Ancient trees and farming

[David Humphries]

An all too familiar site in the rural landscape.

Heritage and cultural aspects in decline.

 

Old trees doing what old trees do, retrenching and moving toward there slow demise providing invaluable habitat along the way, but sadly in this case being pushed toward their end by ignorance perhaps?

 

Ploughing too close will undoubtedly speed up their decline. Less roots, less mycorrhiza etc....

 

Oddly there must be some value to the land owner with these trees, otherwise they would have gone long ago. No longer required for winter fodder or building materials large numbers of these trees would have been cleared post 2nd world war to provide crops for a nation in recovery.

 

Perhaps the debate around commerce, space and nature needs to be revisited before its too late for these landscape gems.

 

Some good information in this old practical guidance doc....

 

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/mediafile/100263304/pg-wt-2014-ancient-tree-guide-1-farming-english-.pdf?cb=f81f8860c1b444a39f40667f700be5c2

 

 

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Edited May 2, 2016 by David Humphries

[diervek]

The EU have funded a 4 year research project to ascertain whether agroforestry is feasible and profitable for the farmers. I believe European farmers are doing a little, but the UK has yet to take to it.

 

It does show promise to have agricultural pasture and woodland merged, as it was in the late mediaeval period, but whether it is viable in modern farming is yet to be seen.

 

I believe the project started I'm 2014.

Edited May 2, 2016 by diervek

[SteveA]

Least they could have done was to plough bigger circles around the trees - It would be interesting to find out what they're going to plant in that area.... but looks like it's yet another island of good habitat to be lost.

cheers, steve

[gdh]

Trees are usually left because they provide shelter for animals or its not worth the time and effort of digging the roots out and of course it's nice to see big old trees in a field.

 

As a tractor driver I hate trees in fields, I would rather they were in hedgerows but as a livestock farmer I like to see them,especially on rough grazing land that isn't ploughed or used for silage. My bigger worry is where the next generation of these trees is.

 

I would be interested to know if that ploughing was just to reseed grass as it seems like a lot of effort. The only other thing I can think of is a cover crop for pheasants.

[David Humphries]

Trees are usually left because they provide shelter for animals or its not worth the time and effort of digging the roots out and of course it's nice to see big old trees in a field.

 

As a tractor driver I hate trees in fields, I would rather they were in hedgerows but as a livestock farmer I like to see them,especially on rough grazing land that isn't ploughed or used for silage. My bigger worry is where the next generation of these trees is.

 

I would be interested to know if that ploughing was just to reseed grass as it seems like a lot of effort. The only other thing I can think of is a cover crop for pheasants.

 

Interesting thoughts.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

 

The next generation to replace these should have been in place decades if not century ago. The gap will be too big for species to migrate across to in terms of habitat continuity.

 

If I get a chance to go back to these later in the year I'll post up what's been grown.

 

 

 

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[kevinjohnsonmbe]

An all too common sight - even on LA tied farms where TPOs may be considered inappropriate since an LA is generally presumed to be a "responsible" tree custodian.

 

A fine example of one of the reasons I find the "farmers are the custodians of the countryside" rationale so blatantly inappropriate.

[Kveldssanger]

Pure vandalism, frankly. Great deadwood habitat, but as has been said where is the next generation of farmland trees (oh wait, there isn't one), and how on earth are farmers seen as protecting the countryside when, by and large, they obliterate it.

[Ruskins Trees]

Mature and Veteran trees should be protected akin to Grade 1/2 listed buildings.

 

I planted a Common Lime recently and calculated that it would live for 28 generations.

 

What gives one generation the right to end the life of a tree that has lived for 10+ generations?

 

Their description as "Keepers of Time"; they exist on a timescale we cannot comprehend. As such they should be preserved in (nearly all) circumstances.

[Mick Dempsey]

I would say that the prospect of urban TOs strolling around farmland lecturing farmers is an amusing one.

[David Humphries]

Is that aimed at me Mick?

 

 

 

 

 

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