About

The Silver birch is a familiar, small, spindly tree with thin branches and papery bark. It is found on heathland, moorland and mountainsides, as well as on dry, sandy soils. In spring, the male catkins (or 'lamb's tails') turn yellow and shed their pollen, which is carried by the wind to the short, green, female catkins that appear on the same tree. One of the first trees to recolonise the UK after the last glacial period, it is an opportunistic species; its seeds are produced in huge numbers and dispersed easily by the wind.