Conifer to ID

[mark smyth]

Is anyone good at IDing conifers? What's this?

I was out doing some bat work and found evidence that suggests the conifer wood has red squirrels. There were lots of cone cores under the trees.

I want to report it but dont know which conifer they are feeding on.

[Maggi Young]

Might be Abies procera, Mark .... .lots of those about 

[johnw]

Or our native balsam fir grown in a softer climate.  

johnw

[mark smyth]

I should have said they are the height of a house, or more, and close planted in straight lines for wood or paper

[mark smyth]

Maggi I thought Christmas tree when I looked more closely

[ashley]

Maybe Picea abies Norway/European spruce Mark.  A picture of the cone might help.

[mark smyth]

the cone

[Roma]

Sitka spruce?

[Maggi Young]

Sitka spruce?

Sitka spruce = Picea sitchensis ... think you've got that nailed, Roma 

[mark smyth]

Thanks Roma

[Hoy]

The needles of Sitka spruce is very, very sharp and hurts when you handle the twigs. The cone and needles suggest a Sitka spruce though. It certainly is no Norway spruce. Sitka spruce is commonly planted here. It tolerates oceanic climate and can grow to 80m. It is one of the faster growing conifers in cool climate.

[Darren]

They hurt even more when dried! One of my first tasks when I started working in environmental chemistry was to put hundreds of samples of dried sitka spruce needles through a milling machine.

Not as bad as monkey puzzle leaves though. I once analysed lots of these for a student at RBGE. When dried you could use the leaves for razor blades.