Birch

Birch trees are very popular, with their straight, white trunks. They brighten up forest edges and clearings and their fresh, light-green leaves are some of the first that emerge in the spring. They grow fast, but don’t get so old. Oak trees can easily become 200, 300 or even 400 years old, while a 100-year-old birch tree is ancient.

Birch trees can be used for many things. You can make wine and cordial from the tree’s sap, if you wanted to try, and it is also popular in the animal world. There are also a lot of insects who are so specialised they only live on birch trees.

There are two different species of birch in Denmark – downy birch and silver birch. They are both quite common, but it is difficult to tell apart. If a large birch tree has a ‘witch’s broom’ – a bundle of closely-growing, small twigs out in the branches, then it has a fungal infection, and is almost definitely a downy birch.