Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries,  Trees, forests and woodland

Gallery: the textures in trees

December 6, 2025 / 53 Comments

I, who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch… I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine.

Helen Keller

Have you ever noticed quite how varied are the barks of different tree species? At least as much so as their leaves and fruits, yet we seem to take much less notice of them.

Personally I find myself often drawn to photograph the details of bark. The colours, the patterns, the textures. And as a bonus, it’s much easier to photograph details rather than attempt to squeeze in the whole tree!

So as a belated contribution to Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge this week, all about textures, I’m sharing a gallery of these bark close-ups. Some were taken on my travels, but many others close to home. We’re lucky to have a lot of trees in our London suburb of Ealing which is often ranked as one of London’s greenest boroughs. Our council website tells me that Ealing has over 24,000 street trees, 50,000 trees in parks, open spaces and cemeteries, and thousands more in woodlands dotted throughout the borough. It has been recognised with the prestigious Tree City of the World status several times. This is awarded for the most successful approaches to managing urban trees and woodland.

The photos are captioned with the location, and where I know it, the species of tree. Click on any image to open a slideshow and see the captions. My feature photo was taken at Blackwater Arboretum in the New Forest, Hampshire and is of a Norway Spruce.

53 Comments

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