Farmers share tales of 'living legends' and nature on their land

From an ancient oak which survived a hit from a Lancaster Bomber in World War Two to a 150-year-old pear tree – classically taken portraits tell a story of how farmers are helping to protect ancient and veteran trees.

The Woodland Trust has photographed eight beautiful ancient trees, together with the farmers that care for them, using an antique camera. The farmland trees are “living legends”.

Most of the UK's ancient and veteran trees are situated on farms and have witnessed generations of farmers.

Currently, governments around the UK are creating new systems to decide how farmers are paid for environmental work on farms. These portraits and their accompanying stories celebrate the work that farmers are doing to care for old trees.

Farmer James Robinson is pictured with a giant oak on his land which is home to woodpeckers. He manages a farm in the Lake District.

James very much sees the benefit of working in tune with nature and has created new ponds and scrapes (shallow ponds which form in flooded areas), as well as allowing his hedges to grow tall, providing more fruit and nuts for wildlife to forage.

He said:

“As farmers we are incredibly privileged really to be able to do so much to help nature, in terms of protecting wonderful old trees, creating habitats, maintaining habitats, cleaner water, creating biodiversity. There’s so much that we as farmers can do and we are incredibly privileged to be able to do that. I’m tempted to say we are obliged to do something positive as well, we are obliged to see how we can change habitats and biodiversity for the better. Anything that we do has an impact, we might as well make it a positive one."

Ieuan Davies runs a farm in Llandovery, Wales and is pictured with an old oak. He said there is some merit in looking to the past when it comes to farming methods.

He said:

“We graze cattle in a regenerative way – something that was commonplace prior to mechanisation (in my grandfather’s time) and now is fighting to make a comeback into mainstream food production. There is a lot of potential for combining regenerative agricultural techniques with the advances in agricultural practices of the last 80 years.”

Ed Green, meanwhile, manages a farm in Somerset and is photographed next to a gnarly old oak on his land.

He said:

“My gut feeling that helping nature is just the right thing to do is probably my biggest motivation. You don't need scientific evidence or research papers to tell you it's a bad idea to harm the ecosystem that we as humans are just a constituent part of. We are dependent on nature thriving to thrive ourselves. We feel good when we're absorbed in a natural setting. We feel bad (or we should do) when we harm it.”

Cat Frampton runs a farm in Dartmoor and has an oak tree which fell in storms but is still teeming with life.

She said:

“I own this land, but it also owns me. I live here, but I share here with others. We have farmed here for nearly 100 years, but the swallows have countless generations of history here. The trees have stood for hundreds of years, the ravens have returned."

Naomi Tilley, campaigner at the Woodland Trust said:

“These wonderful, historic trees show the history and diversity of nature on farmlands and how important this land is for both biodiversity and in combating climate change. Veteran trees are remarkably valuable to wildlife, able to host one hundred or more species, from bugs to birds. Species worth their weight in gold for the services they provide, from pollination to pest control. The trees represent whole ecosystems – a web of wildlife essential for growing food in the past, present and future.

“Farmers across the UK are undoubtedly ready and willing to work with nature. Protecting living legends, and supporting farmers like the eight photographed here, is a no-brainer. But society must treat old trees like valuable wildlife habitats and reward farmers for looking after them – in the same way we do for ponds, wildflower strips, hedges and other essential wildlife habitats on farms.”

All the farmers involved are part of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) which helped the Trust to develop the case studies. 

Martin Lines, UK chair of NFFN, said:

"Farmers work in partnership with the environment and should be rewarded for how they can restore and protect our rural landscapes. It is a critical time for sustainable farming, which these farmers have demonstrated can work for food, farming, nature and climate to mutual benefit. Farms can be both profitable and positive for nature, and the government must reflect this in its land management schemes with an agriculture budget that is adequate and fit for purpose."

The photography was taken using a 5x4 camera developed using a vintage process.

Phil Formby, Woodland Trust photographer, said:

“It was a privilege to meet these incredible trees and people and photograph them using large format, a slower, more methodical process. I hope in some way this reflects the gravitas of the trees, the work they do for the environment and the generational efforts of these farmers to maintain them.”

As part of its Living Legends campaign, the Woodland Trust is calling for more government protection of ancient and veteran trees. Sign the petition here.

The eight grand trees are as follows.

Andrew Brown, Rutland, England - 180-year-old Bomber Oak

On 26 April 1945 when the farm was owned by his grandfather Andrew, a Lancaster plane hit the tree and the tree survived. The plane was carrying prisoners of war, only two out of the seven in the plane survived the crash. 

Having survived this, a water company claiming statutory powers came to put pipes in the field that the bomber oak borders. Andrew objected to this as he (along with Scout groups and other community organisations) had planted a lot of the woodland surrounding the field that would have been dug up – he was successful, and they had to go around the field.

Andrew’s farm has been involved in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme since 2000, under which he has planted a community woodland, erected owl and bird boxes, and planted pollen and nectar strips, as well as large areas of wild bird seed.

James Robinson, Lake District, England - ancient oak tree with nesting woodpeckers

James, an organic dairy farmer, has fenced off this beautiful ancient tree to give it the protection to survive and created woodland to buffer the tree.

On his land he has created a wetland where white crayfish survive. Cows used to drink from it, but James has installed solar-powered pumps to take the water to the cows.
On his farm he manages a traditional hedge laying rotation, only trimming back the roadside hedges for safety. He’s created ponds and scrapes, renaturalised rivers and planted some small areas of woodland.

Elizabeth Pryor, Argyll, Scotland - oak tree

Elizabeth owns this 244-acre plot which has peatland, woodland gorges, waterfalls and ancient woodland. Elizabeth has Highland cattle and uses conservation grazing techniques to improve the upland habitat (by creating a mosaic of habitats) for the likes of ground-nesting raptors such as hen harrier, merlin and short-eared owl, priority wading birds and invertebrates.

The cattle also selectively graze the native woodlands which encourages regeneration of the woodland and a more diverse woodland structure.

She removes non-native trees from woodland and plants hedgerows. Future plans involve the introduction of native pigs to help reduce the spread of native invasive species.

Freda Scott-Park, Loch Lomond, Scotland - hornbeam

Based at the South of Loch Lomond, the tree is a beautiful hornbeam on the shore of Loch Lomond. Freda has a beef farm close to the boundary of the highlands and lowlands of Scotland. There is room on this farm for both the cows and for a range of wildlife. Freda concentrates on looking at the health of the soil by farming organically using natural fertiliser. There is no soil turning that releases carbon and disrupts the soil macro- and micro-systems.

She has several areas of natural woodland and water meadow – there is a plethora of habitats in the veteran, hollow trees supporting a wide range of plant and animal species (including numerous species of lichen, mosses, fungi and slime moulds) in these areas. Birdlife is prolific and red squirrels, pine martens and badgers have been captured on trail cameras.

Cat Frampton, Dartmoor, England - fallen Badger Oak

The fallen oak tree is still alive and named 'Badger Oak' as there is a badger sett underneath.

The Badger Oak was felled in a storm in February of 2017. Cat left it alone and five years on it is half dead but teeming with life – there are woodpeckers and beetles, a tangle of bramble amid its broken crown protecting and feeding smaller birds.

Cat is gradually turning the farm organic. They graze cows and sheep that are easy on the land, picked for their ability to live well on the hard hill farm. They let trees grow out of brambles all over the farm, especially where the Dartmoor granite rears its head. They worm the animals as carefully as they can to help the dung beetles and the bats. They control the bracken to help the more delicate plants thrive.

Ed Green, Somerset, England - oak tree

Ed’s oak tree sits like an old matriarch at the head of a hidden valley on the farm. Its old, twisted branches balance her on the steep slope where she resides. There's been no ploughing, cultivation, nor inputs near her, and in the past two years, she no longer has cattle around her.

On the farm he’s just about to begin a new ten-year Countryside Stewardship agreement and has a 200-acre natural broadleaf woodland creation project just starting using natural colonisation processes with some supplementary planting. He’s also created around 20 ponds as part of great crested newt and flood prevention projects, as well as a series of woody leaky dams.

Chris Brown, edge of Wyre Forest, Shropshire, England - veteran pear tree

Chris' veteran pear tree is possibly 150 years old. He lost several trees to storms in the early 2000s so has done major re-planting with old varieties of apple, pear, plum and cherry, all on full size rootstock rather than dwarfing.

He’s dug out a large silted up pond and made several new ones, encouraging frogs, newts and dragonflies which in turn has helped adders and grass snakes as well as visiting ducks and deer. The farm is also home to the likes of bats and owls.

Ieuan Davies, Llandovery, Wales - oak tree

Ieuan learnt lots of knowledge from his grandfather about farming -and how nature supports agriculture, including how the land effects water courses downstream.

He grazes cattle in a regenerative way – something that was commonplace prior to mechanisation (in his grandfather’s time) and now is fighting to make a comeback into mainstream food production. There is a lot of potential for combining regenerative agricultural techniques with the advances in agricultural practices of the last 80 years.

Notes to editors

For more details on this press release contact Andy Bond on 07725 480434.

About the Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the UK. It has over 500,000 supporters. It wants to see a UK rich in native woods and trees for people and wildlife.

The Trust has three key aims:

• protect ancient woodland, which is rare, unique and irreplaceable
• restoration of damaged ancient woodland, bringing precious pieces of our natural history back to life
• plant native trees and woods with the aim of creating resilient landscapes for people and wildlife.

Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 29,000 hectares. Access to its woods is free so everyone can benefit from woods and trees.