Training Reports 2005

tree wardens at the 2005 Great Tree Conference at Bicton

Wednesday 22nd June - Open Evening for the Tree Wardens

15 people attended an evening with Jon Stokes, author of several books about heritage trees and a leading light of the Tree Council. At a national level, Jon champions the need for tree wardens and the value of the work that they do. Tree wardens were also able to pick the brains of East Devon's tree officer, Andy Pinchin.

Monday 4th July - Evening walk in Ashclyst Forest

An evening walk in Ashclyst Forest, with Ben Wadsworth, Tree Warden for Clyst Hydon and John Brain, Tree Warden for Broadclyst. Ben has been a tree warden for 12 years and for thirty years he was the Regional Forester for the National Trust so he knows Ashclyst and the surrounding estate extremely well.  11 tree wardens joined the walk for a fascinating evening which also presented an opportunity for tree wardens to meet up and swap notes.

Tuesday 23rd August - Evening walk at Holyford Woods Local Nature Reserve

An evening walk guided by Fraser Rush, East Devon District Council Local Nature Reserve Officer. 10 tree wardens came along at a particularly interesting time since 11 acres of conifers had just been removed to allow broadleaved trees to regenerate. We also discovered an ancient field maple on the boundary and a beautiful oak pollard that must have stood on an old hedgebank long before the secondary woodland grew up around it. It is gradually and mysteriously being decorated with feathers - a myth in the making!

Monday 26th September - Evening walk at Killerton

A small band of tree wardens joined Ben Wadsworth, Tree Warden for Clyst Hydon on a trip around the National Trust's Killerton estate, where Ben used to work as Head Forester. It was fascinating to see some of the results of Ben's work carried out up to 30 years ago, including planting of trees which now tower over us and pollarding of ancient trees to help prolong their life.

Saturday 8th October - South West Regional Tree Warden Conference

A regional conference for tree wardens held at Dartington this year. The subjects covered were Trees for Health and Seed Gathering events – and speakers are from Kew and the Tree Advice Trust.

Sunday 23rd October - East Devon Great Tree Conference

80 people attended the East Devon Great Tree Conference at Bicton College this year. The programme included talks by Jon Stokes from the Tree Council and Archie Miles, author and photographer, as well as a menu of sessions on the following topics with visiting experts:

  • Tree identification
  • Bats and trees
  • Pests and diseases of trees
  • Lichens and mosses
  • Trees and the law
  • Hedgerow surveys
  • Measuring/ageing trees
  • Orchard restoration .

Saturday 3rd December: Researching Parish History

15 tree wardens joined archivists at the Devon Record Office for a private session looking at records and documents relating to trees in their parishes.This was a fascinating morning and enlightened us to the importance of estate maps and travel diaries in understanding the landscape we have inherited.