Challenge 5: May – June 2009
What you need to do:
Change your World: Record your ancient trees.
For this challenge you need find ancient trees near you – they maybe in a woodland or a park or a local graveyard or school ground – and record them on the ancient tree database so we can protect them.
Why you need to do it:
• Ancient trees are a really important habitat for wildlife and are irreplaceable. At the moment we do now know where all these trees are so they do not receive adequate protection from outside threats (e.g. developers). The Woodland Trust are creating an ancient tree register to protect all these special ancient trees. For more detailed info about why it is important to record ancient trees go to the Ancient Tree Hunt website
• An ancient tree is one that makes you go ‘wow, it’s huge, fatter than any other tree like that round here’. It will be really fat, but probably not that tall, as like old people they shrink down with age. Like people, trees grow and age at different rates depending on where they are and what happens to them during their lifetime.
• Ancient trees are measured in hugs to make it easy and practical to do. A hug is based on the finger tip to finger tip measurement of an adult, which we take to be about 1.5m (1 adult hug is probably 2 childrens hugs!).
• As different tree species grow at different rates, the size at which they become ancient is also different.
• The trees below might be ancient if they measured the following:
Oak 3 adult hugs
Beech 2 adult hugs
Scots Pine 1 adult hug
Rowan 1 adult hug
How to do it:
Find the ancient trees near you: 20-60 minutes
You will need:
- Map
- Pens
For this final challenge, we would like you to record the ancient trees in your area and investigate their history.
Go and explore your local park or woodland to see what you can find. Often ancient trees are also in hedgerows so keep your eyes open whilst you are out and about.
Mark their location on a map so you don’t forget where they are. Tell us about as many ancient trees as you can. For more handy hints and tips look here
Identify the tree: 10 minutes
You will need:
- Leaf and Seed ID sheets
Identify what kind of tree you have found, you may like to use the leaves and seeds ID sheets from the Nature Detectives website
Record the girth of the tree: 10 mins
You will need:
- Tape measure
- Notebook
- Pens
Measure the girth of your chosen tree, download info on how to do this here
Make notes about your tree: 10 minutes
You will need:
- Standard recording form
- Pen
Download a standard recording form from here
Read through the form to find out what information you need to gather. It’s really useful to give us as much information as possible.
Record on the ancient tree hunt website: 20minutes
You will need:
- Computer
- Completed standard recording form here
Click on ‘record a tree’ and tell us about the tree/s you have found.
Draw a timeline for you tree: 60 minutes
You will need:
- Paper
- Pens
- Information about your tree and the local area.
Like people, every tree grows at a different rate so it is hard to tell how old it is without cutting it down and counting the rings. And if it’s a hollow tree the middle rings may have long disappeared.
Draw out a timeline for your tree. What sort of things have happened in its lifetime – in your town or village? In the world? You could put your birth and those of your parents, grandparents and even great grandparents on the timeline too.
Try and find out if your tree has a story behind it: 60 minutes
You will need:
- Notebook
- Pens
- Tape recorder
Be a detective and interview local people to see if you can uncover any exciting stories.
For more information about how to do this, look at the Oral History Society website
Please put any info you find out on the individual tree blog section of the ancient tree hunt website as we find it all really exciting and love knowing what you are doing. This means you can still get involved even if your tree has already been recorded.
