Spain, to one of the largest groves of coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirons) in Europe with over 800 trees on 2.5 hectares.

Now, here's something unusual, and very dangerous!

Quite often structural problems with trees are signalled by thinning crowns compared to healthy trees, and very fine dead shoots around the outer extremes of the crown.

Conifers generally retain their needles over winter, but there are several that are deciduous, so they lose their needles. Two that are easily confused are the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum). The former has opposite needles and buds, and the latter has an alternate structure. One also has pneumatophores, which are aerial root adaptations. Here is a comparison of what they look like next to each other.

Another great ancient tree to see if you are ever in Cyprus. It is in the village of Ayia Mavri, reported to be about 800 years old, and an oriental plane (Platanus orientalis).

The illegal felling of the Whitewebbs Oak #whitewebbsoak youtu.be/GQtpYWWAleo?si=4INL… via @YouTube For those of you who want to know more about this, Russell Miller provides an excellent analysis, so it is well worth watching. It is on a par with the National Trust felling the Duke of Wellington Cedar in 2014, at Kingston Lacy in Dorset. That made me feel physically sick, and this is much the same.

Successfully protecting ancient trees can be a challenging management problem where they grow close to people.

Another magnificent oak in Cyprus thought to be about 800 years old, defying the odds and still growing well.

Regular crown reduction, or pollarding, is a great way to tailor existing trees to the space available in confined urban locations, and it doesn't always result in weak unions, as is often stated.

I've got to get over there to see this!

This olive is reputed to be the oldest in Cyprus at about 800 years old. It is only about 5 m in height, but it has an impressive trunk around 4 m in diameter, and well worth a visit if you are ever in the country.

Severe branch reduction is frequently criticised by tree management purists, but when it mimics natural branch failures, it can enhance ecological diversity, and it is often a far better option than felling.

Trees with repeated branch failures in their crowns, in locations where people or property could be harmed, must be checked carefully by a specialist, because they may have an inherent weakness that needs managing.

I wonder if this is because browsing animals can't get to it, and if those browsers were removed, would the place be full of trees!

This ancient oak (Quercus sp) near the village of Fyti in Cyprus is reputed to be 800 years old. Despite its remote location, it has been carefully protected, and well worth a visit if you are ever in Cyprus. The snake in the video is a non-venomous Cyprus whip snake (Hierophis cypriensis), about 1 m long, and probably attracted by the natural spring close to the tree.

This pistachio tree (Pistacia atlantica) is reputed to be the oldest tree in Cyprus at about 1,500 years of age, and was recognised as such in 2004 by being given protected status by the Cyprus Department of Forests. However, it is under threat from an adjacent road construction project, with no obvious protection from excavation harm. If it dies because of these works, it will be the loss of an irreplaceable natural heritage asset, and makes its government protected status a mockery.

Extreme marine photo-bombing!