• Prune suckers. This is not a competition held on fruit farms in California where you compete to run 100 yards with a straw, nor am I talking about what my Aunt Mildred has for breakfast before she has put her teeth in. Ornamental trees are cultivated by grafting a cutting onto the roots of another apple tree. This ensures that the new tree is a copy of its parent. However, the root stock is picked for its hardiness, so it can push up its own shoots from the roots, which can smother the cultivated tree. Therefore, the “suckers” should be snapped or snipped off.

• Replace damaged tree-wrap. Check that the tree trunk is protected against rabbits that may nibble the bark. Wild rabbits which are plentiful in my neighbourhood chew grass, but come winter, when the grass is covered by snow, the rabbits may chew bark of young trees to get to the layer beneath. This layer is called the cambium and contains the living growing part of the trunk, which is vital. The tree is wrapped in a cellulose wrapping which breaks down over time (deliberately biodegradable) but should be replaced if damaged. Muntjac are very partial to apple trees, and an orchard is their mother lode.

• Check for and prune dead branches. Clues: the branch is visibly broken, has no leaves, when touched breaks, when scratched is hard and doesn’t reveal a green sub layer. Low branches beneath a healthy canopy serve little benefit to the tree and will often die off, unless the tree has a weepy habit.

• Remove grass and weeds from the base of the tree — these compete for nutrients and water. Add wood chippings as a mulch layer. Mulch helps protect the soil from drying out, holding moisture in.

While scratching away at the base of the trees, I disturb various small spiders and ladybirds. Some of the ladybirds are so tiny as you can see by comparison with a thumbnail.

The ladybirds walk in such an agile way carrying their upside-down-boat-like bodies up and down blades of grass with an easy gait.

I have put this note in the animation section to remind myself to make a walk cycle demo from some of my videos.

It is the season for burning meadow cuttings.

I shot a number of reference videos today, in real-time and slow-motion, so that I could study the dynamics of fire and smoke.

What I observe may appear in animated shorts.

I regret not bringing some baking potatoes and marshmallows for lunch.