photo © myself 2011
When a mighty and ancient tree falls in the Wildwood, its death brings forth and sustains new life.
In the past, fallen branches and branches were removed from managed woodland, but modern methods of management recognise that dead and decaying wood is extremely important to the health of the forest. It is valuable for nutrient cycling and carbon storage, and provides a complex and ever-changing series of microhabitats for hundreds of different species of fungi, lichens, mosses, birds, small mammals, beetles and other often rare invertebrates. Ironically, there is more life in a dead tree than a living one.
I feel there's an analogy here with my life at the moment, but I'm not going to labour the point.
there is more life in a dead tree than a living one.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, just lovely as always. I've missed checking in here with you. The fragrance of dead wood and its ecosystems is compelling and primal. I don't get to smell it often here in this busy city, but my mind remembers.
Thank you! :) The woods can be rather bleak at this time of year, but there is beauty there even if one has to look harder!
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