Group plants new wych elm trees in Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve

THE Westbury Community Tree Group is celebrating the planting of a number of wych elm trees in Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve.

Since its inception in June 2000, Westbury Tree Group has grown and planted on nearly 5,500 trees that are now helping to improve tree cover in the local area.

The Group has always followed a few important basic principles in its activities. Amongst these are the desire to plant “the right tree in the right place”, and to keep the seed gathering and distribution of the young trees it produces within a radius of ten miles.Some seeds are more difficult to access than others, while others may be widely available but difficult to propagate. One of the species that the Westbury Tree Group volunteers have found particularly challenging to source is wych elm.

Wych elm is a different species to English elm and far more resistant to Dutch elm disease, and some number of them do still thrive in the English countryside. But natural regeneration is relatively restricted. A few years ago the Tree Group gained permission from Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve to collect wych elm seed. This was successfully propagated, and grown on into small trees over the succeeding two years.

Now, a healthy new stock of wych elm has been returned to its natural home in the reserve. These trees are known to be genetically adapted to this particular site, and are thereby helping to increase biodiversity. The reserve, like so many others locally, has suffered the loss of many trees from Ash Dieback, and this is one way of helping redress these losses.