Pictured is the only native Maple species of the UK which usually is only just a hedgerow bush. It attracts aphids and their predators, while many species of moth feed on its leaves. The flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees while birds and small mammal live on the fruit. A reason why there are so few of them is because their bark is so sweet, saplings need protecting from anything that has a taste for them! This particular cluster of trees are from a hedge that was left to grow out in 1914. If you look closely you can see how the trees are connected after they were a pleached hedge over 100 years ago.
The portrait is of Jess Jones; born in 1900 at Treflach Farm. Jess left school in 1914 to farm as there was a shortage of men to work the land due to WW1. It was more important to plough, sow and reap, hoe, milk, build hayricks and thresh corn than to cut hedges, which at that time was all done by hand. He grew up fast but died in 1918 from Spanish Flu - still in harness - feeding a hungry country that had just fought a long harrowing war.
The bitterness of his loss was a feeling felt by many other local families. These trees are a fitting memorial to a young man whose ethos was so like the character of these trees, being a beacon to so much and so many.