Beech gets a bad press from many conservationists - unfairly I think - having spent many hours painting spring flowers and an undercanopy of holly in woodlands which include mature beech.
In the latest issue of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust Volunteer newsletter -volunteers are asked to remove ‘non-native’ beech from native woodland – this includes mature trees as well as saplings. United Utilites continue with their programme of felling non-native species around Thirlmere this means the mature beech around the Lake. Perversely in the non-native pine
plantations above Thirlmere reservoir the only trees being targeted are
the maturing beech which are ring barked effectively killing them. Not good news for the
Red Squirrels have lost important canopy and which are observed to much prefer the beech mast to pine cones.
Pollen analysis ( Henry Godwin) indicates that beech was present at least as far as Cumbria in the Iron Age.
Natural England say that professional conservationists would be confused
over a new classification for beech. This may be so– but whatever the
classification –‘non-native’ is plainly wrong.