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Links to Archived News ItemsARCHIVE: 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 |
What’s New September 2019 New sites Albury - Harrowhill Copse; Mickleham Downs, White Hill; Tandridge – Woodland – R.Alder Downside – Henk Strik New photos/information Abergwesyn Llanddewi – Janet Montefiore Ankerwyke Priory – Bucks County Museum Trust Mamhead – Shirley Callard Muckross – Janosch Derwort Tellisford – Peter Norton Wotton-Friday Street – Alex Bone |
What's New - July 2019 Thanks to the painstaking work of Toby Hindson and others, this month we have been able to add a new webpage: Finding ages for large specimens of Taxus baccata. Finding the age of the oldest yews has been a subject of debate for more than two centuries. Ages have risen and fallen since the time of botanist Augustin de Candolle (1778-1841), but it is during the last three decades or so that we have seen the quoting of ever higher and more questionable age estimates. After many years of measuring work and a long struggle with several incompatible theories of yew ageing, a method has finally been devised that can allow for all of them. Much work remains to be done refining the details, but a new direction for finding the ages of yews over 6 metres in circumference which yields good baseline ages is firmly established by the publication of "Estimating the Ages of Yews - Challenging Constant Annual Increment as a suitable model". The article, whose authors are Toby Hindson, Andy Moir and Peter Thomas, appears on our website with the kind permission of the Royal Forestry Society, where it is published in the July edition of their Quarterly Journal of Forestry. Alongside this can be read Toby Hindson’s Yew ageing paper explanatory article.
July 2019 |
What's New - June 2019 Yews in northern France I have just returned from an intensive week visiting churchyards in Normandy and have added a further 24 ancient or veteran yews and a similar number of notable specimens. Perhaps one day somebody will research the different growth rates of churchyard yews in southern England and northern France. What is becoming increasingly evident is that the Calvados and Manche regions contain larger numbers of old yews than has been realised and that many individual specimens are as extraordinary as those in English churchyards. The significant difference is that in England and Wales there are a large number of churchyards with multiple ancient or veteran yews, a feature rarely found in France. Previously unrecorded ancient yews were found at Brouay; Couloncesand Martigny sure l’Ante. New veteran yews have been recorded at Amfreville; Blosville; Carantilly; Carquebut; Ecauseville; Fervaches; Le Breuil en Bessin; Le Mesnil-Rouxelin; Leffard; Octeville l’Avenel;Quibou; Russy; Saint-Denis-Maisoncelles; Saint-Gabriel; Saint-Oeuin-le-Pin; Sainte-Suzanne-sur-Vire; Secqueville-en-Bessin; Sortosville; Sully; Tourville-sur-Odon; Trungy; Vaudry; Viessoix June 2019 |
What's New - May 2019 New sites For many years volunteers have been collecting information about significant trees in the Surrey countryside. This includes many impressive yew trees. We are pleased to have added the following new yew locations this month and are hoping that there will be more to follow. Dorking – Logmore Green; Wotton – Sheephouse Lane; Wotton Barn – Sheephouse Lane; Wotton – Friday Street; Wotton – Severell’s Copse – Surrey Tree Survey Group Other sites added this month are: Belmore Lane, Upham; Bossington Chalk Pit; Longparish; Stockbridge – Sewage Works; Straits Copse – Hugo Egleston Wotton – Owen Johnson New photos/information Hambledon, Hants – Alasdair MacKenzie Dinmore Manor Chapel; Much Birch; Old Radnor; St Weonards; St Weonards Tump; Stowe, Shropshire – Paul Wood Llanfoist – Tim Hills May 2019 |
What's New - April 2019 Yews in the churchyards of Somerset The Bath and Wells diocese webpage now contains information from 12 sites where the oldest yew is classified as Ancient (likely age 800+), 47 sites where the oldest yew is Veteran (likely age of 500+) and 30 where a yew is classified as Veteran because of its condition. This month 62 more churchyards have been added where the oldest yew is classified as Notable, either because it has a likely age of 300+, or because it has a known planting date. There are a further 300 churchyards where younger yews are found and photos and information from these should be available during the summer. New sites Bursledon – The Jolly Sailor – Bob Burrows New photos/information Maddington – Peter Norton April 2019 |
What's New - March 2019 New sites Ash Thomas; Chilcompton – field; Launceston; Oswestry – The Hayes; Oswestry – Welsh Walls – Tim Hills New photos/information Hedgerley – Luke Steer March 2019 |
What’s New – February 2019 Between October 2012 and November 2016 I visited 562 churchyard sites in Somerset to record all the common/European yews, regardless of size or age. Finding time to write this up has not been easy but the process has begun. Since most of these churchyards are in the diocese of Bath and Wells, the first published information is found on the Church of England webpage under Diocesan Surveys part 1 - Bath and Wells. https://www.ancient-yew.org/ss.php/bath-and-wells/12/49/74 This webpage lists 71 locations where ancient or veteran yews are found, but the information pages now include details of the younger yews that also grow there. There are 11 sites with an ancient yew (likely age 800+), 47 with a veteran yew (likely age 500+) and a further 12 sites with a veteran yew that is classified as such because of its condition, rather than its likely age. February 2019 |
What’s New – January 2019 New sites Llanerch Elsi – Keith Jones New photos/information Billingsley; Papplewick; Sidbury – Isobel Turner January 2019 |
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