Welsh coastal oak survives against all odds to make UK Tree of the Year 2026 shortlist

Nation Cymru staff

A remarkable oak that has survived years of harsh weather and overgrazing along the Wales Coast Path has been shortlisted for the Woodland Trust’s UK Tree of the Year 2026.

The Wales Coast Path Oak grows on the Ynys-hir nature reserve, Ceredigion, standing alone in a dramatic mid-Wales landscape overlooking the Dyfi estuary.

Like a lone sentinel, the tree looks out towards the Cambrian Mountains to the south and the foothills of southern Eryri to the north.

Although relatively small in stature, the charismatic oak has endured years of grazing, storms and drought in its exposed location. Its position beside the Wales Coast Path has also made it a welcome source of shade and shelter for generations of walkers and picnickers.

The harsh west Wales weather may have affected the tree’s growth, making its age difficult to judge, but its ability to survive in such challenging conditions has earned it a place among ten of the UK’s most resilient trees.

Coed Cadw, the Woodland Trust in Wales, is now encouraging people across Wales to get behind the oak and help crown it UK Tree of the Year. This year’s competition celebrates nature’s great survivors under the theme “against the odds”.

The ten shortlisted trees have survived extraordinary challenges including a Second World War plane crash, Dutch elm disease, lightning strikes, development, cannon fire during the English Civil War and life on the edge of a cliff.

Molly Harvey, Warden at the RSPB Ynys-hir nature reserve in mid Wales said: “This is a special place to me, and this oak is an outstanding candidate for Tree of the Year.

“It has survived against the odds, standing where many others of its generation haven’t, and that makes it an important link to our past as well as a symbol of nature’s resilience.

“Thanks to decades of RSPB management, we’re now starting to see young oaks regenerating around it. This tree has stood sentinel through all those years and will hopefully soon have some companions – so while it tells us something about the landscape that has gone before, it also points towards a more hopeful future.”

Rosie Blatchford, Digital Communications Officer at Coed Cadw, the Woodland Trust in Wales, said: “The Wales Coast Path Oak may be small in stature, but it has enormous character.

“Standing alone above the Dyfi estuary, it has endured years of grazing, storms and drought, while offering welcome shade and shelter to walkers along the coast path.

“It is a wonderful symbol of the resilience of Wales’s trees and landscapes, and we would love people across Wales to get behind it – and help bring the UK Tree of the Year title home to Ceredigion.”

The Wales Coast Path Oak is shortlisted alongside trees from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They include an elm that grows almost horizontally in County Down, a 4,000-year-old yew that survived being struck by a cannonball and a small yew that has been growing from the top of a Devon church tower for around two centuries.

Voting is open until 5pm on 29 September, via the Woodland Trust website, with a winner announced in early October. The Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year competition is once again supported by players of Postcode Lottery.

The 2026 UK Tree of the Year shortlist

• Bendy Tree, Newcastle, County Down
• Bollihope Burn Birch, County Durham
• Bomber Oak, Rutland
• Crowhurst Yew, East Sussex
• Culmstock Church Tower Yew, Devon
• Earlstoun Lightning Oak, Dumfries and Galloway
• Preston Twin, Brighton
• Wales Coast Path Oak, Ceredigion
• Balloch Castle Ash, Loch Lomond — wildcard
• Donnington Oak, West Berkshire — wildcard

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