Trees - general thoughts

I’ve always found identifying trees very difficult, even though spending all of my youth growing up in a small rural village then as an adult enjoying many walks in the varied countryside. On my book shelf there are a couple of books on trees which have skeleton diagrams of the different types.  I find using these diagrams alone to identify a tree in winter is impossible as no tree is the same shape even in the same species.  Some suggest that you can identify a tree by observing the colour and structure of its bark. Again, I could not master this technique.  So tree identification is one area of knowledge in which I’m embarking to improve.

The reason which has prompted me to educate myself in identifying trees is the dissatisfaction I have with the trees on Tredethy Wharf.  All trees on Tredethy Wharf are just generic tree like shapes with no perceivable representation of a particular species. The location I have placed Rospeath Lane means I’ll have to try to represent an area of damp/marsh/scrub land at the front with the ground rising at the back towards farmland. To help portray these different areas, I feel there should be ground cover and trees which would thrive in these different habitats. To carry this off will mean any tree will need to look like a particular type with supporting ground cover.

To this end I started to research which trees which are common to Cornwall. So far discovering that Alder and Silver Birch are good candidates for the damp area at the front of the layout along with ferns and wetland grasses. Whereas Ash, Elm and Oak trees with Gorse, Holly for hedging along with grass and brambles for ground cover would be possible for the back of the scenic area.

This post and time spent on thinking about scenics would seem to be too early in the layouts development. My thought is if I know which species of trees I need for the layout I can select certain trees and photograph there structure during the autumn winter months. Then, as the seasons progress take further photos as reference. While out walking the dog I've been identifying and taking note of local trees and there would seem to be a number of Ash, Oak, Beech and Sycamore trees locally. I’ve already identified one Ash tree which I'd like to base an model on. Also our neighbours have a large area of woodland in which they have many Silver Birch and apparently one Alder. 

Possible Ash tree to base a model on