Welcome to the Highclere Holly Tree
Family Activity
- Can you remember what appears on holly trees in the autumn & winter? They are red & round & only grow on female trees!
- Inside the holly berries is the seed of the holly – how do you think the seed gets into the ground to make new trees? Clue – it doesn’t just drop onto the ground!
- Birds & mammals eat the berries & the seed goes all the way through them & comes out again in their poo! The seed ends up in the soil & the poo is a natural fertiliser – something which helps plants to grow.
- Lots of trees have fruit or berries or nuts to help spread their seed when animals eat them.
- Can you think of any trees which have these?
- Think about the cherry tree, the hazel tree, the beech tree, the oak trees, the horse chestnut tree, the elder tree – how do their seeds appear & get moved around?
- Other trees use the wind to spread their seeds & have seeds which ‘fly’ in the wind to get far away.
- Some of these seeds are long, some are shaped like a boomerang, some are flat discs, some are round & some are like horse shoes.
- What shape would you be if you were a wind-borne seed? How would you fly – would you go round & round? Have a go at flying like a seed.
- Which trees have seeds like this – think about the wych elm tree, the common lime tree, the sycamore trees, the Norway maple tree & the ash tree.
- Would you rather be eaten by an animal or borne by the wind? Which seed would you like to be best?
- Did you know that some seeds stick to animals’ fur & others spring out of a pod all by themselves!
Photographs © Cath Potter.