The ‘Elephant Oak’
The Hampshire tree is the wild card, chosen from public nominations. It was nominated by Claire Sheppard.
The interesting-looking veteran oak has been pollarded – a technique where trees are pruned in the upper branches to encourage regrowth. Uncut trees are known as maiden.
In 2009 it was recorded as having a girth of 3.96m at a height of 1m. It’s home to lichen and moss but as with all oaks it’s great for local wildlife too, supporting insects, birds and mammals. In fact our oaks support more life than any other UK native tree. They can live to over 500 years.
The ‘Elephant Oak’ can be found at Old Sloden Inclosure.
The Elephant Oak is option 12 on the shortlist and you can vote via the Woodland Trust website.
