A special achievement

To live for more than 700 years, surely, that's a real achievement. This is the Tea Party Oak at Ickworth. Children used to have tea parties under this tree's expansive canopy, when the canopy was expansive.

There was an almost as old tree close by, with whom I felt a connection.

The sense I had was warmth. Welcome. No wonder the lamb chose to sleep at this oak's base.

At Ickworth, trees are dying. There is Acute Oak Decline, but also some trees are just sickening and falling for unknown reason. The Ranger said he thought that intensive sheep grazing had compacted the land. The Tea Party Oak has that fence around it to protect the area over the roots, as compaction can stress the tree by making the soil less able to hold air and water. At kew, they mulch around the base and aerate the soil.

The Ranger also showed us a lovely horse chestnut, who had a lot of bleeds. Not a fatal condition in a healthy environment, but the stress of compaction combined with the climate changes (more flooding and more drought) and the increased number of pests. Oh and the poverty of the soil if the tree is anywhere near intensive agriculture or is on land that was, at any stage, ploughed or greatly disturbed, make these little issues increasingly worrying.

I have a sense that the trees are leaving us. How can we persuade them to stay?

Oh, and I received a Special Achievement badge - for all the reports I have contributed to Observatree.