Shaftesbury Tree Group

Shaftesbury's Trees - what we have inherited

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We are fortunate in Shaftesbury to have fairly good tree cover, though this is uneven, the most treed areas being in the old part of town. Forestry Commission data shows that Shaftesbury West Ward has an estimated tree canopy cover of 22.9% (+/- 2.0%), and East Ward with a tree canopy cover of 7.7% (+/-1.5%).

 

It is not surprising that the significant areas for trees follow the development of Shaftesbury as a town, so the longest inhabited places usually have the oldest and greatest mix of trees, as do the outlying Victorian houses with large gardens and often exotic trees of some stature. Other veteran and indigenous trees tend to be old hedgerow and boundary trees and churchyard yews - such as the Shaston Yew in Bury Litton and the Boundary Oak on the northeastern edge of town by Higher Wincombe.

 

To redress the imbalance of tree cover, the Woodland Trust propose that 30% of the land in new developments is planted with trees.

 

The choice of species to plant is important. Most places have mixes of locally typical native trees, along with introduced species. Our aim is to add to the town's local distinctiveness by planting more of the native trees we see around us in the hedgerows, woods and open spaces. The trees such as common alder,  beech, silver and downy birch, blackthorn, crab apple, dogwood, elder, field maple, hawthorn, hazel, holly, English oak, small leaved lime,  spindle, sycamore, wild cherry and yew. We are alert to the changing fortunes of trees - ash is common here but we are unable to plant this owing to ash dieback. 

 

Some species are adept at coping with difficult situations. For example, street trees need to be more drought, heat and pollution tolerant. We need to be aware of exposure - in windy places, Scots pine and sycamore are among the trees that do well, as with the sycamores along Park Walk. A mix of deciduous and evergreen species such as wild privet, holly and beech can form thick hedges that will help to capture air-born pollutants. Trees such as crab apple, wild cherry, elder, hazel, small leaved lime, oak and willow are particularly good for wildlife providing blossom, berries, nuts, seed and fruits.

 

There are, of course, places where we cannot or should not plant - such as on ancient monuments and in flower rich verges. We need a succession of planting and age structures.

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Responding to the Climate and Ecological Emergency

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Trees must be valued in their own right, we love them for their incredible beauty, the wildlife that depend on them, the sense of wellbeing they give us and much more.

 

They also happen to give us shade and shelter, food, fuel and building materials; they cool our built up areas, improve soils and reduce erosion, stabilise slopes,  reduce flooding, buffer sound, capture pollutants, fix carbon and give out oxygen. Large and old trees are particularly important for supporting wildlife and sequestering carbon. We cannot survive without them.

 

In Shaftesbury we are keen to plant trees in playgrounds and by park benches to provide shade, hedges as well as trees and hedges along busy roads to reduce the spread of noise and particulates.

 

Our trees, hedges and open spaces need to connect with surrounding green and wooded areas such as Breach Common, The Wilderness, Boyne Wood, Pensbury Plantation and Brickell’s Cliff and form ways in and out of town, to provide footpaths and corridors for creatures of all kinds.

 

We are grateful to Shaftesbury Home Grown for providing a nursery for young trees - it has already proved invaluable as a place to heel in saplings that we were unable to plant last winter. We hope that some of our future trees will start their life there.