This Silver Birch is one of an avenue of similar trees in a street of large Victorian terraced houses. It was late afternoon when I took this, and so the trees were in shadow – I love so see the pale silvery bark shining in full sun, or lit by a low evening sun, as in my photo of 4th August. We have a fairly young specimen in our garden, maybe 15 years old. Because of the small leaves and delicate branch structure the tree throws part of the garden into dappled shade, rather than shadow, which is very pleasant on a hot summer day. With cold rain, almost sleet, outside as I write, summer still seems a long way off.
