Following on the theme of a few days ago Andrew Robinson gave a very good presentation on trees in Barton on Humber to the local civic society last Friday evening. His slides were excellent, and because they had been deliberately taken when few people or vehicles were about, e.g. Sundays, they focussed attention on the trees. He already knew, or had done his homework, how to identify each species. The bulk of the presentation was divided into (a) ‘native species’ and (b) ‘exotics’ with examples of both categories growing in Barton. This was surprising as many trees have been lost to the town in the last couple of decades, even some with tree preservation orders, also Andrew did not include the trees in Baysgarth Park. Apparently, there are about 35 native species (the definition being those species which naturally colonised the British Isles over time and following the retreat of the last Glacial Era – the definition of ‘exotics’ being species which have been introduced by man following global travels) of which about 15-20 are in evidence locally. Surprisingly Sycamore and horse chestnut are ‘exotics’. Many environmental organisations have a resolve to plant only native species, this including the Lincolnshire Trust for Nature Conservation and probably other county conservation organisations.
The above picture is of the main arcade at East Park, Hull, almost certainly Hull’s most wooded public park.