James Wong is on the ropes

Thats where they have to get to

Ancient yew - what a cliff hanger

A few weeks ago, I was out with the BBC Countryfile Team watching volunteer tree recorder, Rob McBride, test his courage over the side of a limestone cliff. His objective? to measure the girth of an ancient yew clinging onto the side of this wall of rock. Specialists have said that this yew could be thousands of years old and it is a nursery for other trees such as whitebeam, holly and elder. If you missed the film go to www.ancienttreehunt.org.uk – we bought the clip from the BBC for future enjoyment! Or click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP-0UAhCQZs Am I glad that I didnt have to hang out for ancient trees over that drop!

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Then we have some gifts of gratitude to share – click to find out what you can get your hands on

The Panshanger Oak in Hertfordshire is a mighty oak. It is an amazing example of a walking tree – one of its limbs has touched the ground and is layering. In time the branch will take root and a new tree will be established at this point. This process is called layering – a practice commonly used by gardeners and was used once by traditional coppicers to create new coppice stools. The Panshanger Oak is near Hatfield and is on a private estate managed by Lefarge – the aggregates company. I am not sure how you get permission to go and see it.

Over 3,000 people celebrated the famous 1,000 year old oak of the tiny village of Lummen at a special tree festival.

See below for Jill and Ted’s adventures at this same tree when they were speaking in Belgium in April. The tree has its own website too: www.duizendjarigeeik.be

 In the land of cork we find this monumental cork oak. This Quercus suber has a girth (Jill says diameter wrongly on the clip) of more than 7m. Just for comparison the champion  cork oak for all UK and Ireland is in Gloucs and has a girth of 5.59m. But the crown spread of this tree in Portugal is also magnificent. Miguel Rodriguez and Pedro Santos (Associacao Arvores de Portugal) check it out with us. Where is the champion cork oak in all Europe?

 Out of ancient trees of course! Here we go again counting out 10 people from this hollow sweet chestnut in Sabugal, Portugal. There were 40 people at the seminar which included the Director of the Arboles Leyendas Vivas project in Spain – Susana Dominguez www.leyendasvivas.com

Two years ago, four, quite young, poplars were cut and because they are local I have had a chance to see what progress they have made since then. Today, two have died despite one year’s re-growth, one is partially re-growing and only one has gone on to produce good second year growth all round the cut stems. If we want to keep trees alive after they have been cut then we do need to be more thoughtful than this.

Jill and Ted meet Cross Country Films www.crosscountryfilms.co.uk who specialise in encouraging people to get out and explore the countryside and its gems. Their latest film is on the Sandstone Ridge in Cheshire – along the ridge are some great castles and where there are castles there are often great trees like this Peckforton Oak.

The Crewkerne Luccombe Oak is under threat of felling. Local campaigners are trying to stop this happening. You can find out more on Facebook  and on the Ancient Tree Hunt website

Ted and Jill go with Martine Lejeune to meet one of the oldest trees in Belgium Now  recognised by the community of Lummen and is being cared for – see the low fencing around it – a lovely gently hint to people not to trample its roots.