‘Secret Life of Trees’ to be unveiled
Trees having sex' will be explored in the new series of Michael Palin's The Secret Life of Trees tonight.
The three-part series, featuring the nature-loving Monty Python star as narrator, will air on 5 at 9pm and tells the story of how trees sustain our planet, communicate and even how some of the three trillion trees are as old as the Pyramids.
Sir Michael, 82, who is well-known for his travel shows, said:: "Trees are everywhere in our lives, we climb them, swing on them, shelter beneath them, eat their fruits and cut their branches to build our homes. They are the backdrop to our lives, they bring us joy and keep us alive. "
In tonight's episode Ecologist Connor Butler visits Belvoir Farm's elderflower plantation in Bottesford, Leicestershire, during the harvest.
He finds out how elderflower, one of Belvoir's key cordial ingredients for it's famous Elderflower Presse, is pollinated by a surprising insect instead of bees it's tiny bugs called thrips that pollinate elderflowers.
Michael Palin is heard talking about the visit to Belvoir Farm - he says: "For many trees, the creation of new life starts with one of the most dramatic displays in the natural world: blossom - and to learn how seeds are made and how the elderflower blossom is crucial to a tree having sex.
Once a seed is formed, it uses ingenious ways, like the spiralling sycamore helicopter seed to travel far from the parent tree and then from the bare soil a brand-new tree will begin to grow."
The series also reveals how much water trees store in their trunks - in one sequence viewers will hear the soft bubbly sound of a tree drinking.
The Secret Life of Trees is on 5 tonight at 9pm or catch up on My5.