West trust teams up with Kew Gardens for project

THIS autumn Somerset Wildlife Trust will be collecting seed from a variety of trees across its Mendip reserves as part of a national project to protect the UK’s trees by creating a huge tree seed bank.

Somerset Wildlife Trust is part of the UK National Tree Seed Project, which has been set up by Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, and made possible with funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Tree seeds collected as part of the project – and those collected next year – will be safely banked in the underground vaults of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank – forming the UK’s first national collection of tree seeds.

These seeds can then play a vital role in conservation work to protect UK trees and woodlands.

The collections, and associated data, will be available to researchers working to tackle the many threats facing our woodlands.

With the help of volunteer reserve wardens who regularly monitor the quality of seeds, the seeds will be collected when they are at their ripest and in the best condition.

The trust has already collected seed from Wayfaring Trees – a small tree of woodland edges, hedgerows, scrub and downland – from its Ubley Warren Reserve.

In the coming months, the trust will collect spindle seed from Rose Wood and Mascall’s Wood and will also have professional tree climbers coming to the trust’s Cheddar Wood Reserve to collect small-leaved lime seeds. James Ozolins, East Mendip’s assistant reserves manager explains why the project is so important: “With our ever-changing climate and the associated spread of tree pests and diseases it is extremely important to gather genetic informa- tion on the full range of native tree species including the less common species associated with ravine woodland and limestone grassland.

Our Mendip woodlands are vital as they are home to an incredibly large and diverse variety of wildlife, from the smallest invertebrates to bats, birds and our some of our favourite small mammals such as dormice. Projects such as this ensure that we can continue to support these habitats in the future as our landscapes and environment evolves.”