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Oak Pollard
Cres, Croatia |
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Oak Pollards
Cres, Croatia |
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Oak Pollards
Cres, Croatia |
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Oak Pollards
Cres, Croatia |
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Key Contacts:
The ATF seeks a person to act as a link person to groups and ancient
tree activity in Croatia.
Contact us if you would like to know more.
Cres, Croatia: the second largest island in the Adriatic.
Much of the northern half of the island is pasture woodland (downy oak). Its
grazed at low intensity by sheep with large areas dominated by oak pollards
in active management or pollarded in the last 30 years. Most were perhaps
c.1m dbh/ 3.1m girth. Scattered amongst them at irregular intervals were
"groves" or "bands" of pollards that had been left to grow on, seemingly
associated with bee-keeping. Trees in these groves are considerably larger -
the largest up to c.2m dbh / 6.2m girth. Pictures 2 and 4 show the largest at the end of a long line of "old" trees. It
looks pretty old, as a former pollard and given the nature of the soils and
climate.
The island is famous for its Griffon vultures, which have survived because
of the history of pastoralism. There is a visitor's centre at the northern
tip of the island, associated with this area and the vultures.
Photos by Richard Smithers
Click to enlarge pictures |
