TWISTED OAKS

Cornwall is famous for the twisted and gnarled oak trees that line fence rows on our cost. The relentless winter winds blow in from the Irish Sea and prune and shape to forms that look alien to nature. Truly they are a form on bonsai.

I spend a lot of time searching for and photographing them because change is in the air. Rich newcomers are snatching up property and leveling object in sight in order to build the kinds of walls and houses that proclaim their importance. Trees vanish, are pruned into stumps or plowed down by huge machines that lay waste to old stone fences and the trees they support. My job is to find, document and love them.

Like all the trees on this page, this one is a couple of miles from my house.

St Gennys Church

This one is my special favourite. It is unfortunately no longer standing having been pruned to a stump.

This pair remind me of spinster sisters dancing through a field. I love them.

These beauties are on the Hill and Sweets road in my village. I love the way they intertwine.