Report from the Chairman Colin Hall The Tree Register reaches maturity 2009 gives us cause for celebration since it is the 21st Once again thanks are due to all our supporters anniversary of the conception of The Tree Register. We during 2008 and to David Alderman, our registrar, celebrated with a fine day at Kew, where we were pleased to Owen Johnson and Aubrey Fennell and all our other see so many supporters for the Alan Mitchell Lecture and tree recorders and Pamela Stevenson, our hard Tony Kirkham spoke enthusiastically on the history of 250 working honorary secretary. years of Trees at Kew. The Silent Auction of rare and unusual trees was again a great success, raising over £1,000. Many thanks are due to Tony for organising everything for us at Kew as well as to Chris Carnaghan, Harry Hay, Maurice Foster, Rupert Eley, Roy Lancaster, David Millais and others for providing the plants for the auction. A Kew guide leads supporters beneath the Acer cappadocicum ‘Aureum’. on a champion tree trail. Some of the Silent Auction plants: Aesculus sylvatica; Aesculus turbinata; Sorbus hupehensis and Sorbus glabrescens. It was in 1988 that Alan Mitchell and Vicky Schilling (then Vicky Hallett) took the necessary steps to establish The Tree Register as a registered charity, securing the support of many who knew them well to get the charity up and running. The records were then all hand written and not easy to access, but computerisation followed, with the result that today we have some 170,000 records, with the Champion Tree data easily accessible through our website. Our objective continues to be to maintain, update and expand our unique tree database, to high professional standards, with partnerships and relationships with others (such as The Woodland Trust, RBG Kew and the Ancient Yew Group) to enable all to use our records. Xanthoceras sorbifolium from NE China. One of many spectacular trees seen in full flower at Kew. Registrars Report Owen Johnson A register of tree collections Great tree collections don’t even have to be big. At I often claim (and no-one has yet corrected me) that Beauport Park outside Hastings, which first got me Britain has the richest heritage of garden trees in interested in trees as a teenager, the Victorian the world. Everywhere, the landed gentry collected rarities survive in bewildering randomness across them, with the same mania as they collected several kilometres of rolling wooded country. But paintings, butterflies, or the shorter-lived garden the veteran plantsman Nigel Muir grows some plants.But there is a heroic perversity in collecting marvellous trees, included Quercus salicina and the trees. The planter is usually dead before the trees champion Taiwanese Eriobotrya deflexa, in his front come into their own. Nor can you readily sell a tree, garden which is scarcely four metres across. or move it and re-establish the collection anywhere else. RHS bursary The Tree Register, which includes data drawn from Wondrous trees old books and conference reports, already serves The consequence is that tree-hunters are as the only catalogue we have to the trees in many continually stumbling across rare and wondrous historic collections. With an RHS bursary to help trees, stranded in new housing estates or fund my research and travel this season, I aim to overgrown copses, without anything to show who formalise this role and to begin to develop a planted them, when or why – or even what they are. checklist of tree-collections, safeguarding as much When I visited Falmouth in 2006, I knew that information as possible on the provenance, planting Penmere Manor had been a home of the Bolitho dates and exact locations of significant trees as a family until the Second World War, and that the resource for future generations. As such I am keen same family had created the famous gardens of to make new contacts with people who may be Trewidden and Greenway. But nothing in the developing the next generation of arboreta. literature prepared me for the cornucopia of superb (Information in the Register can always remain trees that survive on small suburban lawns around confidential, at least in the medium term.) this site, including Castanopsis cuspidata, Laurelia serrata, a new champion Tetracentron and the only Majesty Loses Large Limb mature Madeiran Myrica faya yet found on During the weekend of 1st-2nd August 2009 one of mainland Britain. the nations favourite champion trees "Majesty" on the Fredville Estate, Nonington, Kent, lost a very Destruction large limb. The tree was being visited by Dutch big Historic sites like this are at the mercy of the new tree enthusiast Jeroen Philippona who discovered owners. Until 1930, Aldenham Park near Elstree this talking to Park Keeper Mr. Peter Clarke. Jeroen rivalled Kew as the grandest plant collection in reported to the Tree Register "The very largest Britain. Today, little remains to tell of this heyday branch has fallen, the one over a metre in diameter except for strange foliage types scattering the which arose at about 8 metre height and which woodland canopy. Westonbirt Arboretum came soon divided into two heavy branches, in total about within a whisker of destruction for agriculture in the 14 m long. Very sad because it was the most 1950s. beautiful branch and represented over one fourth or even one third of the total canopy." Majesty (Jeroen Phillipona) Jeroen Philippona is the contact person of de "Bomenstichting" Quercus crassifolia (Bryan Roebuck) (the Dutch Tree Society) See their website (with part in English): www.bomeninfo.nl Tall trees project 2009 Michael Spraggon Climbers confirm tallest trees that the team would be measuring the Grand Fir! In February 2009 a team of professional climbers This opportunity was too good to miss and Mark climbed and measured three of the main very kindly invited us along to witness the event. contenders for the UK's tallest tree. The team was comprised of; Mark Tansley and Steve Woollard, Dawn twilight lecturers at Sparsholt College Hampshire; Lukasz By another coincidence it turned out that both Warzecha, an internationally renowned rock parties had booked into the same Youth Hostel at climber and photographer; Justin Palmer, an nearby Pitlochry and we arrived to find the team arboricultural assessor and instructor and Chris standing outside the front entrance discussing the Hunter - Lead climber for Urban Forestry in previous two days' events. We chatted for a few Suffolk. moments before we all retired to our rooms - we needed to be up at 05:30 to leave enough time to The Hermitage get a line into the tree before the grounds were First tree to be climbed was the Hermitage opened to the public. The Tree Register had Douglas Fir in Dunkeld, Perthshire. This tree recently measured this tree by laser recording grows out of the side of the river bank at a steep 63m. The previous two trees measured by the incline before turning vertically upwards for the team had turned out to be taller than previously next 200ft or so. As such it is possibly the tallest thought and as our small convoy of vehicles tree if measured from the lowest exposed roots headed off in the dawn twilight towards Blair However, from the high side of the bank the team Castle I wondered whether this tree would turn recorded a definitive tape measurement of out to be the tallest of them all. When we arrived 61.31m. at Diana's Grove, where the former Dukes of Atholl had planted many specimens that were Stronardron now amongst the tallest trees in Perthshire The second tree to be measured was the (sometimes by firing seeds at the hillside from a Stronardron Douglas Fir near Dunans Castle in canon) a full risk assessment was carried out and Argyll. This tree was considered to be joint tallest the area around the tree was cordoned off while for several years. Mark Tansley reported a height Justin loaded up the Big Shot. of 63.79m putting it within 20cm of Dughall Mor, recorded as 64m by the Forerstry Commission in 2006 (62.5m by TROBI 2003). The Big Shot catapult (Lukasz Warzecha LWimages.co.uk) Big Shot catapult The Stronardron Douglas (Lukasz Warzecha LWimages.co.uk) Getting a rope over a branch up to 100ft off the Blair Castle ground is no mean feat and involves firing a lead- The third and final tree on the itinerary was a fast filled leather pouch from a 10ft catapult called a growing Grand Fir at Blair Castle, Perthshire. By Big Shot. The pouch has a thin cord attached to it pure coincidence my climbing partner Dave and I and if all goes well it should fly over the desired branch, trailing the cord behind it and return to the were due to be driving past Blair Atholl on our way ground. The climbing rope is then attached to the to the mountains on Saturday, the very same day cord and pulled over the branch. It sounds easy but with other branches and foliage all around it point on the ground. There was no wind that can be very hard to isolate the branch you want morning so the tape was completely straight. and even Justin had to make several unsuccessful attempts before the perfect placement was found. The actual climb was fairly straightforward. Visible as an increasingly tiny orange dot, Justin made his way towards the top of the thinly tapering spire. Lukasz took numerous photos from the ground and from the neighbouring Douglas Fir, Chris and Steve assisted with the climb and Mark took laser readings from various positions from the ground.