Ancient Beech Pollard, New Forest |
Welcome to my Wildlife Blog I've named my blog Traveller's Joy for a couple of reasons, firstly because it describes the purpose of my blog, a narration of travelling with the intention of finding and enjoying the best wildlife in my home county, Hampshire and secondly because I simply love hedgerow plants! My aim is to find and see the best local wildlife in every month, for a year, starting now!
Wednesday 5 October 2011
New Forest Beech Pollard
I went on a trip to the New Forest today and came across an ancient beech pollard. This beech must be over 300 years old as pollarding of beech and oak was made illegal in the New Forest in 1698, following the ‘Act for the Increase and Preservation of Timber in the New Forest’, which aimed to preserve timber for shipbuilding. Pollarding produces multiple stems at head height, out of the reach of livestock and deer and prior to the Act, beech, oak and holly were often cut in this way by commoners. Pollarded specimens like the one below, can be considered with a degree of certainty to predate the Act and therefore have the status of being some of the oldest trees in the Forest.
Labels:
Ancient Beech,
New Forest,
Pollard
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