Scientists surveyed Britons on how close they feel to trees and their neighbours 16% felt very close to trees, while only 7% said they felt very close to a neighbour. More people have a close relationship with trees than feel close to their human neighbours, researchers have found.
A survey designed to judge the importance of trees for British people’s daily lives and wellbeing asked volunteers how close they felt to trees in general.
Some 16 per cent felt very close to trees, while only seven per cent said they felt very close to a neighbour.
The survey of more than 1,800 adults, commissioned by the University of Derby, found half of people could name a favourite tree.
Perhaps people just have more trees to choose from, as previous surveys suggest we only know four neighbours on average by name.
Meanwhile the UK has about three billion trees, or an average of 45 trees per person, calculated by analysing aerial photos and estimating tree numbers as was done under the UN’s Plant for the Planet project.
Commenting on the survey findings, Miles Richardson, Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University of Derby, said: ‘Although asking about people’s relationship with trees might seem unusual, we found that it is those who feel a close relationship with the natural world who take positive action towards it.
‘Having a close emotional bond and feeling closely connected to trees and the wider natural world enhances our desire to protect and restore natural environments.’
Lovers of woodland and trees are known as ‘nemophilists’ and many more people fell into this category during the pandemic, as they became more aware of the natural world around where they lived.
In recent years, British people have also embraced ‘forest-bathing’ – the ancient Japanese practice of relaxation involving being quiet and calm amongst trees to reduce stress.
The new survey, involving residents of the National and Mersey Forests and Brecon Beacons National Park, found 81 per cent of those asked said they noticed trees wherever they went.
Meanwhile 86 per cent of people said trees were important for supporting health, by reducing air pollution and creating places for relaxation and peace.
Asked about the biggest threats to trees, almost three-quarters named urban development, while almost two-thirds answered with climate change, 63 per cent said storms, and 55 per cent were worried about new and exotic diseases or pests.
The survey, conducted by YouGov in October last year, follows a recent report by Friends of the Earth stating that 43 per cent of neighbourhoods in England have less than 10 per cent tree canopy cover, while 84 per cent of neighbourhoods have less than 20 per cent of coverage.
Almost all of those surveyed they felt a relationship with nature was significant and that it helped their mental health and wellbeing.
People were asked to choose from a set of diagrams showing overlapping circles to indicate how interconnected they felt with trees.
Those who chose the circles which overlapped the most were judged to have a close relationship with trees, and the same method was used to judge closeness to neighbours.
But the proportion of people close to trees was almost double the proportion close to their neighbours.
The survey found 94 per cent of people agreed that trees improve air quality, 95 per cent said trees sustained wildlife, and 86 per cent said they prevented flooding and erosion.
Professor David Sheffield, who was also involved in the study from the University of Derby, said: ‘Biodiversity has declined at an alarming rate around the planet since 1970.
‘Although many cherish what seems to be a ‘green and pleasant land’, there is a need for a wider understanding that things are not well.
‘Nature needs to be central to our everyday lives and trees are a great starting point.They contribute to our mental wellbeing and physical survival as individuals and as a species.’
A Cork plant scientist has commented on the discovery of cooking bananas growing in West Cork, saying that it might help us re-think the future of crops in this country.
Lecturer and plant scientist Dr Eoin Lettice spoke of his astonishment to hear two bundles of bananas were growing in a Cork garden, adding that the climate changes experienced this summer, including the hottest July on record, has led to a “knock-on effect” for the growth of plants.
The bananas, discovered in the garden of Rolf’s Country House in Baltimore, were the second ever growth on this particular plant, which had been planted 25 years ago.
Owner Friederike Haffner said the shrub, first planted by her mother years ago for the foliage, now has two large flowers, complete with bananas measuring up to 20cm long at present.
Ms Haffner described the discovery as “quite surprising”, before reflecting on the sub-tropical environment evident in the sheltered garden where the plant has thrived.
The wild bananas differ immensely from those we are used to eating, Ms Haffner explained, needing cooking time before they become edible.
“I told my husband he’ll have to come up with some recipes,” she added.
The fruit does have strong connections to Cork, some 4 million bananas arrive on ships from South America into the port of Cork every week.
Dr Lettice said this uncanny discovery may possess a learning curve for the future of Irish crops, adding: “There’s no doubt that in the next number of decades, if not already, we should be thinking about what we could grow in the future with a change in climate.”
Speaking about the surprising growth of these bananas, Dr Lettice revealed that the optimal conditions suitable for these plants to produce fruit had arrived, which does not necessarily mean the same conditions will persist next year.
“For this year at least, they’ve had the right set of conditions to produce bananas, which is exciting,” he added.
“Now, I doubt this means that Ireland will become a hot spot for growing bananas in the future but it’s an interesting kind of botanical anomaly,” he said.
“Do we need to move away from some of the crops that we traditionally grow to more novel crops? Maybe not bananas, but maybe bananas,” he said.
Raising the issue of which crops will survive in our changing climate, Dr Lettice said we may need to come up with an alternative to planting potatoes, “thirsty plants” that may struggle to survive during impending drought periods.
“We’ve had quite dry summers in the past where the growing of potatoes might become very difficult or at least without irrigation, leading to a situation of ‘what do you irrigate?’ Do you use the the available water you have for humans to drink or do you give it to farmers for crops and so on”.
“And where else but West Cork, where you’ve got this wonderful kind of Atlantic climate, so you probably just got the right set of conditions for the fruit to develop this year,” he added.
Bones know truths not yet told. Listen to marrow, to the red beneath the white. Where it is thick. Like syrup or sap inside the trees, the way it descends, to roots. Go to the source of power.
When a caterpillar spins her thread she creates silk out of the sun’s rays. The sun contains that which the moon transforms. Moon, milky white like bone. Changeable, the way insects are. Molting, listen, inside pelvis shaped like butterfly wings.
Listen, inside the places that will be hollow after death. But now, now, they are full of stories. Listen, quieter now, to the way the words come into form. Shapes, smoke signals. rising to the moon and back to source, becoming out of its un-becoming.
We die and we are born and we are reborn.
These human bodies contain echoes of all the stories we’ve ever known. Rippling out beyond the beyond, touching through to every human in the collective. Caterpillars, all of us.
When we listen, when we remember, we give birth to wings.
Words: stasha ginsburg The Wild Matryoshka: Marrow Song Available on Amazon
From the oak that survived a wartime bomb and the Queen Elizabeth I ‘picnic tree’: Woodland Trust reveal shortlist for this year’s Tree of the Year competition.
An oak that survived a wartime bomb and Queen Elizabeth I’s picnic tree are among those on the shortlist to be crowned the Tree of the Year.
The Woodland Trust’s panel of tree experts has shortlisted 12 urban contenders from across the UK for this year’s competition – with one additional tree voted for by the public.
This year’s contest aims to highlight ancient trees located in urban locations with contenders for the 2023 Tree of the Year being located in city parks, busy town centres and residential streets.
Every shortlisted specimen can be visited by the public for free, ‘has an amazing story’ and ‘is loved by locals’, the trust says.
The winner will be crowned in October and represent Britain in the European Tree of the Year competition.
The Woodland Trust claims that each of the trees shortlisted in the competition give thousands of urban wildlife species essential life support, as well as help boost the UK’s biodiversity.
‘Ancient trees in towns and cities are vital for the health of nature, people and planet,’ said Naomi Tilley, lead campaigner at the Woodland Trust.
The trust claims the trees provide a vital habitat for wildlife, help to reduce flooding, screen out noise, provide shade, filter air pollution, increase property values and bring cultural capital to Britain’s streets and parks.
‘But most ancient trees aren’t protected by law, and those in urban areas are particularly vulnerable, like one of this year’s nominees – which narrowly escaped being cut down by Sheffield City Council in 2017,’ Ms Tilley added.
‘Trees like those in the shortlist are remarkable and deserve celebration – and protection.’
According to the trust, YouGov polling revealed that 83 per cent of people in Great Britain support giving ancient trees legally protected heritage status.
The poll also reportedly indicated that 85 per cent of people think the national government and its agencies should have responsibility for protecting them.
Ms Tilley added: ‘The stats show just how much these trees mean to people.’
Chiara George – a teenager with a passion for urban and ancient trees and one of the winners of the Woodland Trust’s recent Youth Innovation competition – has encouraged other Britons to vote for this year’s winner.
She said: ‘Focusing on urban trees in Tree of The Year is super exciting because they are often overlooked despite their importance in maintaining biodiversity, absorbing noise and air pollution on busy roads, and so much more.
It’s really simple to vote for your favourite and help us crown a champion, so please get involved.’
Voting is open on the Woodland Trust’s website until October 15. The organisation will announced the winner on October 19.
Top contenders for Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year
Greenwich Park Sweet Chestnut, located in London
The approximately 360-year-old tree was planted at the request of King Charles II.
The monarch had a bold vision for Greenwich Park after he took the throne in 1660, which included the Palace of Greenwich – which was never rebuilt.
Hundreds of trees have been planted in formal avenues to mimic the French style the King had admired and many are still standing today.
Now, with many tress in the park approaching 400 years old, their contorted and decomposing trunks offer important wildlife habitats including invertebrates and fungi.
Holm Oak Blitz Tree, located in Exeter, Devon
This oak tree, age unknown, has been admired by locals for its resilience and is seen as a symbol of hope and strength.
It survived the devastating attack by 20 bombers on May 45, 1942 that destroyed many buildings in Exeter.
Among those suffering extensive damage was the Southernhay United Reformed Church on Dix’s Field in the city centre. However, the tree, which was located just a few feet from the door, survived.
Cathedral Foxglove Tree, located in Lichfield, Staffordshire
Lichfield’s stunning foxglove tree is approximately 100 years old and the largest foxglove tree in the county.
The trust says it keeps silent vigil over visitors to the Remembrance Garden, which was opened in 1920 to commemorate those who lost their lives in World War I.
The tree is native to China and was introduced to Britain in the 1830s. It shows off colourful foxglove-shaped blooms in springtime.
Lakeside Holm Oak, located in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
The approximately 175-year-old holm oak leans over the lake at Jephson Gardens.
The tree has witnessed many events in the town park since it was planted in the 1840s. The tree saw how the park served as pleasure ground for wealthy Victorians and witnessed a period of post-war decline.
The local council restored the park in the early 2000s.
Crouch Oak, located in Addlestone, Surrey
The approximately 880-year-old Crouch Oak is also known as the Queen Elizabeth I picnic tree after the monarch was said to have dined beneath it.
John Wycliff gave sermons under the tree in the 1800s and popular Victorian baptist, Charles Spurgeon, preached there in 1872.
Over its long history, the tree has suffered attacks, including arsonists setting the inside of the trunk ablaze in 2007.
However, fire crews were able to extinguish the flames, giving the tree the chance to survive for many years to come.
Gorton Park Poplar, located in Manchester
The black poplar tree located in Gorton Park serves as a reminder of Manchester’s industrial heritage.
As manufacturing in the city boomed, soot and air pollutants from coal-burning factories killed many of the city’s trees, but the black poplar thrived despite the environmental conditions.
But while the species tolerated pollution, disease has sadly proved fatal for most. Over the last 20 years, many black poplars have succumbed and this Gorton Park specimen is one of only a few thousand that remain.
Grantham Oak, located in Grantham, Lincolnshire
The approximately 500-year-old Grantham Oak towers over a quiet residential street and predates the surrounding houses by several centuries.
The trust says the ares has never been a parkland so the tree is possibly a chance survivor or a lone reminder of the agricultural land that Grantham now occupies.
The local council and residents have installed a protective surface and barrier to keep the tree safe from harm.
Chelsea Road Elm, located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire
The approximately 128-year-old Chelsea Road elm is one of the UK’s most famous elms.
Fewer than 1,000 elms stand after Dutch elm disease sadly wiped out over 60 million of them. The tree is also home to the white-letter hairstreak butterfly, a species that has declined 93 per cent since the 1970s.
The tree has been ear-marked for the chop several times, but was saved by local campaigners.
Plymouth Pear, located in Plymouth, Devon
Derriford’s Plymouth Pear is one of the UK’s rarest trees and the only tree species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
In the spring, the tree is covered with pure white flowers.
The species is thought to live exclusively in wild hedgerows in Plymouth and Truro. A protective barrier safeguards the tree for future generations.
10. Sweet Chestnut, located in Wrexham
The 484-year-old sweet chestnut of Acton Park is a reliable fixture in the landscape.
It has withstood many challenges during its lifetime, from post-war plundering of the park for firewood in the 1940s to dozens of deadly storms.
The trust says the tree is a feature of community events and well-loved by locals for its history, value and beauty.
Highland Gateway Walnut, located in Perth
The Highland Gateway Walnut is believed to be 200 to 300 years old and stands proud in the car park of Inveralmond Retail Park on the A9.
The area is known as the Highland Gateway and is popular with travellers heading north from Perth towards the Highlands.
Visitors admire the tree and especially appreciate it in summer when its boughs offer shade and relief from the hot sun.
Belvoir Oak, located in Belfast
The Belvoir Oak is thought to be the oldest surviving tree in Belvoir Park Forest and may be the oldest in all of Northern Ireland.
It in a fragmented form, making it hard for experts to estimate its age with confidence. But it is claimed that the oaks of Belvoir were over three hundred years old more than a century ago.
The tree is recognised as part of the country’s living heritage, having witnessed the growth of Belfast from a small settlement to the city it is today.
13. Library Holm Oak, located in Westbury Wiltshire
The Library holm oak was chosen from the public nominations and watches over the town library from the public Soisy Gardens.
It is nestled in the town’s hub and is a popular spot for community events.
Its history is unknown, but its enormous size suggests it pre-dates the 18th century building, which was originally Westbury House, once home to prominent mill owner and MP, Abraham Laverton.
National Highways carried out nearly 40 big projects across England to compensate for mature trees felled by roadworks.
But figures obtained by a freedom of information request revealed that an average of 30.4 per cent of the saplings have died across nine projects, The Times reported.
The government-owned company was only able to provide figures for nine of its 38 big road projects, meaning the number of dead trees is likely higher.
Experts warn Highways England has focused on the number of trees planted, rather than their survival.
At Chowns Mill A45/A6 junction in Northamptonshire, the last of 2,500 saplings were planted under two years ago, and only a quarter are still alive.
In total, at least 405,000 of 945,000 trees planted since 2018 have died.
Tom Clancy from National Highways said: ‘We take our responsibility to the environment seriously and are exploring ways we can enhance the local landscape.’
edReardon ~ “This Greenwashing goes on all the time, trees are planted to offset carbon generation, but it is an absolute con – firstly they take too long to reach maturity to make any difference, and secondly a high proportion of them die-off because of zero maintenance after planting. If you are going to plant trees then there needs to be a five maintenance plan attached to them to ensure they reach the point where they will survive, just putting a plastic tree-guard around them on day one is not sufficient”.
wilfulsprite ~ “There are loads along the A14 around Huntingdon following road redesign, but they planted them in the hot dry summer of 2019….maybe if they had waited until Autumn, they wouldn’t have died from dehydration” .
Connect The Dotz ~ “UK roadside trees are being ruthlessly cut down at an alarming and increasing rate… I drive along 100 miles of road in southern England every week for work, and I estimate that stretch of road alone has lost over 1,000 mature and tall trees on the roadside since 2020… Chainsawed down to a pathetic stump… Multiply that across the country, and it is millions gone since lockdown… It has to stop”.
Mike ~ “What did Hereford Green Council do last year planted trees in big planters and did not water them during the heat wave. Cost to the rate payer £600,000” .
Paul O Sullivan ~ “Further reading on this subject Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing”
Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing
It was perhaps the most spectacular failed tree planting project ever. Certainly the fastest. On March 8, 2012, teams of village volunteers in Camarines Sur province on the Filipino island of Luzon sunk over a million mangrove seedlings into coastal mud in just an hour of frenzied activity. The governor declared it a resounding success for his continuing efforts to green the province. At a hasty ceremony on dry land, an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records declared that nobody had ever planted so many trees in such a short time and handed the governor a certificate proclaiming the world record. Plenty of headlines followed.
But look today at the coastline where most of the trees were planted. There is no sign of the mangroves that, after a decade of growth, should be close to maturity. An on-the-ground study published in 2020 by British mangrove restoration researcher Dominic Wodehouse, then of Bangor University in Wales, found that fewer than 2 percent of them had survived. The other 98 percent had died or were washed away.
“It was a complete disaster,” agrees Jim Enright, former Asia coordinator of the U.S.-based nonprofit Mangrove Action Project. “But no one that we know of from Guinness or the record-planting proponents have carried out follow-up monitoring.”
In another high-profile case, in November 2019, the Turkish government claimed to have planted more trees on dry land than anyone else in a single hour — 300,000, in the central province of Çorum. It beat a record, also confirmed by Guinness inspectors, set four years before in the Himalayan state of Bhutan. The Çorum planting was part of a National Afforestation Day, when volunteers planted 11 million trees at 2,000 sites across Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was among those wielding a spade.
But two months later, the head of the country’s union of forestry workers reported that a survey by its members had found that as many as 90 percent of the national plantings had died. The government denies this, but experts said its counter-claim that 95 percent of the trees had survived and continued to grow was improbably high. No independent audit has yet been carried out.
Tree planting in the Philippines under its National Greening Program has also been a widespread failure, according to a 2019 study by the government’s own Commission on Audit. Ministers imposed unachievable planting targets, it said, resulting in planting “without … survey, mapping and planning.” The actual increase in forest cover achieved was little more than a tenth of that planned.
The causes of failure vary but include planting single species of trees that become vulnerable to disease; competing demands for the land; changing climate; planting in areas not previously forested; and a lack of aftercare such as watering saplings.
Everybody likes trees. There is no anti-tree lobby. A global push to go beyond conservation of existing forests and start creating new ones goes back to 2011, when many of the world’s governments, including the United States, signed up to the Bonn Challenge, which set a goal of restoring some 860 million acres of forest globally by 2030. That is an area bigger than India, and enough to soak up 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, adding almost a quarter to the current estimated forest carbon sink.
In 2020, at its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum launched One Trillion Trees, an initiative aimed at adding a third to the world’s current estimated inventory of around 3 trillion trees. Even Donald Trump got behind the push, promising to plant a billion trees across the U.S.
But the very unanimity of support for tree planting may reduce the impetus for detailed audits or critical analysis of what is actually achieved at each project. The paucity of follow-up thus far has resulted in a great deal of wasted effort – and money.
Every year, “millions of dollars” are spent on reforesting landscapes, according to Lalisa Duguma of World Agroforestry, an international research agency in Nairobi, Kenya. Yet “there are few success stories.” Typically only a minority of seedlings survive, he says, because the wrong trees are planted in the wrong places, and many are left untended, in part because ownership and management of trees is not handed over to local communities.
Such failures often go unnoticed, believes Duguma, because performance indicators measure planting rates not survival rates, and long-term oversight is minimal because projects typically last three years or less. The result is “phantom forests.”
Too often, argues Duguma, tree planting is “greenwashing” aimed at grabbing headlines and promoting an image of governments or corporations as environmentally friendly. Tiina Vahanen, deputy director of forestry at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, noted recently that many projects end up being little more than “promotional events, with no follow-up action.”
Forest planting can work if the social and environmental conditions are right, and if planting is followed by long-term monitoring and aftercare of the trees. There has been substantial regrowth of the Brazil’s Atlantic Forest following a joint initiative of the government and private sector. But even here progress has been haphazard and much of the increase has been a result of natural regeneration rather than planting.
Tree Weaver 