BMC volunteers protect struggling native oak trees in the Peak District

Access News
21 Oct
2 min read

This October, BMC and Mountain Training Association volunteers joined forces with the National Trust to cut down faster-growing, competitor trees to protect native oak trees in the Upper Derwent Valley of the Peak District.

In these days of 'climate crisis, plant as many trees as possible' it sounds very counter-intuative to ask people to fell our best, bark-covered friends but read on to find out why our latest BMC volunteer group were tasked to do exactly that by the National Trust in the Peak District this October.

BMC Peak District Access Rep, Peter Judd, led this Get Stuck In day, funded by the Mend Our Mountains campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust, and all will be explained in his very informative report:

Peter says, "A cheerful and enthusiastic group of BMC members joined with Mountain Training Association members (indeed many attendees are members of both) to help National Trust rangers with a day of tree maintenance on the very steep slopes below the moorland edge, just north of Howden Reservoir, in the Upper Derwent Valley of the Peak District on Sunday.

"In a woodland now packed with young silver birch trees stand a small number of older oak trees. Oaks, of all our native trees, support perhaps the largest number of other species and therefore have a special place in our woodlands, yet these particular oaks no longer thrive as they struggle to compete with the fast growing birches all around.

"Our job, while moving about the steep ground of the woodland, was to cut down, or ring-bark, a small number of these competitors (previously identified for us) to give these oaks the space they need to thrive. The smallest trees were cut down with hand saws, to lie and decay where they fell on the woodland floor. The larger trees had a ring of bark and some of the tissue just below removed with small axes, meaning that the tree would die more slowly and eventually fall too, but rather than ‘shock’ the nearby oaks by a sudden felling, this happens much more gradually over time."

Chopping down fast-growing trees allows native oaks to thrive and in time, promotes a more diverse forest
Removing the bark all the way round a tree kills it slowly so as not to suddenly 'shock' the nearby oaks with a sudden felling

Peter continues, "While it didn’t immediately feel good to be killing these living trees, we were reminded that the natural process in woodlands before humans came along was for large animals, mostly herbivores (now absent in the UK), to crash about breaking and felling some trees as they went, thereby creating these clearances that we were now manually creating in their absence -  mosaic of denser and more open areas would have been the norm.

"As this was jointly run as an MTA event some learning opportunities were built in, with the rangers explaining the whys and wherefores of the work we were doing as well as touching on the wider topic of upland woodland conservation. In addition, attendees themselves shared their own expertise, especially about the rich range of fungi that we came across during the day.

"It was super to have an opportunity to contribute to the conservation work hereabouts and to do so in such a beautiful place.  Everyone went away not only feeling pleased with what had been achieved but also with a greater understanding of the woodland environment and how it is managed."

Will you help Get Stuck In?

More Peak District, Lake District and North Wales footpath repair and conservation opportunities can be found here, more dates coming soon for 2026, keep checking the webpage! If physical labour's not your thing, what about a donation instead? It costs £250 per metre of path repair, or £25 per square metre of sphagnum moss planted to restore moorland. Every little helps in our quest to preserve and protect the places we love to escape to - give generously to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Mend Our Mountains and The Climate project here.

Support The Climate Project

Support the BMC's Access & Conservation The Climate Project campaign to plant sphagnum and seagrass to sequester carbon and protect biodiversity.

  • £5 buys a pair of work gloves

  • £25 funds a square metre of sphagnum moss

  • £50 buys a pair of mud shoes to reduce seagrass trampling impact

  • £150 buys equipment to test water quality at a seagrass site

  • £200 builds a 2m stone dam for a badly eroded, moorland gully

  • £1000 buys a drone survey to monitor seagrass growth

  • £2,500 plants 100 square metres of sphagnum moss

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