Welsh tree shortlisted for UK’s Tree of the Year ‘against all odds’

Nation.Cymru Staff, and Rebecca Speare-Cole and Emily Beament, Press Association

A tree in Wales has been shortlisted for this year’s UK Tree of the Year award after surviving years of harsh weather and grazing.

The Wales Coast Path Oak on Ynys-hir nature reserve in Ceredigion has lived through storms and droughts as well as livestock grazing while offering shade and shelter to walkers on the long-distance route.

It joins ten of the UK’s “toughest” trees, from an oak that survived a plane crash to a yew hit by a cannonball, have been shortlisted for this year’s Tree of the Year award.

Public voting opens on Wednesday for the Woodland Trust’s annual competition, which aims to celebrate and raise awareness for rare, ancient or at-risk trees across the country.

An oak tree in Rutland that faced a crash from a Second World War bomber, a downy birch clinging to a cliff in County Durham and a yew in East Sussex that could be 4,000 years old and was hit by a cannonball in the English Civil War are also among the final 10 contenders for the title.

They have been chosen to help highlight nature’s great survivors in line with this year’s theme “against all odds”.

Of the 10 shortlisted, a panel of experts selected eight trees of differing ages and species, while the public chose two as a wildcard entry.

The public can vote for their favourite tree until late September via the Woodland Trust website, and the winner will be announced in early October – before progressing to represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year finals.

Actor and nature podcaster David Oakes, who is a Woodland Trust ambassador, said: “Most things survive by fleeing.

“A tree, rooted for life to a single patch of ground, doesn’t get that option.

“So trees have perfected the opposite: the art of weathering whatever arrives. But a few are frankly show-offs.

“The 10 nominees for Tree of the Year have all defied the odds in extraordinary ways, from clinging to cliffs and church towers, to enduring collisions and cannonballs.”

The first is the “Bendy Tree” in Newcastle, Northern Ireland – a much-loved wych elm along the town’s seaside promenade that grows almost horizontally after withstanding more than a century of the harsh coastal conditions.

The Bollihope Burn Birch in County Durham is perched precariously off a cliff in an area once dominated by industry, quarries, lime kilns, mines and a goods railway.

The so-called “Bomber Oak” in Rutland features a slight dip in the top of the canopy as well as twisted misshapen branches after it was hit by a Lancaster Bomber during the Second World War – but was also nearly lost when a water company sought to install pipes in a field decades later.

Another shortlisted tree – the Crowhurst Yew in East Sussex – survived a direct hit from a Civil War cannonball that villagers later discovered in 1820.

A different plucky yew in Devon is up for contention because of its location after growing at the top of the church tower overlooking Culmstock Village for some 200 years, while the “Earlstoun Lightning Oak” in Dumfries and Galloway survived a lightening strike.

And the “Preston Twin” in Brighton – likely the world’s oldest English elm – has lived four centuries despite the threat of Dutch elm disease, which killed another specimen of the same age that stood nearby.

One wildcard selected by the public is the Balloch Castle ash, standing on the lawn of the semi-derelict castle by Loch Lomond, which at more than 150 years old has experienced a lightning strike, multiple storms, ash dieback, footfall from millions of visitors, and an Oasis concert.

The other wildcard is the Donnington Oak, in West Berkshire, which stands between a small patch of forest and the ruined walls of Donnington Castle and, as a young but established tree during the English Civil War, seems to have survived unscathed the castle’s gruelling siege and bombardment.

May Chemais, who runs the Ancient Tree Inventory at the Woodland Trust, said: “Trees can be both tough and flexible, as the shortlist proves.”

“We hope people will enjoy discovering all the incredible stories of resilience behind our nominees this year,” she added.

To vote for Tree of the Year, visit the Woodland Trust site here.

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