With a successful grant from the Rewild Fund, we are continuing our survey and practical habitat management to help saproxylic invertebrates. Saproxylic invertebrates are those that rely on decaying wood for at least part of their life cycle, this habitat can be found on both living and dead trees. In the UK there are over 2000 different invertebrate species in Britain which are dependent on this dead and decaying habitat, this represents about 7% of the entire invertebrate fauna – wood decay is hugely important!
Saproxylic invertebrates often have exacting requirements which is why many have become so rare, and they are often unable to move long distances to find new habitat if the one they are in disappears or becomes unsuitable. To try and link suitable habitat together, and create stepping stones between important sites, we firstly need to find and map all viable saproxylic habitat, and this is where you can help!
We are looking for veteran trees in private gardens. Veteran trees can be a tree of any age tree that shows veteran features. It is these features that hold so much value for nature conservation. The more of these features a tree displays, the better the indication of veteran status. The following is a list of the sorts of features we are looking for:
- Large girth for its species
- Hollow trunk or limbs
- Rot holes
- Cavities at the base of the trunk
- Branch cavities
- Woodpecker hole
- Deadwood in the canopy
- Loose bark with crevices
- Exposed wood caused by bark loss or damage
- Sap run from wounds
- Split in the trunk
- Fungal fruiting bodies
- Water pooling, often in rotting holes
If you think you have a tree worth recording, please let us know at [email protected] – if you can include a picture that would be very helpful. We know there are a handful of veteran fruit trees still left in the area so please do let us know about these if you’re lucky enough to have one.