Rooted in our past.
They are all around and essential to our planet’s survival but, often, we barely give them a second glance.
From coast to countryside, and in towns and cities we take trees for granted, yet they are one of the reasons we exist. They give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilise our soil, clean our water, nurture our wildlife and provide the tools for shelter, discovery and warmth. But more than that, as the climate change emergency reaches tipping point, trees are a vital weapon in the battle to save our planet.
Now photographer Adrian Houston – whose passion for this precious resource was borne out of happy childhood trips to Glen Coe – is striving to “give trees a voice” and save them from destruction and disease. And he has enlisted a battalion of notable supporters including Joanna Lumley and Alan Titchmarsh to help him.
A Portrait of the Tree: A celebration of favourite trees from around Britain is Houston’s new book. Out next month, and packed with captivating photography, it is the glorious culmination of a five-year project featuring scores of trees – some with a history dating back some 1,500 years – and the people who love them.
Among their number is David Knott, curator of living collections at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden; Absolutely Fabulous actress Lumley; gardening royalty Titchmarsh; and Scotland’s rewilding pioneer Paul Lister, the man behind the Alladale Wilderness Reserve (at Ardgay in the Highlands) and the European Nature Trust. Houston, now London-based but born in
Newton Mearns, Glasgow, to an engineer dad and an artist mum, said: “Nature has an intensity so strong it gives you a totally different view on the world. When you witness Earth’s natural power, it is sometimes hard to see its underlying fragility. Yet scratch beneath the surface and it is there.
“Trees are the longest-living organisms on the planet and one of the Earth’s greatest natural resources. Yet our trees are being affected by deforestation, pollution, global warming and diseases.”
As part of the initiative, Houston has joined forces with Action Oak – a charity initiated by the Prince of Wales and Tony Kirkham, head of The Arboretum at London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – in a bid to raise awareness and, importantly, cash for research.
He said: “This need to protect what we have, before it is too late, has influenced my work for as long as I can remember. My
early connections with trees is from growing up in Scotland and spending time in the forests and on the river banks. When you are walking through the countryside among these incredible huge, old trees, you wonder what they have seen in their lives.
“Glen Coe was always a special location. We spent a lot of time up there; that’s where I caught my first brown trout with my dad and that’s where my favourite Scotch Pine is. The Scots pine is the national tree of Scotland. These ancient trees expanded into Scotland around 8,000 years ago. I have spent many days fishing the high lochs with the Scots pine as my main companion.”
His personal favourite is included in the book, along with choices from the some of the 100 people he approached to take part. “The book was conceived as a way of illustrating how trees connect us all on a universal level,” he said. “A portrait has to capture the atmosphere, beauty, strength and soul in a moment in time. The trees have been chosen by a diverse group of people who all have strong environmental goals.
“Together, they offer a powerful tool to help educate people, from children through to adults about the vital role that trees play in all of our lives, which in turn gives these trees a voice.”