Hawthorn Dene’s tree seeds preserved
Experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the Millennium Seed Bank visited one of County Durham’s denes to collect and preserve wild tree seeds for the future.
The team, in Hawthorn Dene, found wild privet, spindle, holly and guelder-rose to include in the UK National Tree Seed Project. Tree seeds will be stored in the underground vaults at Kew. They form the UK’s first national collection of tree seeds. The seeds play a vital role in conservation work, including research against pests and diseases such as ash dieback.
To look for wild privet, spindle and guelder-rose, which grow on limestone soils, the team selected the East Durham coast.
Millennium Seed Bank – Narrow, steep valleys
Characterised by denes – narrow, steep wooded valleys eroded from magnesian limestone. With holly widespread across varying soil types, the team hoped to find fruiting individuals co-existing with other target species. Collections were taken from 25 separate trees and shrubs and sent to the Millennium Seed Bank. The cleaned and dried seeds live in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment at –20°C.
Ian Willey, fieldwork officer for the UK National Tree Seed Project, said: “It was a great trip, especially considering we made our northernmost collections of guelder-rose and spindle.
Beautiful wooded denes
“Visiting the many beautiful wooded denes and scrubland gills was a joy. I learnt much in the process of chatting to local enthusiasts and dog walkers.
“It is great to see and hear how well areas have recovered after serving as dumping grounds for colliery waste. I would like to thank Natural England, Durham Wildlife Trust, National Trust and Durham County Council for their help.”
Millennium Seed Bank – Multiplying pests and diseases
Clare Trivedi, UK National Tree Seed Project co-ordinator at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: “Building up our seed collections of the nation’s favourite and most important tree species is a vital step in combating the multiplying pests and diseases which threaten to alter our landscape dramatically.”
The UK National Tree Seed Project launched in 2013 to secure genetically diverse collections of UK native trees and shrubs, such as ash, juniper, Scots pine, alder, beech, silver birch and yew. So far, more than 12.5 million seeds have been collected from more than 8,000 individual trees.
For more information about Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, visit www.kew.org/science/collections/seed-collection.
