The Elephant Oak, New Forest (Photo by Clare Sheppard/Woodland Trust) – People’s Choice for this year!
Dear Readers, it’s that time of year again. The Woodland Trust have published their list of the twelve nominees for the Tree of the Year, and this time all the trees chosen are oaks. I do love an oak! You can see all twelve nominees here, and can vote for your favourite, but here are a couple that I rather fancy.
At the top of the page is the Elephant Oak from the New Forest. This isn’t the oldest, or the widest, or the tallest oak tree on the list, but it is the People’s Favourite, and it’s certainly a stunning tree.
Then there is the Marton Oak, from Marton, Cheshire. With a girth of over fourteen metres, it looks as if it’s three trees, but is in fact just one gigantic oak. It’s probably about 1200 years old.
The Marton Oak (Photo by By Hypercolius – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123655510)
Next up is the Tea Party Oak, which stands in the Ickworth Estate in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. This magnificent tree got its name from the tea parties organised for children by the Marquess and Marchioness of Bristol who owned Ickworth until 1998, when the estate fell under the care of the National Trust. Over 300 species of animal, including bats, rely on the tree for food and shelter.
And how about this one, the Skipinnish Oak? It is growing in the middle of a conifer plantation, but looks as if it’s a temperate rainforest habitat all on its own. The tree is named after a Scottish traditional music band – one of the members, Andrew Stevenson, is said to have ‘discovered’ the tree, hidden away as it was. Apparently you still need to clamber over a seven-foot tall deer fence in order to view it. I think it might be my favourite.
The Skipinnish Oak (Photo by Gus Routledge)
And finally, here’s the Bowthorpe Oak. With a girth of 13.38 metres, and an age of over a thousand years, this tree has seen it all. Apparently three dozen people managed to stand inside it, and the interior of the tree contains ancient graffiti from previous visitors. It is now protected from such nonsense, and stands in Bowthorpe Park Farm, near Bourne in Lincolnshire. You can arrange a private tour if you fancy a look!
The Bowthorpe Oak (Photo by By Robin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83507146)
So don’t forget to have a look at the other nominees, and to vote!
Just think what these trees have seen over time!
Very nice, but I do wonder if our routine focus on the oldest, most venerable (and usually “native”) trees is another reflection of our conservative obsession with a rose-tinted past. Are these sturdy, old and rooted (or stuck)-in-the-past trees a reflection of the national sense of self? Ditto the late, lamented Sycamore Gap tree, standing in splendid isolation in an otherwise overgrazed and knackered landscape. There are many (relatively) new trees in interesting places worthy of attention too, many captured in the Green Canopy list to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. Amongst my personal faves are the group of bulbous “baobab” plane trees in Canterbury, especially the one in Westgate Gardens which makes the list. Interestingly, the Jubilee list calls this a London plane (a hybrid) but it is still locally described as an Oriental (ooh, sounds a bit foreign) plane. https://elmparadise.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-baobab-planes-of-canterbury.html
Hi there! I agree that there are some truly magnificent ‘non-native’ trees that should be celebrated – I’ve seen ‘baobab’ planes on Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and they are amazing trees. I guess that oaks can form an ecosystem all on their own, in a way that most non-native trees don’t (yet, though give them time) and that’s worth celebrating? But I really appreciate your perspective – I’ve done a couple of Paul Wood’s street tree walks, and I love the sheer diversity of some of the planting in London, and I suspect elsewhere in the UK. I will have a look at the Green Canopy list, thanks for the heads up.
Love your blog by the way! Do you blog anywhere else? It’s good stuff!
Aah, not my blog, but a good piece of work.