The hunt is on for examples of the country’s oldest and most magnificent wild cherry trees. And the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Hunt needs your help in finding Northern Ireland’s undiscovered gems.
Up until 2008 Yorkshire boasted the UK’s largest wild cherry – a massive 18.8 feet (5.7 metres) in girth. Unfortunately a freak storm snapped the tree’s crown, so the Trust wants to know which county has the UK’s next champion cherry tree.
Edward Parker, the Ancient Tree Hunt project manager at the Trust, said: “Even if you don’t find a ‘champion’ cherry, we are really keen to boost records of cherry trees on our database. Literally, give the tree trunk a hug at chest height – if it’s larger than one human hug, please record it for us.
“They are a light-loving species, so it’s easy to spot wild cherry as they occur on the edges of woodland and hedgerows. Their brilliant white blossom from early to mid-April makes them really stand out, especially as most trees have yet to come into leaf. So when you’re out with the family this Easter, and are visiting woods or passing by old field hedgerows, go one better than the traditional Easter egg hunt and look out for our magnificent cherry trees.”
Cherry is one of our most attractive trees, with its delicate spring blossom and, of course, the familiar cherries which ripen to dark red in July. Try to spot our native wild cherry, rather than its cultivated relations. Our native variety has five single white, or very pale pink, petals and generally flowers from April. Most cultivated varieties have double flowers (ten petals); are pinkish in colour and flower slightly earlier, often in March.
The Ancient Tree Hunt is run by the Woodland Trust in partnership with over 70 organisations. It is a five year project to record at least 100,000 of the UK’s oldest and most notable trees by 2011. The database held at www.AncientTreeHunt.org.uk is the first living record of the UK’s oldest trees.
The website already has records of more than 63,000 ancient, veteran and notable trees and if you select the name of your county, and tick the ancient tree box, you can see all the fantastic trees already recorded in your neck of the woods.
To find out more about the project, or to record an ancient tree, visit www.AncientTreeHunt.org.uk and follow the simple instructions to register it.
Notes to editors
For media enquiries contact:
Kaye Coates at the Woodland Trust’s Bangor Office on 028 9127 5787; email kayecoates@woodlandtrust.org.uk or
The Woodland Trust Press Office on 01476 581121; email media@woodlandtrust.org.uk
The Woodland Trust:
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 300,000 members and supporters.
The Trust has three key aims: i) to enable the creation of more native woods and places rich in trees ii) to protect native woods, trees and their wildlife for the future iii) to inspire everyone to enjoy and value woods and trees
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). Access to its sites is free.
Here in Northern Ireland the Woodland Trust cares for 51 woods. These woods contain a mix of recently planted woodland, mature woodland and ancient woodland (that’s land continuously wooded since at least 1600). We have recently produced the first-ever comprehensive record of Northern Ireland’s ancient woodland; find out more at www.backonthemap.org.uk