Henry was fascinated by this bit of knowledge and Charlie lifted him up onto the tree stump so he could count the rings. It was a tricky job because some of the rings were only faint whilst others were really dark and they were all different widths.
"Why aren't all the rings the same size and colour?" Henry asked.
"Well it depends on all sorts of things like what the weather was like in any year, and what kind of tree it is," replied Charlie. "If the tree had sunshine and showers it would grow more than if the weather had been cold and miserable all year. So the rings would be thicker in the good years, and thinner in the bad years. And yew trees may not grow at the same rate as beech trees for example, so their rings would be different too."
"I think there are 37 rings," Henry finally decided. "So that means the tree was 37 years old!"