Decmber 3: UK - The trees are dormant - wither the blog?

Well the leaves are gone. There is no two ways about it. On both the big tree and the small one.

And for the next few months there will be hardly any change in the tree that we will be able to see. There won't be much change in the bits we can't see either, as the roots become pretty much as dormant as the top of the tree.

There will be action under ground and even more under the leaf litter where the leaves will be recycled and their goodness will seep back into the soil for the tree to use again next year. Probably this year's acorns, the few that there are of them after a poor mast year, will be forming a tap roots. But we won't see any of this.

So wither the blog? In a week or so I expect it too will become dormant until the spring. (Except for a flurry if we get snow or more photogenic frosts.) But first I must tidy up properly. Turn the series of photos into movies or slide shows and put then up somewhere for the record. Try to summarise, if only for myself, what I have learned as the blog progressed. Try to continue to keep a record of the tree. Maybe still every day. Maybe only once a week or so. Try to prepare so we can catch the English tree in spring and the New Zealand one in autumn. Maybe try to arrange for photos of Californian oaks and oaks from elsewhere. Meanwhile there are still good photos to be taken. Here are a couple more. First the wonderful trunk in the last of the evening's winter sunshine.

And last, the sunset as I went up the hill from the tree to my home.