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Traditional Orchards in Wales: Call for Volunteers

Date: 19.03.2012

Type: Biodiversity Volunteering

Orchard managementOnce a common sight in the British countryside, orchards have now become rare and have been listed as a priority habitat for conservation. Since late last year, the North East Wales Orchard Recovery Project has been working to plant and restore orchards in North East Wales. The partnership is led by Flintshire County Council and North Wales Wildlife Trust, with support from Denbighshire County Council and Wrexham County Borough Council.  In Denbighshire new orchards have been planted on five of our Countryside Sites. An Orchard Management Workshop was held on 10 March to educate new and existing orchard owners in the techniques required to successfully manage an orchard.

Now the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is recruiting volunteers in Denbighshire to take part in a survey of remaining traditional orchards in Wales.

Researchers at PTES are combing aerial photographs of the three and a half million hectares covering Wales; so far they have located 2500 potential traditional orchard sites, of which 601 are in Denbighshire. The charity now needs volunteers on the ground to verify their findings by checking for characteristics of traditional orchards, as well as recording the species, age and condition of the fruit trees they find. Can you help?

Characteristically, traditional orchards consist of a low density of trees set in grassland. They are cultivated using low-intensity methods without pesticides or herbicides, and often grazed. Modern intensive orchards can often be spotted in aerial photographs by their planting patterns, as the trees tend to be grown in narrow rows with visible lines of herbicide. However, local knowledge and the people-power of volunteers are now needed to help verify the findings.

If you are interested in volunteering or for further information please contact Lauren Alexander, Orchard Liaison Officer, on 020 7498 4533 or e-mail lauren.alexander@ptes.org. More information can be found on the PTES website www.ptes.org/orchards.

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