Well, what a difference a month makes…
A whizz through the month – (if you want to see every day’s picture, they’re all on my Instagram site, you can get there by clicking the Instagram pictures or icon in the left sidebar).
You can see that at last the oak has leaves. I first caught a glimpse of pale fuzzy browny greenness towards the end of the first week in April, but I couldn’t get close enough to see really well, but other oaks along the lane started to unfurl at that time too. Within a week, you could see them for sure on the sunny days.
So I’ve learned that the oaks come into leaf a lot later than the horse-chestnuts, which are already sporting a full head of leaves and lots of candles, but there are still a few trees on the lane without leaves – now I have to go out with a book so I can work out what they are…
The last picture here was taken yesterday – quite a change from mid March.
The weather has been much better over the last few weeks, but the most noticeable thing by far for me, is the huge explosion of growth in the hedgerow and the banks. The sheer amount of plant life that has sprung up in the last couple of weeks is incredible. It’s easier to understand how important this time of year was to our ancestors when you see the rapid increase in green leaves suddenly appearing everywhere. The blossom has been and now is largely gone. Today I realised that the brambles have practically doubled in size as their new leaves seem to have shot out of nowhere. What a relief it must have been after the harshness of winter to welcome back all this plant life.
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I try to post every picture I take on the same day on my Instagram site – if you would like to watch the oak more often, follow me on Instagram
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Dreaming In Stitches 
Lovely to see your tree emerging from winter. Our oaks are not out here yet in North Wales, at least they weren’t last time I looked. The spring is bounding along so quickly that might have changed already! An oak tree is just the most perfectly satisfying shape isn’t it, with or without leaves.
You’re right, it was undoubtedly the shape that first attracted me to this particular tree, I just seemed to see it one day whereas until then I’d never noticed it. I can’t get really close to this oak, so at first I was really peering up and trying to take close up pictures to spot the leaves coming on, but there are several smaller oaks along the lane and their leaves were there too. Once it started though, it seemed to come along very quickly. We all seem to live in microclimates these days, I swap stories with my brother in South Wales and sometimes he’s got things in front and behind us – adds to the excitement I suppose!
Super photos of a truly magnificent tree, Anny. When we left Mid-Wales nearly 4 weeks ago most trees hadn’t even started to open their leaves, but I imagine things look very different after the recent warmer weather. Up here in Sutherland the leaves are taking their time to appear. 🙂
Trees in Sutherland must be pretty brave types! Oh how lucky you are though to be there – do please post pictures often so we can drool and get excited for the next visit!
Loved scrolling down through the pictures. How brilliant that this transformation happens each year. Dependable nature.
Years spent working the old 9 to 5 routine had really disconnected me from the cycles of nature, but I feel so much happier now that I’ve tuned back into the seasons. Having this point of focus has helped me see a lot of other things I wouldn’t otherwise have noticed.
That was almost like a tree flick book … from twiggy to leafy 🙂 I guess it’s logical that the oaks leaf up latest as they are often the last to lose their leaves. Are you seeing oak catkins yet?
I’m keeping my eyes open – the funny thing is that now I’m watching that tree, I find myself much more tuned in to other things too. It’s not possible to get really close to ‘my’ oak, but there are others on the lane which I can touch, so I have to see how they’re developing for the close-up story 🙂
isn’t that shiny green just delicious! I have two big oaks that i can see from the garden and have been watching them coming into their green dresses and wondering how your’s was doing 🙂
I love that – green dresses – perfect, exactly right. 🙂