A need for trees

A tree is more than just a pretty addition to your garden

Take a walk in the park, out in the countryside or a have a peek out of your window and there will likely, and hopefully, be a tree. At this time of year many trees are a shadowy skeleton of their summer glory, but even without a verdant display or a flush of blossom or ripe fruit, trees remain an integral part our gardens.

A tree provides the obvious location for a bird's nest and a home for many insects, too. It provides a source of food for all manner of birds and beasts. But It is also important to have trees in our gardens to encourage the safe passage of birds, bats and insects from one spot to another. 

It's a sad fact that many gardens now, in town and country alike, are made into sterile, hard-landscaped car parking spaces. Figures analysed by the RAC Foundation show around 80% of Britain’s 26 million dwellings were built with a front plot.

Almost a third of these plots have been turned into hardstanding. This means seven million front gardens now contain concrete and cars rather than flowers and grass, a total area roughly equivalent to 100 Hyde Parks or 72 Olympic Parks.

Can you imagine how much wildlife must be hiding among this tree and climber?

In this loss, we lose not only important spaces for our wildlife to thrive, but we are losing the 'green corridors' by which our wildlife moves about our cities, towns and villages.

In having trees in our gardens - as specimens or as part of a hedge - we are providing foraging habitats and increasing habitat connectivity between foraging and roosting areas for birds, bats, moths and other insects.

Scattered trees and garden hedgerows function as corridors and stepping stones in our human habitations linking the larger areas of woodland outside of our towns and villages.

In paving over our gardens and chopping down our trees, we are creating what is known as 'Habitat fragmentation' and this is known to be a major factor in biodiversity decline. Fragmentation, often together with poorer quality of remaining fragments, can reduce availability of resources for wildlife, alter community structure, cause shrinkage and/or genetic isolation of populations and make populations more vulnerable to extinction.

So, when we want to do our bit for wildlife, let's consider what we are doing with our private and public spaces - are we creating a trail of suitable vegetation or just more hard landscapes?

I am lucky enough live in a beautiful village in Mid-Devon with a thriving community but in the 20 years that I have been here, I can honestly say the number of trees in both gardens and in public spaces, like the village car park, have more than halved. But one of the most upsetting tree losses was the tragic loss of our iconic village Oak tree last month - known as the Broad Oak. The fall of this resplendent tree was felt keenly by many in the community. So much so that a village meeting was called to ensure what happens to the tree and its wood after its sad demise is one that is fitting for this 700-year-old giant. It was heartening to hear in the meeting so many people both aware and concerned at the loss of an incredibly important habitat for all manner of wildlife - especially the resident woodpecker and owl. 

The Broad Oak in its summer finery

The Broad Oak, fallen after 700 years

Few of us will have the space for such a majestic specimen of a tree in our gardens but in planting at least one tree in our we are creating an important link in a chain. You'll be amazed to see how the birds - all the garden favourites - robins, tits, blackbirds and sparrows - will congregate in the tree. From this safe vantage point they may well then alight onto bird feeders in your garden or will flit to a neighbouring garden or tree. In creating these opportunities for sanctuary, we are creating stations in a green corridor. 

So, as we move from the darker days of winter and look outward into our open spaces, can you find the space to plant a tree? Because there is most certainly a tree that is suitable for your space. 

Birch trees form a woodland idyll, underplanted with ferns and foxgloves

A tree will be playing its pivotal part in nature but will also provide an incredible display in your garden - whether that be its delicate blossom, the lushness of its leaf canopy or the fruits or seeds of the harvest season - it truly is an utilitarian art piece for your garden.

This Eucalyptus is the frame for an incredible climbing rose; a native Acer at Chelsea Flower Show; my gardens resident robin

If you would like to discuss the contents of this blog further and discover more about the brilliance of trees or maybe you are looking for advice on what tree or plants may suit your outdoor space, please do get in touch - simply leave your contact details on the 'get in touch' page.