Ancient Trees Open Day

North Wales FWAG

FWAG Cymru- Coed Cadw Ancient Tree Day at Caeaugwynion Farm, Chirk Castle Estate

"The key to the future ... is the past."

This was the starting premise of Ted Green of the Ancient Tree Forum when he lead a North Wales Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group ancient tree event in October on the Chirk Castle estate in north Wales ably assisted by Jill Butler of Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust) and Ray Woods of Plantlife. The event was staged by FWAG Cymru and was mainly funded by the Woodland Trust/Coed Cadw with a contribution from the Countryside Council for Wales. Interest in the topic exceeded all expectations with a total of 56 people attending, -the majority being farmers, many with veteran trees on their own land.

Through the use of anecdote, facts and by demonstration, all three challenged us to re-connect agriculture with trees both for the obvious things such as timber and energy but also as a direct aid to farming. But how?

Waving a broken branch of russet leaves under our noses, Ted proclaimed it as "Tree Hay" and that animals, especially cattle, thrive on a mix of older grass species, herbs and dead leaves in their diet. Ray Woods said that planting trees within pasture fields had many benefits. Among them are that trees will act as a wind break and so will raise temperatures thereby allowing for earlier grass growth in spring. Ray added that trees helped by fungi on their roots are exceptional at trapping and recycling phosphorous through decaying leaves. With the world's phosphate supply estimated to run out in another 130 years (with 1/3 of that in Libya), perhaps it was time to think about planting inter-field trees, Jill Butler suggested?

When it comes to tree ecology Ted said that if we compare it to a book, our knowledge is only just passed the flyleaf but that we in Britain have an invaluable resource in our oldest trees. Nowhere else in Europe has the range of species and ages that we do here. Jill encouraged us to look for these specimens and record them on the Ancient Tree Hunt website (details below).

We were in a prime location to see examples of these types of tree on the tenanted farms surrounding Chirk Castle. It was interesting to note how the three sets of farmers whose land we were on were ensuring that the stock, both sheep and cattle, did not damage the trees and they were applauded for placing fallen dead wood such as branches against the base of the parent tree to ensure that the insects and associated fungi still had use of the wood as it gently decayed. Ray Woods pointed out that if such wood was to be taken for burning, it was essential that this was done as soon as possible over winter before beetles and other insects started to use it for breeding. If it was not possible to remove the wood expediently, then it should be covered with a tarpaulin.

Ray then explained how we are only just beginning to understand how plants, especially higher plants, interact with fungus. He startled us by saying that over 60 separate species of fungi live on bracken and that for there is enough fungal mycelia in every square metre of soil to stretch from Wrexham to London - and back!

But it was not all listening. We were asked to stand where we thought the roots of a 250 year oak stretched. I am ashamed to say that your correspondent failed miserably standing on the edge of the canopy rather than another 8 metres further out! We also had to form a human chain to hug a 700 year old sweet chestnut needing 7 of us to complete the links!

The intention was to only be out for the morning and then retire to the warmth of lunch but so enthusing were Ted, Ray and Jill that the consensus was to have another session re-connecting with trees in the afternoon.

By the end of the day, I think that we all had to agree with Ted: We need to look back to the past to help us with our future.

http://www.ancienttreehunt.org.uk/ or http://www.helfacoedhynafol.org.uk/.

http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/