There is an alien world in any tree near you! 




are ‘digital doubles’ of a real growing tree - what is going on within above and below ground... and that is the best bit... entwined and connecting its roots and roots of plant neighbours are fungal threads. 


They are the real world-wide web, for these are mycorrhiza – fungi which spread vast distances, connecting plants and swapping water and nourishment from the soil for the plants’ sugars. Thus, this tree can better thrive and flourish, be warned of insect/grazing attack on its neighbours and regulate its internal chemistry to best advantage in response to changing circumstances.


There will be lots more amazing staggering info on these recent important discoveries in Nature Chain’s October 13th Fungus Event.


This 6 m. high screen (2, 3) shows what is really happening in and around a tree using advanced techniques - CT scanning of soil samples and ground-penetrating radar to trace the roots network, allowing the onlooker to trace the mycorrhizal threads. The complete moving image above and below ground involved a technique of stitching together thousands of images and mapping the tree’s form with laser pulses. A unique collaborative fusion of art and science involving an artist collective, ecologists, biologists and researchers at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (on view until 28th Sept).


Familiar bark fades as the tree’s inner structures are revealed (3) in this ‘digital double’. Soil nutrients and water and sugars move up and down the network of tubes inside the tree and its roots (red and yellow), while fungal threads (white) are playing their part too in the tree’s dawn to dusk rhythms. The blue dots represent vital oxygen. The screen is right beside the actual tree – the Lucombe oak ,


a cutting from a unique and particularly resilient natural hybrid of a Turkey oak (Quercus cerris) and a cork oak (Q. suber) which appeared in an Exeter nursery in 1762.


For wildlife gardeners, what is on the back of the screen


 is as fascinating as the spectacle at the front! A list of all the creatures recorded on the oak ... 2,314 of them!


...Which in terms of biodiversity speaks for itself – if you have the space, by planting a tree, or several, you create homes for living things











rom primitive plants like algae, lichens, moss, fungi, myriads of invertebrates, birds, and... of course...

BATS! – the Nature Chain Event on 30th September


Talk by Bat Expert Ellie Hack


St Nicholas Church Winsley, 7.30 pm


Free, donations towards heating, electricity etc welcomed

spiced apple juice on arrival

Tuesday 30th September.


Photos: Nicolette Scourse 2, 3, 4, 5 at Kew.

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