The Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Hunt
The Ancient Tree Hunt began in 2004, as a joint venture with the Tree register of the British Isles and the Ancient Tree Forum. It aims to involve thousands of people in finding and mapping all the fat, old trees across the UK and is right at the heart of the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree conservation work. It will create a comprehensive living database of ancient trees and it’s the first step towards cherishing and caring for them.
Ancient trees are living relics of incredible age that inspire in us feelings of awe and mystery. They have helped shape our history, and will help shape our future if we let them. Incredibly there are more ancient trees in Britain than any other country in Western Europe. In fact a churchyard in Scotland is thought to be home to the oldest living thing in Europe, the ‘Fortingall Yew’, thought to be 5000 years old! So why don’t you get out there and find some of our big old trees for yourself. Here are some useful websites and books to get you started.
Websites/blogs:
http://www.ancienttreehunt.org.uk/
http://www.ancient-tree.org.uk
Books:
‘The Heritage Trees of Britain and Northern Ireland’ by Jon Stokes and Donald Rodger
‘Meetings with Remarkable Trees’ by Thomas Pakenham
bespokegreenoak 