Woodman, spare that tree!

Nineteenth century American poet and editor, George Pope Morris, penned his famous poem in 1837 and it has been spoken of as possibly the earliest example of an environmental protest.

In childhood I remember hearing a jokey version of the lyrics on the radio in a 1940s jazz version by Phil Harris and was reminded of it only the other day on seeing a poignant little note tied to a sapling in a nearby community garden by a concerned resident. It read: "please don't cut this cherry tree". That set me thinking about the legend of George Washington taking an axe to his father's cherry tree (prunus avavium) and his response on being challenged about it by a presumably irate parent, "I cannot tell a lie".

The demise of beloved trees has been making the news recently, after several decades of recurrent shocks such as Dutch elm disease, sudden oak death and ash die-back. The shocking act of vandalism perpetrated in September on the famous Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland has gained a lot of coverage in the UK and worldwide having been popularised by its appearance in the 1991 Kevin Costner  Hollywood movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. But there have been several notable examples of beloved trees being lost to old age, storm damage or inappropriate felling in the UK, already one of Europe's least wooded countries.

In February last year a clone of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree (malus domestica), allegedly the inspiration for his theory of gravity, fell in Cambridge Botanical Gardens. Then, just after Christmas, the venerable 'Hardy Tree', an ash (fraxinus) planted in Old St Pancras Churchyard supposedly by the young Thomas Hardy in 1865, was brought down in a storm. I visited it recently and the site is now overgrown and surrounded by security fencing. What a forlorn end to a cherished landmark and shame on Camden Council for not yet having sorted out the site. It deserves better care.

The Northumbrian sycamore tree (acer pseudoplatanus) was perhaps 250 years old, the St Pancras ash 160 and the apple tree clone was planted in 1954. But the Battle Yew was estimated to have stood for over one thousand years. Alas, no more. At the end of September the yew (taxus baccata) was discovered lying flat in a field near Uckham Lane, Battle, a mile from Senlac Hill, the site of the Battle of Hastings. Whether it was deliberately brought down or simply succumbed to old age is unknown but the thought that it would have been an established tree when one of the most defining battles in English history raged nearby on that fateful day, 14 October 1066, makes its loss especially affecting.

For its part, my own home borough of Tower Hamlets has a variable record when it comes to trees. Its emblem is the mulberry tree so it is fitting that the council should have planted 3000 trees over the past three years and pledged 1000 more over the next three. However, Bishop Bonner's black mulberry tree (morus nigra) in the grounds of the former London Chest Hospital, the site of his palace, has been a matter of controversy for several years. The tree is obviously very old but to have been the one under which Bonner sat it would have to be over 500 years old. Who knows?

Whether it is or not, it has been at the heart of an ongoing planning wrangle with site developers. However, having met the borough's tree officer after a huge branch fell from a mature Tree of Heaven (ailanthus altissima) in nearby gardens I am reassured that the local arboricultural heritage is in safe hands. I received an undertaking to replace the dying Judas-tree (cercis siliquastrum) that stood outside Bethnal Green Library, though I understand that replacing like with like might be problematic in an age where the planting of native species over exotic specimen trees is policy.

Talking of exotic specimens, a few weeks back I visited Kew Gardens for the first time in fifteen years and was reminded that, in the Great Storm of 1987, it tragically lost 700 mature trees in one catastrophic night. One wouldn't know to look at the extensive arboretum now but the devastation at the time was appalling and made one realise just how precious is our remaining stock of mature trees in this country and how vital that we plant replacements for those that fall, as well as significantly adding to their number. 

I live close to Victoria Park and, walking along its shady avenues of huge old London Planes (platanus × hispanica) always marvel at the foresight of those civic-minded Victorians who planted them with no expectation of living to see them reach maturity. It was a selfless act of environmental enhancement that we should be seeking to emulate, now more than ever.

And, on the face of it, we are. The UK government has made a commitment to planting 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of new woodland by March 2025 but, as Philip Dunne MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee has said "the Committee is concerned that England is currently way off meeting its contribution to that UK-wide goal". 

And today, the Guardian carries a report on the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) annual conference, which expressed its concern that "billions of pounds of taxpayer money could be being wasted planting trees that end up dying because government tree targets are focused on planting rather than survival ... amid concern that saplings were dying because they are often neglected". 

Its conclusion that tree establishment (ie aftercare) rather than planting should be reflected in government targets seems uncontroversial. A lot of the environmentalist anger rightly directed at the HS2 rail project has focused on the abject failure of a tree-planting aftercare programme. Swathes of ancient woodland have been uprooted but, while hundreds of thousands of saplings have undoubtedly been planted in replacement, a huge proportion of those have died through lack of watering.

As revelations go, the fact that trees need water is hardly a blinder.

Update 16/11/23: And now Shropshire County Council is coming after the 550 year-old Darwin Oak (yes, Charles of that ilk), whose only crime is to thoughtlessly get in the way of a new road scheme.

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