My post this week is dedicated to the brilliant and mighty Silver Birch! Without a doubt when on local walks you will find an abundance of Silver Birch trees. They are deciduous trees and they are easy to spot thanks to their white flaky bark that runs up trunk. They are quite tall trees, growing up to 30 metres tall and their leaves a small, light green in colour with a triangular pointed tip. The bottom of the leaves are flat and the edges all around the leaf are sharply serrated.
Not impressed yet? Well let me tell you all the uses of the Silver Birch and you will soon see why I can’t praise it enough.
Tinder: Need to get a fire going in all weather condition? Well Silver Birch barks makes a fantastic tinder to help with this! This is because the bark contains a large amount of oil and resin. Keep a look out for trees that have flaky white bark as this is perfect for peeling, take a tin with you to fill up as you go and you should have no problems with your fire lighting in the future. The best thing about this is that it doesn’t damage the tree!
Fire: Not only can the silver birch be used as a tinder source, the wood is also fantastic as it burns extremely well, creating plenty of heat to get your quick fire going. Please bare in mind that the wood is best used to get the fire going and not for a slow burning fire as the wood can burn quickly.
Carving: The wood of Silver Birch is fantastic for carving items as the wood is tough and heavy. Silver Birch’s’ have been used to make utensils, furniture, handles and toys!
Valuable to Wildlife: As a canopy of a Silver Birch tree is open, they provide perfect conditions for flora such as grass, bluebells and violets. They are also a brilliant habitat for insects! Their leaves attract aphids which are a food source for ladybirds and other insects. The leaves of the tree are food for moths and caterpillars. Birds such as woodpeckers also find home in Silver Birch by nesting in their trunks.
There we have it! My reasons to why the Silver Birch tree are truly marvellous! For those out there who are currently practising fire lighting… you can thank me later ????.
