The hunt picks up pace, thanks to funding from Environment and Heritage Service
They’ve seen centuries come and go, many witnessing and withstanding turbulent times. They rustle with history and memories, each with a story to tell. These are our ancient trees – extraordinary in both cultural and ecological terms, yet sadly lacking the recognition they deserve. Now, thanks to funding from Environment and Heritage Service, the Woodland Trust has a chance to put Northern Ireland’s unsung heroes firmly back on the map.
The Woodland Trust is asking everyone to take part in its Ancient Tree Hunt. While there is no official register of ancient trees in the UK, it is estimated that the country is home to around 80 per cent of Northern Europe’s ancient trees. With your help, the mission is to pinpoint their exact location.
The project, launched last summer, is already unearthing some fantastic finds. A remarkable oak at Belfast’s Belvoir Park Forest, estimated to be 500 years old, is possibly the oldest tree in Northern Ireland. Indeed Belvoir is home to a significant number of veteran trees, suggesting that the estate managed to escape the timber demand of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Funding from Environment and Heritage Service will enable the Woodland Trust to collate existing tree records held by partner organisations, to spread the Ancient Tree Hunt word, and engage with existing and potential recorders.
Gregor Fulton of the Woodland Trust in Northern Ireland explains: “We’re asking local people to get recording – to simply keep a look out for our oldest trees, and then record them on our website. They will probably be much fatter than neighbouring trees, but not necessarily that tall, as really old trees start to shrink down. Keep a look out for those with nooks and crannies, with rotting or dead wood,” He continues: “These living landmarks harbour an amazing array of life - fungi, lichens and insects, while their crevices provide sites for bats and nesting birds.”
You don’t have to be an expert to take part in the Ancient Tree Hunt, as each record received will be checked by verifiers. You just need a tape measure to record the tree’s girth, or some willing friends to do some tree-hugging. An oak, for example, will be of interest if it takes at least three people to give it a hug!
Visit the Ancient Tree Hunt website for tree hunting tips, including how to recognise an ancient tree and how to measure its girth. Find out more and record online at www.ancienttreehunt.org.uk or telephone the Woodland Trust’s Bangor office on 028 9127 5787 for a free leaflet.
This five-year project is led by the Woodland Trust in partnership with the Ancient Tree Forum and the Tree Register of the British Isles. In Northern Ireland, the project is funded by Environment and Heritage Service. Other partners across the UK include the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
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Notes to editors
For media enquiries contact:
Kaye Coates at the Woodland Trust on 028 9127 5787 or
The Woodland Trust Press Office on 01476 581121, e-mail media@woodland-trust.org.uk
Oak facts
The oak tree was held in high esteem by the Ancient Irish and was regarded as one of the ‘noble trees of the wood’. It was even considered sacred by the Druids, with the name ‘Druid’ supposedly meaning ‘the keeper of the oak tree’. Stepping back some fifteen hundred years ago, the fine for felling a ‘noble’ tree without permission was ‘two milch cows’; cutting off a branch would have cost you a ‘one year old heifer’.
You only have to consider some of our place names within County L’Derry and you have an indication of the existence, or past existence, of oaks. The name Derry derives from the old Irish word Daire meaning an oak grove.
The Woodland Trust: The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 300,000 members and supporters. The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s understanding and enjoyment of woodland.
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). Access to its sites is free. Further news can be found at www.woodland-trust.org.uk
Here in Northern Ireland the Woodland Trust cares for 52 woods. These woods contain a mix of newly created community woodland, mature woodland and ancient woodland (land continuously wooded since 1600). We have recently completed the first comprehensive record of ancient woodland in Northern Ireland.
