Special Features - Joining the ancient tree hunt across the UK

Joining the ancient tree hunt across the UK
(08/08/07)

People from all over the UK have been hunting down, mapping and measuring ancient trees, some of which are more than 5,000 years old.

The ancient Lake District sweet chestnut at Rydall Hall. (c) Marina Ramsden

Stepping up a gear

The Ancient Tree Hunt (ATH) now has some 6,000 incredibly ancient trees on its database and, thanks to recent extra funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, it is stepping up a gear. With the help of many individuals and organisations, ATH is confident of recording at least 100,000 trees by 2011.

More of these treasures in UK

The UK has more of these treasures than any other country in Northern Europe but, amazingly, according to ATH, we don't know where they all are. William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087) is responsible for much of Britain's amazing legacy of ancient trees because of the royal hunting forests he established.

All ancient trees are links to our culture, history and heritage and the Hunt says that "the trees we see now may well have provided timber for significant events in our history. Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, was built from over 6,000 oaks. English and Welsh archers using yew and ash longbows helped Henry V win the battle of Agincourt".

Measuring the ancient River Test Oak in Hampshire. WTPL/Jill Butler

Home to thousands of species

One of the reasons ancient trees are so important is that they are home to thousands of species of plants and animals, including many rare and threatened species that aren't found anywhere else. As they get older, trees develop holes, nooks and crannies and dead and rotting wood, perfect homes for lots of insects.

Although trees shrink as they get older they are still enormous and, according to the ATH, "the fattest oak tree in Britain would take about nine adults to hug it, fingertip to fingertip".

Big and old and gnarled

The president of the Woodland Trust, broadcaster and lawyer Clive Anderson, is asking people to look out for and record trees which are particularly old and gnarled. "The sort of size we are after", he says, "is a tree, perhaps an oak, which is so big that it would take you and at least two or more friends to hug it all the way round".

Financial support for the campaign comes from many bodies including the Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage. Joining the Hunt are the Tree Council, Caravan Club, National Trust, English Heritage, Forestry Commission, HM Prison Service, over 100 regional and local groups, and many landowners.

Joint venture

The Hunt is a joint venture led by the Woodland Trust, in partnership with the Tree Register of the British Isles and the Ancient Tree Forum. Recording is the first step towards cherishing and caring for these ancient relics, some older than many of our cathedrals and castles. Thousands of people are taking part in the Hunt which is creating the first interactive map of our ancient trees.

For more details of how you can join the treasure-hunt and learn amongst other things how to measure the girth of a tree, visit the Ancient Tree Hunt website.