Britain’s ancient trees in danger of dying out
Britain’s ancient trees, including Newton’s apple tree, are in danger of dying out due to pollution, development and climate change, the National Trust has warned. 
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent The UK has some of the most famous ancient trees in the world around country houses, in historic parkland and castle grounds. However the National Trust fear that chemicals used in modern agricultural practices, erosion caused by ploughing, pollution from towns and, in the long term, climate change, could kill the ancient trees unless action is taken. The charity, which owns the most land in the UK after the Government, is to survey some 40,000 trees on its stately homes and farms in the next three years. Among the most well known trees are the 300-year-old apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire where Isaac Newton developed his theory of gravity after watching an apple fall in 1665; the 2,000-year-old Ankerwycke Yew in Berkshire where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215; and the sycamore tree in Dorset where the Tolpuddle Martyrs met in the 1830s. The Trust has also appointed its first national tree adviser to ensure trees can survive by protecting the surrounding environment and planting new trees where the historic trees are in danger of dying out. Brian Muelaner, the new Ancient Tree Advisor, said all the famous trees are in danger from pesticides and fertilisers that degrade the surrounding environment, pollution from growing airports or roads and even human activity eroding land around the tree. He explained that ancient trees are not only historically valuable but create a unique biodiversity for certain species of lichen, birds and insects that could not survive anywhere else. “There are individual and collections of very significant trees that are in danger – mostly through agricultural practices but also pollution, insidious development and in the long term climate change,” he said. …
