Last weekend, I misheard Gail, imagining she was proposing a walk to see some crumbs. Strange, I thought, but anything related to cookies gets my vote. Let's go!
Well it turns out the word she said was 'Krummholz' and although sadly this has nothing to do with foodables, the subject does at least fit the bill for Arty, Jakey and Rosy's Nature Friday bloghop.
Have a look at the Scots pine trees I encountered on my hike around the Beinn Eighe NNR Mountain Trail (this outing also featured on Tuesday's post).
At the base of the slope they stand tall and straight.
Pausing for breath as one ascends the steep gradient, one notices that where the forest thins out the pines have more space to spread their branches.
And finally you reach the tree line, where the poor pines struggle to survive in thin soils and are constantly buffeted by strong and freezing winds, and they grow all twisted and stunted. This vegetation is the aforementioned 'Krummholz', which is German for 'crumpled wood'.
We were lucky on this hike. For once, the breeze was gentle, as the more observant of you will have deduced from the 'at rest' setting of my flappy little ears.
Happy Nature Friday folks!
