Species in the running
There are colourful trees in the wood in front of you which represent the potential new species that we may plant here. The following are three of those potential new species.
- Common oak, Quercus Robur
The pros to planting this species:
- It’s a large tree that is very long lived, and it holds enormous wildlife value, playing host to thousands of species throughout its whole life.
The cons:
- It’s susceptible to oak processionary moth, which could become more prevalent in the future.
- Wild cherry, Prunus avium
The pros:
- It’s fantastic for wildlife, insects are attracted to the flowers and eating the foliage, and birds and mammals feed on the fruit
- It has ornamental qualities
The cons:
- Unfortunately, it’s highly susceptible to bacterial infections
- Sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus
The pros:
- It has attributes similar to ash; their bark is smooth and they attract similar lichens.
- They attracts insects like bees, butterflies, and aphids
- It uses a clever trick called autotoxicity, which means they naturally suppress their own seedlings to prevent competition, so individual trees can become very large.
The cons:
- It’s highly fertile, which means over hundreds of years the species could become dominant and suppress others.