Ancient Tree Forum’s Technical Advisory Panel launched in June 2022 and is made up of thirteen volunteers who freely give their time, advice and expertise on important issues relating to the care and management of ancient and other veteran trees (AOVT).
The panel is designed to gather technical knowledge, share learning, and make recommendations on how this newly acquired knowledge will be most effectively disseminated. This is informed by Ancient Tree Forum’s five-year strategy, as well as broader, national influences which impact AOVTs.
To achieve greater AOVT protection and sustainability in the long-term, the panel strives for a proactive and targeted approach, which centres around the principles and practices of AOVT management. The panel will also welcome and mentor Experts of the Future from 2024; an exciting new programme to identify and recruit AOVT experts of the 2030’s and 2040’s.
The Technical Advisory Panel will generally not be able to dedicate time to (i) individual cases, (ii) individual projects, (iii) reactive responses or requests, and (iv) planning responses that are at a regional or local level. We appreciate there may be exceptions which lend themselves to investigation and further study because of their wider impact, and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
For more information or general enquiries, please email technicaladvisorypanel@ancienttreeforum.org.uk. This mailbox is monitored weekly by the Training & Technical Officer and queries fielded to the correct person. Please note that responses will come from volunteers and may take some time.
Technical Advisory Panel:
The panellists were selected from a group of 29 nominees, who submitted a short biography evidencing their area of specialism and personal attributes at the end of 2021.
One of the things about ancient trees is that they bring together people from lots of different sectors and our Technical Advisory Panel needs to represent those. We have therefore selected panellists with skills and knowledge within the following areas:-
Practice – tree knowledge, arb skills
Landscape – land use
Ecology – associated wildlife
Heritage – culture
Policy – public affairs
Sociological – political, diversity & AoVTs
The Technical Advisory Panel Members:
Chair of Technical Advisory Panel: Neville Fay
Nev Fay is principal consultant at Treework Environmental Practice, specialising as an expert witness for arboricultural disputes, and in conservation arboriculture, tree declines, and soil health. Nev was the founding chair of the Ancient Tree Forum and is an ICF chartered arboriculturist. In 2019, he received the Arboricultural Association Award for Continued Services to Arboriculture.
Nev is a director of the Sustainable Soils Alliance and a founder of Tree Aid. He also sits on the National Tree Safety Group drafting committee, and co-authored Trees: a lifespan approach (2018) and Natural England VTI Specialist Survey Method (1996).
Caroline Davis
Caroline is a qualified arboriculturist and MBE for services to arboriculture. Having worked in the field for over 40 years, including as a Tree Preservation Officer within a local government planning department, and as a government Scientific Officer managing research contracts on arboricultural aspects, she has been instrumental in bringing about significant legislative and policy changes. Caroline has had extensive involvement in TPO legislation, providing technical and legal/policy advice and appraisal on TPO appeals, overseeing a panel of consultants providing technical reports on TPO appeals, training for planning inspectors and the production of the first government guidance on TPO practice – the “Blue Book” (2000).
Caroline contributed to the Veteran Trees Initiative, co-authoring Veteran Trees: A Guide to Risk and Responsibility (2000) and sat on the panel for the revision of BS 3998 and BS 5837.
David Skydmore
David is Honorary Director of the Lovell Quinta Arboretum in Cheshire, home to national collections of Quercus, Fraxinus and Pinus spp, and more than 2500 trees and shrubs in 800 taxa. He oversees the development of a conservation plan at the arboretum and runs wellbeing sessions to increase local community engagement with trees.
David is a Fellow of the British Association of Naturalists, Linnean Society of London, and a registered Senior Plant Health professional with the Royal Society of Biology. He is also an Emeritus Professor, having held a Personal Chair in Rural Policy, currently working on national policy in plant health with the UK and Welsh governments.
Emma Gilmartin
Emma is an experienced ecologist, having studied both plant and fungal ecology. Her field skills relate to plant and fungal identification and survey. During her PhD, Emma contributed to research on wood decay, veteranisation and saproxylic insect ecology. She has collaborated on several papers, most recently on State of the UK’s Woods and Trees (2021) and The flower-visiting insects associated with old trees and dead wood (2021).
In her current role as a Conservation Adviser for the Woodland Trust, Emma provides guidance, technical advice and training for a range of internal and external audiences. She works with ecologists, land managers and policy advocates, influencing on matters relevant to ancient and veteran trees, forestry, and land use.
Helen Read
Helen is the Conservation Officer at Burnham Beeches for the City of London Corporation, where she regularly works on invertebrate and plant projects, including some on bats and birds. Helen has an MSc in invertebrate ecology and examined woodland invertebrates for her PhD. She was also part of the team who designed and delivered the VETcert qualification for Ancient Tree Forum. Helen has written numerous publications on veteran tree management and is a VETcert consultant and examiner. She is both Secretary and Bulletin Editor, for the British Myriapod and Isopod Group.
Mick Boddy
Mick has over 40 years’ experience in forestry and arboriculture. He is a Consulting Level Certified Veteran Tree Specialist, Arboricultural Association Registered Consultant, Chartered Arboriculturalist, Cardiff University Accredited Expert Witness and a consultant inspector to the Planning Inspectorate (TPOs). He is also a trustee of the Fund4Trees charity, which promotes sustainable treescapes and raises funding for research and educational bursaries.
From 2008-2014, Mick was Chairman of the British Standards Institution (BSI) B/213 Trees Committee where he worked with the drafting panels for the most recent revisions of BS 3998, BS 5837 and the production of the new standard BS 8545. Mick also represented BSI on the National Tree Safety Group.
Paul Muir
Paul is an arboricultural consultant with more than 20 years’ experience applying and evolving retrenchment pruning techniques. As a consultant Paul has been exposed to the latest ideas relating to the management of ancient and veteran trees, tree risk, tree morphology, tree statics and tree dynamics. He has spent five years surveying 1000 ancient and veteran trees at Richmond Park and has been actively promoting tree statics as an essential method for informing management decisions for key amenity trees for over 15 years.
Peter Glassey
Peter has worked in forestry and arboriculture for 40 years. As Head Forester at Burghley House Preservation Trust, Peter has experience of managing woodland and historic parkland on a large mixed agricultural estate. This has given him insight on how trees, including ancient and other veteran trees, provide an intentionally designed and critically important backdrop to historic houses. Peter works to protect and conserve the ‘treescapes’ of William Cecil, London and Cook and then Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.
Reg Harris
Reg has over 35 years’ practical arboricultural experience, two thirds of which have been dedicated to ancient and other veteran trees. He has applied, developed and shared his expertise nationally and internationally at key sites including Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire), Ickworth Park (Suffolk), Ashtead Common (Surrey), Knepp Castle Estate (West Sussex), Savernake Forest (Wiltshire), Blickling Estate (Norfolk), Long Melford Hall (Suffolk), Madarcos in Spain, and Halstad Angar in Sweden. Reg is a VETcert consultant and examiner who contributed to the VETcert qualification programme. He delivers VETcert courses and seminars on veteran tree management and veteranisation.
Tom Joye
Tom has experience in veteran tree management, tree architecture and soil assessment. He works in Belgium as a private arboricultural consultant, and at Inverde, a training centre for the Flemish government’s Nature and Forestry Agency, where he shares knowledge on trees and their management, developing and delivering training, and setting up European projects. Tom helped develop VETree and VETcert, and works within heritage settings and cultural landscapes, collaborating with colleagues at the Flanders Heritage Agency to protect veteran trees as monuments.
Vikki Bengst
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