A recent volunteer to Fordhall Farm was Paul Beevers. Whilst here, he and ‘Courier’ Dave went searching for Ancient Trees. They found three that would qualify. The trees
measured 4.8 mtrs, 6.05 mtrs and 4.7 metres respectively.
The Ancient Tree Hunt classifies oaks of interest by girth as follows;
* Trees with a girth of more than 4.5m or 3 hugs are potentially
interesting
* Trees with girth of more than 5m or 3.5 hugs are valuable in terms
of conservation
* Trees with a girth of more than 6m or 4 hugs are likely to be truly
ancient
This means that 1 of the trees is classed as truly ancient – which is rather
nice!
Also did you know that oaks support far more species of birds, insects, fungi than
any other native tree by a mile. Insects supported by an oak exceeds 350
species and for example 30 species of lichen. The older the tree the more
species. As there are more holes and breaks as the trees get older then
owls, woodpeckers, bats and many other birds make greater use of the tree.
Perhaps you have some ancient trees near you. Why not try hugging them with your friends and if they are big enough you can log them on the official website below.
http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/