In the city it is so easy not to notice architectural features much above the eyeline: there’s so much to keep a watchful eye on. And yet in the Forest that shouldn’t be the case, at least not for the same reasons.
I wouldn’t have realised there was a 30m plus Spruce here, by the edge of the Plek parking at Groenendaal, towering over its neighbouring Lindens and Hazels, unless I was looking down.
There, lying on the ground, were the tell-tale almost reptilian-scaled cones. This looks for all the world like the Norway Spruce, 𝑃𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑠, possibly planted not long after the end of the Great War. Pine cones are like woody, unfurled petticoats.
In the Bosmuseum over the road there is an old-school display cabinet full of dozens of different cones if this has piqued your interest.