The clearing away of everything else in view probably didn't help.

My understanding was that this is more of a salt spray issue than wind.

Correction:
Slope Point is the most
southern point of New Zealand’s South Island. There are apparently even more
southernly located New Zealand islands that however don't have such windswept
trees. You can only walk to Slope Point, nobody lives there, the place is mainly
used for raising sheep.

Is
this your cottage?

That's what junipers and yew look like in the westernmost archipelago here in Sweden as well. Most species of trees can't even stand the almost constant wind and salt spray

In St Louis I feel as if I cleared a farm field and left it alone in 100 years it would be a forest. Further west in Nebraska don't we get areas of isolated trees in grassland?

Perhaps that climate is so rough isolated trees on that tough looking grass is the natural situation?

From what I have been reading, sheep farmers from neighboring areas planted those groves to provide shelter for their sheep.

Solitary trees in open fields near the Atlantic in Cornwall UK look like that also. Yet the winter climate there is Californian mild.

So cute :-)

It would be interesting to see the mature shape of those Q.Ilex in a couple hundred years. It is good that you (Floral) check up on your sheep, and see where they are. I am not going to assume that you spend all of your time with them as they had in biblical times, and hundreds of years ago etc. but, It is good that you keep watch over them well.

Good grief poaky1 - they aren't my sheep! I just saw them when I was out walking.

And some of the Quercus ilex over here are already a couple of hundred years old. They self seed in the south.

Here are some more sheep in a different county enjoying a sunny January day, as I walked by.

If you go to google maps and put in Slope Point, New Zealand, there are a lot of pictures that people have uploaded. I am going to try Cornwall and see what comes up.

I had no idea Gorse grew that large! It grows wild here also, but not very common.....yet. We have a lot of Broom, Cytisus scoparius, though.

Yes, gorse can get fairly tall, 12 - 15 feet maybe. And it is in bloom all year round, hence the old saying, 'When Gorse is out of bloom, kissing's out of fashion', ie never. This was a Cornish cliff top on 31st December.

Don't get all bent out of shape like those trees floral, I just thought as close to them as it seemed you were, unless you used your lens to zoom in, most people don't go on other peoples property like that here unless they're family or close friends, or there may be trouble. People aren't all so easy going anymore, that you can just walk anywhere, at least here. Sorry for the misunderstanding crabby.

"Good grief poaky1 - they aren't my sheep! I just saw them when I was out walking."

"Don't get all bent out of shape like those trees floral,..."

Both of you make me laugh. Thank you.

I'm glad you got a laugh maakia. I don't want to spoil that, I really mean it. But....one of the fields I used to walk in has a oil well station in it. Maybe the field after it does also. They had been fracking there for 2 years at least. I haven't even tried to walk in those fields. I won't see any animals, they've never had them in there anyway. But, there was an old barn that used to have cattle there when I was younger, and they had them up until about 6 years ago, approximately. Now they took the fence down and the cattle are gone, all you ever see are some geese and ducks. And not far from the old barn there is a big ole gas well, and about 800 ft from that 1 there's another gas well. The next place you'll see livestock is on a small farm about a mile away. The guy who owned the farm passed away in late summer 2016, so who knows what will happen to his farm. Well, I guess, out of 2 places having cattle 1 place has stopped having them. I hope that the 1 remaining cattle farm stays in business, or that the family finds a way to make it in life. For all I know they own the mineral rights to the property with those oil wells on them. Well, what the hell, if I want to walk in those damn fields I'll just go and walk in them, well... unless there's a no trespassing sign when I go to enter the field I guess. Later

There was no trespassing and no zoom involved. In both pictures I was on public rights of way which means I had a legal right to be there. The UK is crisscrossed by thousands of miles of these paths. Landowners must allow people through and are not allowed to block them.

Yes I didn't get to the tip of the South Island but the few days I had driving down about 1/3 of the western spine of it were some of the windiest I remember; it's different from the wind we get during non-tropical cyclonic weather because it's so sustained and unrelenting. This is apparently a feature of some maritimes climates more than others. Though the PNW has "Pineapple express" type storms once in a while, they are not known for being very windy for days on end. A friend of the family who moved to Seattle said it was the stillest place she'd ever lived...but she'd mostly lived before in the midwest and high plains, and if you look at this map, her observations are spot on for someone coming from that background:

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/windmaps/residential_scale.asp

I imagine coastal South Island NZ and Cornwall would be an orange or even purple on the same scale. I can even vouch for the slight shadings you see: the Piedmont of the northeast has a windiness the south does not. If I drive up to Lancaster Co. on a summer day, it's typical that there's a slight breeze in the air that you wouldn't get in say, Richmond, VA, where I've spend some time in the summer.

That really is a good thing for you in the Uk that you have access to many nice places like that. I have been to the UK once in 2001 March. But, you can only see so much in a week and a half. But, really, here you don't get to access lotsa nice land, unless you know the owner. I never meant to be a smartass floral, I hope you aren't pissed at me, over something stupid. Pissed in the US means mad, I think in the UK it means drunk, or high. Later.

poaky1 - don't worry - why would I be annoyed? I was just explaining the footpath system. I didn't read anything that could possibly bother anyone. As to the vernacular, 'pissed' is drunk. 'Pissed off' is annoyed. Neither to be used in polite society ;-)

The reason for all the historic rights of way is that most of the country has been farmed and settled for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and people needed to get about. Their routes became enshrined in tradition and then in law. Consequently walking is one of the most popular leisure activities here because there are so many opportunities and it costs nothing. The paths are signposted and well mapped. This one is on the path that follows the River Thames 184 miles from its source to its estuary past London.

If anyone wants to see plenty of windswept trees (note feeble attempt to return to the topic) I can thoroughly recommend the 630 mile long SW Coast Path. You can do it in 30 days if you walk fast!

Most of the trails where I live are reclaimed railroad right of ways. The others are in the mountains in parks and on state land. Most of our land has been developed after the automobile was invented. Washington didn't become a state until 1889.

I enjoyed several walks in Devon when I was there in 2000. The trails went all over between properties and woodland. One trail led me to a thatch covered Pub! After sampling some of the various local brews, I was lucky to find my way back.

Oh yes, all the best walks end at a pub!

Many bad walks start late at night from a pub though...

Only when the wife is waiting up for ya...

He spent a few hours petting the sheep crossing his path on the way home, but his wife did not believe him...

I didn't go to any pubs when I was in England, Scotland or Wales, but when in Dublin my friend with me wanted to go into one. We just had a beer, I didn't want to get drunk there, we didn't have time for that. We had to get back on the slower ferry back to England or Wales, I can't remember which one. I wish I could've seen some windswept trees. That's nice about the footpaths, how you can go and take walks like that on those old paths. The UK has more sheep than we have here. It's pretty much a shock to see sheep in my area anyway. In the UK they were everywhere. I was there in 2001 March, so no cattle (mad cow) I guess the sheep weren't affected. Floral, I heard that word pi**sed when the singer from Def Leppard referred to their first guitarist who was drunk. It confused me until I figured the meaning in the Uk. I was 12 yrs old then. I know we're way off topic. I went to Sheffield when I was in the UK. Nice little town. Later