10th March 2021
Read Steven Falk’s report for the Woodland Trust
Pollinating insects and saproxylic insects are two large and important ecological assemblages within Britain’s biodiversity, with perhaps 6,000 species in the former category and 2,000 species in the latter. But they are not mutually exclusive categories because some saproxylic insects have flower-visiting adults, notably various longhorn beetles, chafer beetles, click beetles, hoverflies, and wood-nesting bees and wasps.
3rd March 2021
The Government have published their analysis of the consultation they carried out on ELMS. Read Jill Butler and Caroline’s response to what the Government appear to have understood from the consultation so far…
The Review is a compilation of responses to the consultation but it’s not clear how the government will let the responses influence the next stages.
ATF is pleased to see recognition of the points we made in the following principle conclusions:
- would like to see more detail about how Environmental Land Management would work in practice.
- a clear need for advice, particularly during the pre-application and application process, and for the more complex agreements. Impartial and expert advisers with local knowledge were also suggested.
- the widespread recognition that the scheme needs testing and piloting.
15th August 2020
Recognising …. open grown trees
Picture a tree in a woodland
What does it look like? I am going to guess that you are picturing a tall tree, with very few branches until the top canopy where it reaches the light.
Now picture a tree in a field
I bet the tree you are picturing has branches lower down the trunk, it has a full billowing crown, and maybe, just maybe, a thicker trunk.
If I was right, your imagination has already shown you many of the differences between trees grown at high density and those grown in open habitats. Good work!
10th August 2020
The Preston twins – and then there was one….
The Preston Twins – and then there was one…
Preston Park, Brighton, East Sussex
As an ATF team, we have been framing our work within the themes of Recognise, Protect, Restore and Enhance. Julian Hight’s blog post below is about the iconic Preston Twin elms in Brighton, recognising their cultural and ecological heritage, and how and why their very survival has been significant. Julian also touches on the measures taken to attempt to protect the trees structurally and from Dutch Elm Disease.
20th July 2020
ATF Spring field visit to Stanway and launch of ATF Gloucestershire
Lake at Stanway & sweet chestnut (photo credit: David Clayden)
As I ponder and reflect back on this event, to find the words and order them in a manner which allows those who did not partake in the day to reconcile my narrative with the photos and feel they were ‘there’, I can’t help but sense a large elephant in the room – COVID-19. In the organisational stage, Coronavirus was a topical feature of the distant world news, with no greater perceived threat to the UK shire counties than indeed, an elephant – oh, how that changed. On the day itself, there was some jovial elbow bumping rather than handshaking, seemingly in jest with no one really having any idea of how rapidly all of our lives would change, nor the severity of the situation soon to be upon us. I am thankful that, by only a few days, the visit fell on the right side of movement restrictions and went ahead. I hope everyone reading this is well, and of course urge everyone to take the necessary precautions to continue staying safe, but for the purpose of this article, lets move on to trees.
6th September 2019
ATF Wessex visit to Stock Gaylard
ATF Wessex visit to Stock Gaylard
Julian Hight, ATF Wessex chair, reports on the group’s summer visit to Stock Gaylard in Dorset.
7th May 2019
ATF Spring Field Trip to Windsor Great Park
Due to a climate change induced postponement, the Spring Field Trip was re-arranged from March to 11 April 2019. While unfortunate for those who planned to attend the original event and were not able to re-arrange their diaries, those that did attend were able to experience the onset of the spring ‘greening’ in outstanding surroundings.
5th April 2018
ATF Spring Visit to Blenheim
Blenheim Palace was the venue for the Ancient Tree Forum’s 2018 spring field visit, as Jim Mullholland, Training and Technical Officer reports.
After a brief welcome, the day began in earnest, with attendees shepherded into the back of the shoot lorry for transportation to High Park. Upon dismounting from the lorry we gathered beneath a veteran beech tree adjacent to a track. Paul Orsi, our guide for the day, introduced himself, detailing his responsibilities whilst employed by the estate. Although he has now moved on to pastures new, Paul’s knowledge of the estate and its trees was second to none, making him the perfect guide for the day.
23rd November 2017
Book review: Ancient oaks in the English Landscape
David Lonsdale reviews Aljos Farjon’s book about how the oak tree has shaped the English landscape over the past thousand years.
Connections between past land use and the present-day distribution of ancient trees are the central theme of this book by Aljos Farjon, a botanist and author who is renowned for his work on conifers and who, in retirement, has turned his attention to ancient oaks.
Contributors to the Ancient Tree Inventory have recorded thousands of ancient trees in the UK. Aljos Farjon hit on the idea of using this information in order to explore in detail the relationships that were already known to occur between the distribution of England’s ancient oaks and the history of land use. By personally recording trees at many sites and by studying documented site history, he has confirmed the strength of these relationships, while also creating a very readable and fascinating book.
22nd November 2017
Recording the ashscape
Hollow ash
Report by Hannah Solloway
This veteran ash tree, with its beautiful heart-shaped form created by cambium curving round the decayed hollow, can be found towards the bottom of a chalk downland valley in North Dorset.
With its hollow trunk, deadwood in the crown, rot holes and cavities, the tree has many veteran features and is hugely valuable for its biodiversity as well as its aesthetic appeal. It supports many species of lichens and bryophytes, some of which are almost entirely dependent on veteran ash trees, due to the unique characteristics of the bark. These include the (UK) priority lichen Bacidia incompta, and the nationally scarce Bacidia delicata and Caloplaca ulcerosa. The white-rot wood decay in the trunk provides decaying woody habitat for a range of saproxylic invertebrate species.
