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A LINK TO OUR PAST - VETERAN TREES

Julia Wherrell meets Mike Palmer, Tree Warden

A Perfect Specimen

Look at that – isn’t it amazing? Absolutely perfect!’ It’s a blustery afternoon in early autumn and I am standing in a pasture near the River Teign on the edge of Chagford with Mike Palmer, one of the Dartmoor National Park’s volunteer Tree Wardens. Mike is a very happy man.

‘A perfect specimen! Look at the shape of it – lovely!’ Mike is almost hopping up and down with excitement as he rummages in his rucksack for a piece of string to measure the tree’s girth. As tall as a house, its canopy spreading wide above us, it is indeed a beautiful oak. The bark is incredible, twisted, deeply ridged and speckled with lichen. How many years has this magnificent tree stood here, I wonder?

Estimating the age of a tree is more art than science. Having measured a metre and a half up from the base of the tree, Mike asks me to hold one end of the string while he disappears around the other side of the trunk. With age, the height and spread of a tree reach a maximum, and then decline. Neither height nor spread can be used accurately to estimate the age of a tree, but as the trunk increases in circumference throughout its life this can be used as a measure of age.

‘I’d seen the tree at a distance, but I waited until I knew you were coming. I thought it would be a good example of a veteran tree to show you,’ he says, reappearing next to me and marking where the two pieces of string meet.

We both guess the girth is about 12 feet. When we measure the string, we are amazed to find it is 17 feet. Most trees reach a point when fully mature, with a full crown, when the circumference equals 1 inch for each year of growth. So a tree like this one at 17 feet, measured at chest height, is over 200 years old. ‘The trouble is the only way to date a tree accurately is to cut it down and count the rings, which defeats the object really,’ says Mike.

He is one of 20 volunteer Tree Wardens on Dartmoor who each has a range of skills and differing levels of involvement with the scheme. The Tree Warden scheme is not set up to produce experts, but to help volunteers develop a greater understanding of tree issues and know where to get proper advice that can be fed back to their Councils.

Wardens have been carrying out a veteran tree survey across Dartmoor to identify and map veteran and ancient trees. Veteran trees are defined as: ‘Trees which, by virtue of their great age, size or condition, are of exceptional value culturally, in the landscape or for wildlife’.

Veteran trees are a link to our past and have stood for many hundreds of years. Some veteran trees are well known, such as the Meavy oak (see Eating Out, pp48–49), but there are many others, often in isolated locations, which have not been mapped. Tree Wardens with their local knowledge are ideally placed to locate these valuable trees.

‘In general terms, you can say an oak will grow for 300 years, rest for 300 years and then decline gracefully for 300 years. Often, the crown will die and blow down which can make the rest of the tree grow even more vigorously,’ says Mike.

A dead tree is also of enormous value, he adds. Often supporting over 100 different species of insects, mammals and fungi, it puts a great deal back into the environment as it rots away. We would do well to take more notice of trees.

A Chagford resident for 17 years, Mike is a member of the Chagford Conservation Group. A keen walker, he volunteered to be a tree warden five years ago. His ‘patch’ is extensive, covering Jurston, the Warren House Inn, Fernworthy, Gidleigh and Chagford.

‘I get letters from the Park asking me to look out for specific things, but I’m always looking really, enjoying the landscape and discovering new things all the time,’ he says. ‘The first veteran oak I logged was at Waye Hill, near Chagford. A visitor to the area had actually pointed it out as it was an unusual type of oak. This one we are standing under is a pedunculate oak, or English Oak. The acorns develop at the ends of long stalks called “peduncles”, hence the name.’

Friends and neighbours also report back to Mike if they discover any interesting trees, or perhaps come across one that’s in trouble. ‘If we see something wrong, we don’t intervene, that’s not our role, but we report back to the appropriate body and then something can be done about it.’

Mike’s reports go back firstly to Chagford Parish Council and then on to Brian Beasley, Trees and Landscape Officer, at Dartmoor National Park Authority. ‘There’s nothing Brian doesn’t know about trees, I can tell you!’ says Mike. ‘I’m learning all the time. I go to an annual wardens’ conference and it’s always fascinating.’

The Tree Warden scheme is an initiative set up by the Tree Council to involve local people in tree and woodland issues. Tree Wardens are volunteers who are appointed by Parish and Town Councils.

The National Park Authority has been involved with Tree Wardens for over ten years and it works with other local authorities to provide training, information and professional advice to Wardens. Over the years the Authority has asked Tree Wardens to become involved with various issues including a traditional orchard survey.

Now thoroughly chilled in the late afternoon, Mike and I set off back to Chagford for a warming cup of coffee. As we start to thaw out, he tells me that he is a retired bank manager from Sussex who loves his new life and the chance to be outside for so much of the day rather than stuck behind a desk. I instantly think of a range of poor jokes about him becoming a different sort of branch manager, but decide I’d better just drink my coffee instead…