Durham City: Sycamore and red-berried elder are among the first trees to flower here
In drizzly rain, the view southwards from Pinnock hill, with hedges and woodland receding into the distance, faded like a series of watercolour washes: burnt umber, through sepia, to Payne’s grey on the horizon. Despite February’s freakish weather, with its false promise of spring, there was no sign yet of the pale green tint that appears in tree crowns when buds start to burst.
But in woodland beside me sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) buds had begun to swell a little, doubling in size since I stood here last week. They are elegant shape-shifters and slowly their squat winter profile, encased in tight green scales, broadens and elongates, becoming as streamlined as a rifle bullet, blushed with purple, until internal pressure becomes irresistible and pristine leaves tumble out.
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