One of Britain’s rarest native trees could begin making a comeback in Dorset as part of Dorset CPRE’s plans to celebrate CPRE’s Centenary.
The charity has launched a fundraising appeal to plant hundreds of native trees at Kingston Maurward, near Dorchester, helping to replace those lost to disease such as ash dieback while creating habitats that will benefit wildlife for generations to come.
Image: Trees for Dorset
Among the species being planted will be the black poplar, Britain’s rarest native timber tree. Once a familiar feature of the English landscape, it was prized for its fire-resistant timber, which was used for everything from cartwheels and floorboards to the construction of Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose. It also appears in Constable’s famous painting The Hay Wain.
Today, however, only around 7,000 native black poplars remain in Britain. Many surviving trees are the same sex, making natural regeneration difficult, while habitat loss and cross-breeding with non-native hybrid poplars have accelerated the species’ decline.
The tree has been part of Britain’s landscape since the last Ice Age.
It even appears in Greek mythology, where legend says the mourning sisters of Phaeton were transformed into black poplars after his fatal attempt to drive Apollo’s chariot across the sky.
Mature black poplars can reach 30 metres in height, and live for around 200 years. Their deeply fissured dark bark and distinctive burr-covered trunks make older specimens easy to recognise. Thriving in damp ground, they provide valuable habitat for wildlife while helping to restore wetlands, stabilise riverbanks and improve river systems.
Help needed
The trees for Kingston Maurward will come from Trees for Dorset, a local charity dedicated to conserving and expanding Dorset’s tree population, including restoring the county’s black poplar population. The appeal aims to raise £7,000, with supporters invited to sponsor individual trees for £25 each. The main planting site will be at Kingston Maurward, now part of Coastland College, where around 250 trees will be planted across three locations. Two of the sites lie on open downland close to the Thomas Hardy Trail, where a mixture of native broadleaf species, including disease-resistant elms, will be established.
The third site sits on water meadow beside the Trail, just a short walk from Stinsford Church, where Thomas Hardy’s heart is buried. Here, the focus will be on planting black poplars in conditions well-suited to their long-term survival.
Kingston Maurward has committed to providing both the land and the long-term aftercare needed to help the trees establish successfully.
Every £25 donation will sponsor a tree, with donors recognised on a permanent centenary plaque at the site. Details of the appeal, planting locations and how to sponsor a tree can be found on the Dorset CPRE dorset-cpre.org.uk
