Tag Archives: Grin Woods

Hairice in Grin Woods

Thank you to Prof Richard Pattrick for these fascinating photographs of hairice forming in dead trees in Grin low during the recent cold spell.

The following explanation has been taken from Wikipedia

Hair ice forms on moist, rotting wood from broadleaf trees when temperatures are slightly under 0 °C (32 °F) and the air is humid.[1] Each of the smooth, silky hairs has a diameter of about 0.02 mm (0.0008 in) and a length of up to 20 cm (8 in).[1] The hairs are brittle, but take the shape of curls and waves.[1] They can maintain their shape for hours and sometimes days.[1] This long lifetime indicates that something is preventing the small ice crystals from recrystallizing into larger ones, since recrystallization normally occurs very quickly at temperatures near 0 °C (32 °F).[1]
The hairs appear to root at the mouth of wood rays (never on the bark), and their thickness is similar to the diameter of the wood ray channels.[1] A piece of wood that produces hair ice once may continue to produce it over several years.[1]
In the year 2015, German and Swiss scientists identified the fungus Exidiopsis effusa as key to the formation of hair ice.[1] The fungus was found on every hair ice sample examined by the researchers, and disabling the fungus with fungicide or hot water prevented hair ice formation.[1] The fungus shapes the ice into fine hairs through an uncertain mechanism and likely stabilizes it by providing a recrystallization inhibitor similar to antifreeze proteins.[1][2]

Update on Activities in Grin Woods

Felling and Removal of diseased Elm Tree in Grin Woods

If you have been up to Grin Woods today you will have noticed that one of the Elm trees close to the edge of the Woods has been felled.

The tree was diseased and was considered to be in a dangerous condition and given its location it was felt that it posed a risk to visitors to the Country Park.

The decision to fell the tree was approved by the Derbyshire County Council Tree Officer as the tree was subject to a Tree Preservation Order.

The work was undertaken by Able Tree Services.

FROM MY WINDOW

A young blackbird struggles with her breakfast

I happen to glance up from my desk in the "Monkey House" just as the rain stopped. A young female blackbird tumbled out of the hedge and paused briefly before renewing her attack on a slug that she had dragged down with her.

She pecked at it fitfully for a few seconds and then vigorously wiped her beak on the ground before renewing the assault. Every so often she would pause and then with an almost audible sigh drag the slug a little further along the path.

This went on for half an hour or so. Until eventually she dragged the slug back into the hedge. It began to rain again.

I was very glad that I was not a blackbird.