Woodland Trust’s latest guide for landowners also urges concern for wildlife
A guide to help landowners and people with large gardens look after their ancient trees – and encourage them to plant or allow natural establishment of the ancient trees of the future - has been launched by the Woodland Trust in partnership with the Ancient Tree Forum.
Ancient Tree Guide Seven
Hugely important for their cultural and historical significance, ancient trees also have immense biodiversity value. As the unique, fragmented remnants of habitats that existed in the pre-human landscape, old trees, even when dead or dying, provide a home for thousands of insects, birds, fungi and lichen. As trees age they provide new conditions for different types of wildlife from bugs to bats and buzzards.
No less than 159 endangered or rare animals are associated with ancient trees, including 71 Red Data Book invertebrates.
The guide is targeted primarily at people who have spacious parkland or open spaces which are typically grazed by stock or wild animals, or those who have gardens with already large trees, including those in urban areas,
These environments are well-suited to the unconstrained growth of trees with full, open crowns and broad, spreading branches. The trees are also more likely to live long enough to become ancient.
Woodland Trust conservation policy officer and guide co-author, Jill Butler, explains the booklet’s importance: “We are fortunate to have many old trees in this country, but we have lost so many since the 1850s due to changes in land management; many of our commons, traditional orchards, parklands and hedgerows have either been neglected or have disappeared completely.
“We urgently need to bring on the next generation of veteran and ancient trees if the wildlife which depends on this unique habitat is to survive. We are calling on landowners and gardeners to create successive generations of trees with the opportunity to age, in order to address this serious ecological imbalance.
“The guide is designed to give them everything they need to know about looking after what they already have, and putting the right tree in the right place for the future. Better still, landowners can allow nature to take its course and nurture self-seeded saplings to maturity – this guide will show them how.”
The guide is the seventh in a series about ancient trees. It complements the Woodland Trust’s wider drive to create more native woodland in the UK.
The Trust is now actively working with landowners to plant trees and woods, promoting the biodiversity, climate mitigation and sustainable woodfuel benefits of owning and managing your own wood. Even a few open crowned trees can make all the difference.
Its new MOREwoods programme is creating more than 220 new woods this winter, totalling well in excess of 250 hectares of new native woodland, thanks to Trust advice, practical help and, in some cases, funding.
For more information on how the Trust can help you realise your particular needs, go to www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/planting
The complete Ancient Tree Guide No 7 is available in hard copy and can be ordered from the Woodland Trust. Alternatively, any of the seven ancient tree guides can be downloaded at www.ancient-tree-forum.org.uk
Notes to editors
For media enquiries contact:
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.