In Pure Spirit

For open minds

Video: Tree born pollen explosion

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Some trees carry so much pollen that they appear to explode into a cloud when given just a gentle shake. The results are so impressive you may doubt what you see.

This video was taken in Lewisburg Tennessee and just in case you’re wondering what you’re watching there’s a helpful woman on the audio there to repeat “Pollen, pollen,” for you.

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What do you think? Impressive? Scary?

Is there a risk that by shaking the tree we’re interfering and causing the pollen to fly off prematurely or is it simply the case that once a tree is as heavy as this then the pollen is ready to go?

Glastonbury’s Holy Thorn tree back from the dead

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Three months after the Holy Thorn tree at Glastonbury was written off as dead and destroyed, a result of a vicious vandal attack, new buds have started to appear.

Local legend says that Joseph of Arimathea travelled to Wearyall Hill after the Crucifixion, tired after this journey, he stuck his staff in the ground and went to sleep. It is said that the staff once belonged to Jesus and that when Joseph woke from his rest the staff had grown into a thorn tree.

The site became a popular destination for Christian travellers.

Despite the Christian mythology around the tree it was a pagan wizard who saved it. The local council turned to Peter Frearson, who runs a horticultural business, and who has the nickname “Garden Wizard”.

Talking to press, Frearson outlined the recovery technique he applied to the tree.

“We applied a dressing of pine resin and beeswax to stop further moisture and rain getting in, keep out bacteria and fungus, and applied nutrients.

“We covered it in horticultural fleece, then bubble wrap, then more fleece.

“Soon after we replaced the bubble wrap with hessian.

“We mulched around the base of the tree with well-rotted wood chips to keep the moisture off the ground, and we’ve also driven spikes into the ground and filled the holes with compost and bonemeal, and we’ll do it again soon.”

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Is the tree actually 2,000 years old? No. In fact, the “Glastonbury Thorn” is a form of Common Hawthorn. It’s recorded that the first famous Glastonbury Thorn was cut down during the English Civil War circa ~1640/1650. However, cuttings from the trees have allowed the species to live on.

If the “current” Glastonbury Thorn had not recovered then the backup plan was to use another cutting to replace the vandalised tree. This is easier said that done as most attempts to grow a Glastonbury Holy Thorn from a direct cutting tends to revert to the normal hawthorn tree.

Rwanda’s Forest of Hope: Gishwati National Conservation Park

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Chimpanzees!!
Image by rytc via Flickr

Officials in Rwanda have announced they will increase the size of Gishwati National Conversation Park from 3,018 acres to 3,665 acres. That’s an increase of about 21%.

This is good news as it’ll reclaim land lost to small-scale agriculture that once connected the forst from the banks of the Sebeya River. The newly extended park is being called the Forest of Hope.

Dr Beck, director of the Conservation Program at Gishwait, said;

The water quality of the Sebeya River is linked to the health of local people and the national economy…the Sebeya is not only an important source of drinking water for local residents but it also provides hydroelectric power and water for beverage production downstream.

Notable beneficiaries of the project will be a group of endangered chimpanzees. It’s expected that growing Gishwati will be a challenge but a worthwhile one. Beck added;

The reforestation of Kinyenkanda is a perfect example of win-win-win sustainable conservation. There are local and national economic benefits, the chimpanzees and other fauna will enjoy expanded habitat, and the environmental quality of the river and the atmosphere will be enhanced.

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What do you think? Is this really a win-win-win scenario or does have Rwanda have countless other things it should be doing first?

Hanging tree ghost caught on camera at Fort William

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A French couple on holiday in the Highlands of Scotland claim they have managed to photograph a ghost.

The couple took the strange photograph on the high street of Fort William.  Sophie Mager and Remy Ruckey told press that they didn’t see the ghost themselves; it only became visible to them in the photograph.

They add that it was only after the photograph was taken that they discovered from locals the spot was the location of an old hanging tree – chopped down in the 1970s to make way for a new library.

It was said at the time that cutting down the ancient tree would bring about “Buidseachd” (pronounced Bootchach) the Gaelic name for a curse.

Staff in the library now on the scene have reported hauntings; boos, paintings an pot plants throwing themselves in to the floor and the sound of dog snufflings even though there were no animals in the building. At one point library workers fled the building when an electric typewriter started to print its letters upside down.


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Do you think Mager and Puckey have managed to capture the ghost of the old Fort William hanging tree on camera? Or is this a genuine mistake? A con?

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