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What is a veteran tree? |
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Veteran trees can be difficult to both recognise and categorise, but generally they are trees which are old, hollow or fat compared to other trees of the same species. However, girth is not always a good indication of age when you consider that a mature oak may have a girth of 6 metres, whilst a birch of the same age will be considerably thinner at around 1 metre. During its lifetime a tree may pass through three recognisable stages; seedling to mature tree, fully mature to late maturity and finally veteran or ancient. |
| Why are veteran trees important? |
| The trees that we now term as veteran trees were valued by our ancestors as an important part of their subsistence and economy, and possibly as objects of social or spiritual importance. Today, veteran trees are an integral part of the British lowland landscape; they can be found in parklands, woodland, hedgerows and by riversides. Some, like the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest, have become tourist attractions through their historical connections but sadly many more have been felled, neglected or forgotten. |
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Estimating the age of veteran trees |
A common method of determining the age of a tree is to bore a hole in it and count the annual rings – this method is known as dendrochronology. Whilst its application is not to be doubted elsewhere it is by no means suitable for all veteran trees. Estimating the age of an old tree can be very difficult. Yew trees, for instance, have the ability to return to formative rates of growth at almost any time in their lives, making Yew one of the most difficult trees to age with any confidence. The Forestry Commission have produced a file in pdf format which explains in detail how to estimate the age of veteran trees - Estimating the age of large and Veteran Trees in Britain
To view this file you will need Adobe Reader which can be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe Website |
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The future of veteran trees |
| Some experts think that Britain has the highest number of ancient and veteran trees in Europe, over 80% according to some estimates, but unless our veterans are mapped and recorded we will never know for sure.
Thanks to projects such as The Tree Register of the British Isles we are beginning to get a clearer picture of the locations of Britain’s oldest trees. But they need your help to do it, so if you’d like to get involved then please contact them via the Web site. Or visit the National Trust’s Veteran Tree Forum Web site which is dedicated to ‘raising awareness of the value and importance of veteran trees for the future’. |
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