86 Years of Measuring Baobab Trees!
Skelmwater is a bare stony hillside dotted with baobab trees, but this has become a special place for Sarah Venter and Diana Mayne. The baobab trees here are each numbered and painted with a neat stripe around their girth. The girth of these trees has been measured since 1931. Diana and Sarah discovered this plot in 2002 when they first went to visit it and found that the measurements had been forgotten and no one was measuring them any more.
They took the decision there and then that as long as they were around they would continue to take the measurements. Girth measurements are usually taken in May but Sarah and Diana visit the plot at other times of the year as well to collect other valuable ecological data from the trees. This photograph was taken in November this year when they were checking on which trees had been flowering.
The work continues!
