There's no doubt that the shapely, gentle grace of silver birch trees is a wonderful thing to see at any time of year. But one of the joys of a winter walk is to be able to see trees in all their 'unclothed' glory.
Of course we usually tend to recognise silver birch most easily by its wonderfully contrasting bark. But when the leaves have fallen you are able to see just how intricate the entire framework of a tree really is, and the silver birch is a wonderful example. The fine branches create a delicate lattice effect that when silhouetted against the sky is just exquisite to behold.
Counter-intuitively perhaps, trees often actually become more recognisable when you able to see the bare, skeleton shape of them. But beyond identifying species, they are simply spectacular to look at in their winter finery.