The Friends of the Pang, Kennet & Lambourn Valleys c/o Pang, Kennet & Lambourn Valleys Countryside Project (FWAG) The Old Estate Office, Englefield Road, Theale, Berkshire RG7 5DZ

Tel/Fax: 0118 9305336 Email: pang.kennet@fwag.org.uk

Website: www.pangandkennetvalleys.org.uk

Pang, Kennet & Lambourn Valleys Countryside Project is a partnership funded and supported by:Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, West Berkshire Council, Englefield Estate, Environment Agency, and local

Parish Councils.© Images: John Bundy, Dickon Ainsworth, Dick Greenaway 2008

Veteran Trees for the Futuretrees with a story to tell and experiences to share

Bucklebury Common

Bucklebury Common is owned by Bucklebury Estate. It lies on a curving gravel ridge between the Pang and Kennet valleys and was once the bed of a large river. The soils are particularly acid and much of the Common was open heathland until the mid 20th century. The Bucklebury Heathland Project is working to recover and conserve the heathland. The acid soils favour birches, oaks and heathers. During World War 2 part of the Common was used to store military equipment.

North Wessex DownsArea of

Outstanding Natural BeautyDenford ManorLower Denford

HungerfordRG17 0UN

Bucklebury Estate

The Estate OfficeBucklebury House

BuckleburyBerkshireRG7 6RR

Tel: 01189 714187

Pang Valley Countryside

Project FWAGThe Old Estate

Office,Englefield Road,

Theale,RG7 5DZ

Woodland TrustAutumn Park,

Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 6LL

www.woodland-trust.org.uk

Bucklebury Parish Council

All Saints, Upper Bucklebury

RG7 6SD

Tel: 01635 863581

email: buckleburyparish

clerk@yahoo.co.uk

13

12

Newbury

Thatcham

Reading

Bucklebury

Hermitage

UpperBucklebury

Cold Ash

Frilsham

Beenham

Pangbourne

Yattendon

StanfordDingley

Woolhampton

Chapel Row

Oxford

BasingstokeAldermaston

B4009

B4009

A34

B4494

B4494

A4

A4

M4

M4

A340

A340

Swindon

London

A343

A329

A34

Theale

Tadley

A339

Veteran Trees can tell us tales of their lives, of when they were planted and what they provided for the people who lived near them.

They can tell how the land was used and give clues to the age of the landscape features they stand on. To add to this, their scars and rugged barks provide homes and food supplies for a multitude of wildlife from fungi and invertebrates to birds and mammals.

Veteran Trees for the Future need not necessarily be ancient trees now, but they will be trees with a significance for the local community or with particular historic or ecological importance. This is illustrated by the trees selected by the local people who chose the trees in this leaflet.

Veteran Trees are important and valued features in the landscape of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which sponsors the Veteran Trees for the Future project.

Woodland products were vitally important before railways and motor vehicles could distribute coal and before plastics were invented.

Pollard trees were cut off at about two or three metres above the ground so that animals could not graze the shoots which were harvested at regular intervals. Pollard oaks and beeches provided firewood and small timber. Acorns and beech mast were valuable food for animals in the autumn.

Coppice stools were cut near ground level and their shoots harvested at short intervals. Their shoots provided small timber for fencing hurdles and tool handles etc.

Generally the tenant had the use of the shoots of pollards and coppice stools while the lord of the manor owned the pollard trunks and coppice stools. Regularly cut pollards and stools live much longer than ordinary trees. Our oldest trees, like the Coronation Oak, are pollards.s.

However, you can make a reasonable estimate by measuring the girth at about 1.5m above the ground and then using the diagram.

The ‘girth’ is the tree’s ‘waist measurement’!

The curve gives the estimated age of a Maiden tree – a tree which has not been cut.

Pollarding slows the growth until the canopy re-grows. Add an extra third to their age.

Coppicing has the same effect. Take an average diameter of the stool near ground level and allow 0.3 metre for every century.

Approximate Ageing Curve for Oaks growing in Open Conditions

Trees in woodland will be older for the same dimensions. For pollard and coppiced oaks add 30% to the age indicated by the girth.

Beech and ash follow approximately the same curve up to about 150-200 years

Veteran trees are trees with a story to tell and experience to share

Dating Veteran Trees and Coppice Stools This is not an exact science!

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0

Gir

th (

m)

0 100 200 300 400 500Approximate Age (years)

Sessile oak.Acorns on the twig.

Sessile oak English oak Beech

English oak.Acorns on stalks. Beech

Map no. Tree species and description Girth (m) 2008 Estimated age 1 Sessile oak – pollard 6.9 520+ 2 Oak stub 5.85 600 3 Beech – multi-stemmed maiden 5.04 260 4 Beech – multi-stemmed 4.01 ??? 5 Oak - pollard 3.97 260 6 Beech – multi-stemmed 4.72 ??? 7 Oak - maiden 4.07 210 8 Oak - maiden 5.43 330 9 Oak - pollard 3.21 200 10 Oak stub 4.50 325

11

12

13 Wellingtonia / Less Than 150

What species and age do you think these two trees are? We challenge you to go out look and measure! Our estimate is on the Friends’ web site www.pangandkennetvalleys.org.uk

Conservation Volunteers

This

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ut 1

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Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Surveyon behalf of HMSO.

OS Licence Number: 100002091

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