Fat, old, gnarled trees wanted!

Tweet

Trees can live for thousands of years and there are quite a few still alive in the world which are reputed to have been old when Jesus was born! The Fortingall Yew near Callendar in Scotland - believed to be the oldest tree in the UK and possibly Europe - is 5,000 years old. Trees do not always appear as old as they are because some have a living root system that spreads and sends up new shoots. Sometimes a whole area of woodland may be essentially one tree! The Woodland Trust, with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund, has launched the Ancient Tree Hunt to find, record and preserve the oldest specimens. The five-year project aims to create a database of at least 100,000 ancient trees by 2011 and will rely heavily on the public to find suitable candidates for the list in their own areas. http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/ If you live in Britain, perhaps you know of an ancient tree near you and would like to record it on their website. If you are not British, do you know and love any old trees near you?