It was great to work with Will Jones and James Fisher of The Tree Management Company last week.
The Queen Oak is estimated to be around 650 years old, one of the oldest trees in the New Forest and like many ancient trees, it is threatened from things like root damage, overshading and structural failure.
Will put in an incredible amount of work, lobbying four different landowners and the National Park Authority to agree to have work done to help the tree.
Dragons teeth have been installed on land belonging to The National Trust and the Parish Council to stop cars parking on its roots.
Trees belonging to neighbouring landowners were pruned as the first phase of halo clearance. This is intended to gradually reduce overshading on the southern and western sides of the Queen Oak, without creating too sudden an increase in light or wind.
Cables were then installed to try to stop the tree splitting in two.
All of the tree work and Will’s time to make this happen was carried out free of charge. The bracing materials were kindly paid for with a grant from Kairos Philanthropy.
A great example of what can be achieved when people work together to give ancient trees the care and consideration they deserve.
If you are subscribed to The Times newspaper, you can read more about the work and the other organisations involved, in this article written by Lottie Hayton:
The New Forest’s King Oak is dead — now to save the Queen
