The Haywain by John Constable (1821)

Dear Readers, when Constable painted this landscape over two hundred years ago, he could little have thought that the trees he depicts so lovingly would now be vanishingly rare – there are now less than 7000 Black Poplar (Populus nigra subsp betulifolia) trees in the UK. Furthermore, only 600 of the trees are female, problematic in this species where the sexes are separate. This is a tree of boggy ground, and as more and more land has been drained for agriculture it has largely disappeared from Britain’s countryside. Furthermore, female trees were always considered a bit ‘messy’ – this tree is a member of the cottonwood poplar family, and the seeds are fluffy little things, spreading what looks like cotton wool far and wide. Finally, the variation of the trees is limited, with only 150 of the remaining trees being genetically distinct.

Poplar seed tufts (Photo By George Chernilevsky – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6960322)

Still, all is not lost: the National Trust has sprung into action, creating a gene bank of seeds, and has replanted a flood plain on the Killerton Estate in East Devon. 80 trees of varying genetic heritage have been planted, and the hope is that, once the trees are established, cuttings can be sent to other suitable sites all over the country. Male and female trees have to be within 200 metres of one another to reproduce, and as the population has declined this has become less and less likely to happen, so the new ‘forest’ could be a lifeline for the species. The National Trust has also identified several other sites where the Black Poplar was probably present in the past, and could be re-introduced.

Black Poplar (Photo By David Hawgood, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9336160)

The Black Poplar can live for 200 years and grow up to 30 metres tall, making it arguably the UK’s tallest native tree. Ecologically, it provides food for a wide variety of moths and other insects, including the spectacular Poplar Hawk Moth.

Poplar Hawk Moth

So, let’s hope that this sterling effort by the National Trust pays off. The UK is nature-deprived enough without losing another species.