Ten trees shortlisted for England Tree of the Year
It’s that time of year again when we have the chance to vote for the Tree of the Year and this year ten spectacular trees have been shortlisted representing England.
Several mighty old oaks dominate the shortlist, including Liverpool’s Allerton Oak that takes pride of place in Calderstones Park, the Isle of Wight’s Dragon Tree which truly is a monster specimen and London’s Fallen Tree which is a fantastic example of nature beating the odds (banner above).
The Woodland Trust’s annual competition is designed to highlight and celebrate the best trees in the country and is being supported once again by award winning horticulturalist and TV personality David Domoney. A panel of eager and knowledgeable judges spent a day debating the positives of hundreds of the best trees that England has to offer and the 10 visually stunning trees making the shortlist all have wonderful stories to tell.
The shortlist is: Allerton Oak, Liverpool; Dragon Tree, Brighstone, Isle of Wight (Oak); Kingley Vale Great Yew, Chichester, West Sussex; Addison’s Oak, Bristol; Fallen Tree, London (Oak); London Plane, Bryanston, Dorset (London Plane); Twisted, Thetford, Norfolk (Conifer); North Circular Cork Oak, London; The Colchester Castle Sycamore, Colchester; The Drive Oak, Gloucester.
David Domoney points out that the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year celebrates the marvel and beauty of trees across our countryside forming an important part of our cities and landscape, not only for their beauty, but also for the health benefits they offer: “Choosing the one tree that stands out from the rest is a hard decision, take a look for yourself. Vote for your favourite on the Woodland Trust’s website to crown England’s Tree of the Year for 2019,” said David.
Adam Cormack, head of campaigning at the Woodland Trust comments that the Tree of the Year Competition is all about highlighting and celebrating the nation’s most remarkable and special trees: “Trees across the country are constantly under threat of felling due to inappropriate developments. The Tree of the Year competition is all about helping to raise the profile of trees in order to offer them better protection.
“All of our shortlisted trees look amazing and each of them has a wonderful story to tell. We’re sure that the public will show their passion and get behind their favourite. The shortlist includes trees from all over England – from Liverpool to the Isle of Wight,” said Adam.
“We have some strong contenders for the 2019 crown and we would encourage people to vote to support their favourite tree. We’re also calling on members of local Tree Charter branches to lend their support and get behind their favourite tree,” he added.
The competition is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and a £1,000 tree care award is made for each winning tree.
Run in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the competition sees each country, thanks to public vote, having its own champion. The champion trees will go on to represent their respective country in the 2020 European Tree of the Year contest.
Take a closer look and vote for your favourite tree at: woodlandtrust.org.uk/treeoftheyear – by visiting the site you will also be able to vote for the other shortlisted trees from Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.The website is open for entries from 9am on Monday 9th September, 2019 with voting closing at noon on 27th September 2019.
Banner above: Fallen Oak, credit Peter Dench WTML; Middle: Tallest London Plane, credit Ben Lee WTML; bottom Gt Yew, Kingley Vale credit Edward Parker WTML.
