I saw this stand of silver birch trees on a recent walk. Its not far from a spot that JMW Turner sketched a view of Almscliffe Crag and Pool bridge in the early 1800’s. The birch trees are on the site of a disused quarry. There are a lot in this area and this one, at the top of Pool Bank, is the site of one of the biggest ever slabs of stone to be unearthed, weighing over 6000 tonnes.

The birch trees, known as primary colonisers, show how quickly nature moves back into abandoned spaces, slowly covering up and masking the industrial activity that took place here. This stand reminds me of an installation that David Nash made at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It is called ’49 Square’ and consists of 49 Himalayan birch trees planted in a 7 x 7 grid. That piece was made in 2013, so this natural birch stand pre-dates Nash’s work by some years, the quarry having closed in 1939.

Art mimicking nature?