For all those who don't know their ash from their elbow...

Just a quick one, really, to admit how woefully poor I am at identifying trees. "So what?" you might well ask. Well,it's really difficult being into wood turning and carving when you haven't got a clue what wood it is you're turning or carving. And if not difficult, then embarrassing at least.

I am slightly in awe, if not entirely jealous of those who can look at a tree or turn over a piece of wood in their hands and know exactly what it is. I'm not entirely useless - I'd be a pretty poor Englishman if I couldn't spot a common English oak, and I even know it's called Quercus robur. I can generally identify oak limbs and logs too. I can identify Horse chestnut, Sycamore, good old weeping willow, birch and generally know when a tree's a fruit tree, though until the fruit's on it I couldn't tell you what sort. I know hawthorn and Rhododendron, but that's about it - and then only with leaves on. Once a tree has shed its leaves, well, I'm pretty much lost!

Not really worth the trees that were cut down to make the paper it's written on!?

I have a couple of books that I take out with me, but they don't really help that much - I guess there's a limit to what you can learn from a book. I think what I need is a friend in the know, someone who can go out with me and teach me the ropes, a la "...that one with the broad leaves is a....and the one over there with catkins is a....."

Any suggestions?