Bit of silliness for a Sunday morning maybe.  But all the same, for those who missed it on Twitter, here is the amazing rock eating tree.

Slate-eating tree to be precise.  Tabloid hype aside, I think it’s pretty amazing to find this kind of situation undisturbed after what must be a good few years.

I took the picture last month in a disused slate quarry in North Wales, but it’s up a path that’s a wee bit off the tourist route and not so obvious.  Presumably the piece of slate either fell or was placed near the growing roots near ground level, and nature has somehow accommodated it.  The quarry was working at its peak in the late 1800’s – so who knows the real history behind this slatey vignette.

Attempts to dig out the relevant academic literature on this situation were in vane –  there isn’t any (come back if you know different).  I did find some reports on how tree roots detect and navigate around below-ground objects; but  that’s not the same.

And as this story may be old news for Twitter friends, here’s a bonus in the form of the Amazing Hat-eating Tree.

Straight-up.  I first stumbled across the beanie hat hung on a substantial piece of tree fungus back in October 2008 – caught in the clutch of  arboreal assimilation.  Then, hesitant as I am to admit to this, I made a point of revisiting the champingnoned chapeau 20 months later, still there but a little worse for wear.

All good fun, but this sort of thing does summon up those Planet of the Apes / Logan’s Run images of nature biting back following the  post-apocalyptic collapse / coalition spending cuts.  Non?

Blimey – not had so much fun since writing my definitive Ozzie the Iceman piece.