Keith Alexander, The National Trust, 33 Sheep Street, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1RQ, UK.

Britain has a significant resource of ancient trees and these are of very high nature conservation importance for a variety of types of wildlife, including wood-decay fungi, deadwood invertebrates, and epiphytic lichens and mosses.

In this presentation I will focus on the importance of the invertebrate fauna associated with the old trees in Britain and how recent initiatives are helping to ensure its conservation.

In Britain there are at least 1700 species of invertebrate which are dependent on wood and decaying wood (Alexander, in prep.). This is about 6% of our total invertebrate fauna. At least 40% of these species are of either British Red Data Book or Nationally Scarce status (ie believed to be confined to 100 or fewer of the10km squares of the Ordnance Survey national grid). This is a very high proportion and clearly demonstrates the considerable conservation importance of deadwood. Decaying wood also provides an important component of the habitats of other species, eg in providing refugia for hibernation, pupation, aerial sites when the soil is water-logged or flooded, etc, etc.

Needless to say, the conservation of such a large number of species requires a very broad-brush approach. The species concerned include the whole range of mobility, from highly mobile species which readily colonise newly available habitat, right through to highly immobile species. Recent initiatives have been taking a landscape and habitat level approach rather than one based on species or sites.

The mobility characteristics of particular species can change in response to habitat management, to climatic fluctuations, and other factors. Some species which have long been regarded as associated with relict old forest in Britain have expanded dramatically in recent years, eg Agrilus pannonicus (Piller & Mitterpacher) (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) and Platypus cylindrus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera, Platypodidae) which are both now widespread in the south east and south, respectively. Figure 1 illustrates the expansion of A.pannonicus. The great wind storms experienced in southern England in the late 1980s produced large quantities of freshly dead trees and these two early successional beetles were able to quickly exploit this unusual abundance of breeding habitat. Subsequently oak dieback disease has kept up the supply of freshly dead trees. Both of these changes have occurred at landscape level enabling the species which can benefit to expand.

Other changes are also affecting species abundances and conservation statuses, eg the elm disease of the 1960s and 1970s, the appearance of sooty bark disease on sycamore, and beech decline.

Entomologists available to study this large fauna are in short supply and seriously under-resourced, whereas tree enthusiasts are much more numerous. A conservation approach based on the trees rather than invertebrates has therefore developed. A group of these tree enthusiasts have come together and formed the Ancient Tree Forum (ATF). The ATF has developed a nationwide network of people who have a special interest in old trees and their conservation. Its main activities have been:

• Regular visits to sites with ancient trees to see and discuss management with a view to increasing the knowledge and experience of the managers of the host site and members of the Ancient Tree Forum alike.
• Regular circular, Ancient Tree Bulletin Board, to keep members in touch with latest developments, to share views, and provide news of site visits.
• Promotion of occasional publications on the conservation management of ancient trees.

The ATF is a network of expertise, but has very limited financial resources.

The focus on ancient trees has many objectives:

• some of the rarest invertebrates, fungi and epiphytes are dependent on ancient trees;
• ancient trees are very attractive and so inspire interest from non-specialists;
• draw attention to age structures:

• the need for new plantings
• care of existing trees
• retention into old age.

The greatest threat to ancient trees is not their own natural death, but misunderstanding by people: the trees tend to be cut down because they are thought to be dying, diseased and dangerous, or just not important at all. They are also killed indirectly through insensitive land management around them.

ATF has been pursuing a programme of site visits targeted at areas with interesting practices or problems, where experiences are shared and hopefully managers/advisers influenced.

An initial review of concentrations of ancient trees has demonstrated that Britain does have a remarkable number of ancient trees and that these are widely scattered across much of the lowlands (Figure 2). Indeed, we now feel reasonably confident in claiming that Britain has about 80% of the ancient trees of Europe north of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean region.

Where are the ancient trees? They occur throughout the landscape, in a wide variety of situations:

• old forests;
• historic parklands;
• old wooded commons;
• hill wood pastures;
• along water courses;
• field boundary trees.

So unlike most other wildlife habitats, eg heathlands or calcareous grasslands, it is feasible to think in terms of conservation throughout the landscape. Our strategy is to encourage dispersal and recolonisation through provision of suitable trees in all habitats and landscapes.

English Nature – the UK Government's nature conservation organisation for England – subsequently established the Veteran Trees Initiative (VTI) in 1996. This was a partnership with other Government agencies (Forestry Commission, English Heritage, Countryside Agency and Farming and Rural Conservation Agency) and the non-governmental organisations: Ancient Tree Forum, The National Trust, Corporation of London. With their greater resources, EN has been able to take the ATF approach much further:

• series of awareness and training events for landowners, land managers, tree surgeons, and others to help set new standards of best practice in the management of veteran trees and the landscapes in which they grow;
• symposium on parkland management Parklands – the way forward;
• developed a standard method for surveying veteran trees, Specialist Survey Method;
• a bibliography of books and references on the historical and cultural associations with veteran trees Veteran Trees Initiative: Historical and cultural aspects. A bibliography.
• series of publications on veteran trees and their care

• a practical management handbook Veteran Trees: a guide to good management
• guidance on safety issues Veteran Trees: a guide to risk and responsibility
• a review of sources of funding Veteran Trees: a guide to grants
• an introductory leaflet Guide to the care of ancient trees
• a Veteran tree slide pack with lecture notes;
• a discussion of the various aspects of England's first parkland National Nature Reserve Moccas: an English deer park.

The VTI had a fixed term and finished this Spring.

English Nature and its partner organisations are continuing to promote ancient tree conservation through the lowland wood-pasture and parkland Habitat Action Plan, which is a new initiative to conserve, restore and expand this habitat which is so important for its old trees. The HAP is part of the UK Government's response to the Biodiversity Convention which emerged from the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The HAP work is only just beginning, but is already resulting in the release of some research funding.

In the meantime, the Ancient Tree Forum has formed a new partnership with the Woodland Trust – the UK's only charity solely concerned with woodland conservation. The Woodland Trust is a large organisation and wished to become more involved in the conservation of ancient trees. The combination of the Woodland Trust's administrative resources with the Ancient Tree Forum's expertise in ancient trees has provided a new dynamic partnership.

The new partnership aims to:

• continue to raise awareness of the value and importance of ancient trees as part of our heritage

• establish a dynamic website to improve communication – a preliminary version is already up and running (http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/ancient-tree-forum)
• continue with demonstration and training events

The new partnership is also no longer restricted to England – the Woodland Trust operates at a UK level, while the ATF has no national restrictions. The ATF has already been working with Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales – the UK Government nature conservation agencies in those countries - to run workshops in 1999. There will be more in those countries this year and it is hoped events will be extended to Northern Ireland soon.

I would like to record my thanks to colleagues in the Ancient Tree Forum, especially Ted Green, and in English Nature, who have helped to develop the ideas presented here. Also to Mark Telfer and Henry Arnold of the Biological Records Centre for the dot maps of Agrilus pannonicus, and to Roger Key for converting my rough data on UK sites with concentrations of ancient trees into the Figure presented in this paper.

Alexander, KNA, in prep.: An annotated checklist of the invertebrates of living and decaying timber in Britain and Ireland.

Captions for Figures:
Figure 1 - Map showing the locations of all records of Agrilus pannonicus (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) up until 1980.
Figure 2 - Map showing the locations of all records of Agrilus pannonicus (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) up until 1999.
Figure 3 - Map showing the locations of UK sites known to have concentrations of ancient trees ( small dot 20-100 trees, medium dot 100-1000 trees, large dot >1000 trees)