Tree Trail Again

On thinking again, it could of course be argued that we approached the Tree Trail in Peckham Rye Park in the wrong way.

We used a guide from the Park Rangers, which described and named the interesting trees in the park.  We read what it said and then we tried to spot them.  Which is all very well, but it meant we didn't look at the trees that were apparently less interesting (not important)?  And having spotted them, we moved on - so sometimes we didn't look at them very hard at all, I guess.  We didn't go off piste and look at trees away from the Trail, or not very much (and not always on purpose!).  We stayed in the Park, and ignored interesting items outside it - like the Black Willow on the Rye, for example.
Neil used to tell us of a trip he used to organise, where (if I've got this right) he'd send groups of students out with instructions to find one or more interesting-looking trees - and find ways of describing them - and give them names.  When they came back in with their descriptions, they'd all sit down with some books and see what they'd found, and what the 'official' names were, and how they were described by specialists.  He said he thought the kids got to know their trees better that way, and it was more immediate, as it involved feeling the bark, squeezing leaves, looking closely at twigs and vein patterns and catkins... stuff like that.

So maybe I should have remembered Neil's approach, and we should have tackled the Tree Trail like that.  On the other hand, we did enjoy it as it was (missing trees and all). 
For another time, perhaps.