Lime Trees Uk

Champion trees of Britain and Ireland

For centuries, trees have inspired poets such as George Pope Morris. But Owen Johnson has done more than most to protect them. He has recorded the vital statistics of more than 60,000 of them, covering huge distances on foot and public transport (he does not own a car). He has just published Champion Trees of Britain and Ireland: The Tree Register Handbook. The book lists all the species that grow in the British Isles, and gives one or more “champions” for each. He indicates the areas each species flourishes, and where to look for them.

The book, apart from being fascinating reading, is extremely useful. Many of our trees are under threat; from diseases such as acute oak decline and bleeding canker of horse chestnuts, climate change, grey squirrels (which strip the bark to reach the sap) and development of land use. Knowing which trees are where, where they are thriving and where they are blighted, helps inform our planting strategies. We have inherited an extraordinary legacy – more old oaks and yews than any other country in Europe. Great trees are vital to our rich landscape.

I had wrongly assumed that Dr Johnson has worked with trees all his life, but his doctorate was on the poetry of Ted Hughes. His fascination with trees began at an early age, though, as he grew up beside Alexandra Park in Hastings, an area of 100 acres that has the largest number of rare and champion trees of any public park in England.

When asked which are his favourite trees, he will not be drawn, saying they continually change. What he thinks is most important for the future of trees is to encourage diversity and it is important that we are not sheeplike in planting what a few gurus recommend. He cites horse chestnut as an example. If, instead of planting Aesculus hippocastanum, we had all planted other horse chestnuts as well, then the horse chestnut leaf miner moth would not have had such a field day.

A hippocastanum “is gigantic and ubiquitous, the others modest and generally scarce but very often more elegant”. The Indian horse chestnut, A indica, has black conkers that are smaller and wrinklier but it has the bonus of flowering later, in July, which is a bonanza for bees.

There are around 29 different types of Aesculus growing here. Garden centres can stock only a fraction of the tree species available. However, if you hunt down specialist nurseries, you will discover a wealth of them. Admittedly these are often not available at such large sizes, but almost invariably I find that by planting smaller trees they establish faster and will overtake any planted at a much larger size within a few years. I have seen research that backs this up, too.

Limetree Music & Arts Festival» Gary Stewart

Gary has carved out a strong fan-base in his adopted home of Leeds and around the U.K. The Scottish songsmith has graced the Festival circuit also (Glastonbury, Kendal Calling, Live At Leeds, Moorfest, and the Wimborne, Warwick, Holmfirth, Bromyard, Fylde and Otley Folk Festivals). Along the way he has supported the likes of Johnny Flynn, Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale, Fionn Regan,James Yorkston,Emma Pollock,James, Drever,Mcusker &Woomble, Nick Harper and Dougie Maclean. When not playing his own shows, the multi-instrumentalist also plays drums for Leeds-based band Hope and Social (ex-Four Day Hombre).

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Advances in information retrieval, 26th European Conference on IR Research, ECIR 2004, Sunderland, UK, April 5-7, 2004 : proceedings