Thanks for the various replys so far. I've now roughed a couple of silver birch which seem to tear away leaving fluffy edges, i hope once they have dried they will finish a lot easier. The other two that i've roughed i will have to try and identify, 1st is a deepish orange/red and the other had a lovely pink and seperate white area. I do remember seeing a link to a web page that showed all the various types, can some one save me looking through provide a link.
This wood turning seems a steep learning curve.
My first couple of bowls i used some three year old oak. I though this must be air dried and ready to turn, i didn't think about all the rain we had and thus i now have some interesting shaped bowls.