together with several huge Alders. It is an exceptional site but one which until
recently has not been known for its trees at a county level and was more appreciated
as a sports ground and angling venue.
This is probably not that unusual: many of Essex's hedgerows and parklands have not
had their ancient trees recorded. There is no county inventory of these wonderful
living monuments. For such important and essential features of our landscape some
recording effort is now required. An inventory could be used to pick out those
requiring protection and those that needed some sympathetic management. The
information would help emphasize the importance of the resource and could help put
pressure on the legislators to protect individual trees in future as positively as
individual sites are today.
The Field Club, of course, as the countywide natural history recording society is well
placed to inspire a coordinated survey of these wondrous plants. Other counties have
started and species like Black Poplar have now been well recorded nationally, through
the efforts of recorders like our own botanical recorder, Ken Adams. The Essex
Veteran Tree Biodiversity Action Plan, which is still being written, should incorporate
a mechanism for a recording scheme. It is hoped that the Club with Essex County
Council, and the many district councils with tree warden schemes, can lead in setting
up a veteran tree recording scheme for the county. So if you're interested watch this
space for more news or let me know if you might be interested in such a survey in
future.
References
Ellon, C.S. (1966) The Pattern of Animal Communities. Methuen, London.
Rackham. O. (1986) The History of the Countryside. J.M. Dent & sons Ltd., London.
Rateliffe, D.A. (ed.) (1977) A Nature Conservation Review. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Read, H. J. (2000) Veteran Trees: A guide to good management. English Nature,
Peterborough.
Stubbs, A.E. (1972) Wildlife Conservation and Dead Wood. Journal of the Devon
Trust for Nature Conservation 4: 169 -182.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 33, September 2000
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