Rob McBride – The Tree Hunter

Britain’s landscape is dominated by natural features and landmarks, from the Scottish highland mountain ranges through the spectacular lake district and through to the wild moors near the south coasts.

The trees that grow around these landmarks can appear to be little more than window dressing, but tree hunter Rob McBride is hoping to change people’s perceptions of these fascinating plants.

Volunteering with the Woodland Trust

The 51-year-old is a volunteer with the Woodland Trust, based in Shropshire, and is charged with recording the size, type and location of some of the oldest trees in Britain.

And there are thousands of trees to find, as Rob explained: ‚”We’ve got 80 per cent of ancient European trees. In Flanders they’ve got a nature reserve because they’ve got an oak tree and Europe has very, very few oak trees so it’s very unusual. In Sweden just one ancient tree can be the equivalent of a National Nature Reserve in the UK.

“But we don’t know where our ancient trees are in the UK or exactly how many there are, and they have no protection. We look after our old buildings but ignore our living heritage.

‚”The Woodland Trust wants to find 100,000 veteran, ancient or notable trees. The project has recruited hundreds of tree recorders, from school children to retired people.”

William the Conqueror – Tree Hero

Rob said there were several reasons that Britain has such a thriving ancient tree population, but credited the ‘ancient tree hero’ William the Conqueror for preserving the country’s natural history.

‚”When he came over he wanted more royal hunting forests and he sectioned off large areas of the countryside to hunt deer. The land was eventually given out to the lords of the country,” he said.

‚”In France they had a revolution and killed off their hierarchy, but we still have 3,000 estates where deer parks were created and they kept the commoners out and were very proud of their estates so the trees were preserved.”

The Coal Age

Another reason for Britain’s thriving tree population is the use of coal rather than wood during the industrial revolution. “We’ve had a massive coal industry and people burned coal rather than chopping down trees. You could say the even older trees – coal – saved the old trees,” Rob said.

“Then there were the wars we fought in Europe. There’s two things that armies don’t carry with them, and that’s water and wood fuel. The armies used resources where they were camped, and since we didn’t fight in Britain we didn’t use our trees.”

‚Ä¢ To join the ancient tree hunt visit The Woodland Trust’s website.