2018 Tree of the Year winners announced by Woodland Trust
- Published
The winning tree for Scotland was announced as Netty's Tree on the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, right up in the north-west of Scotland. It was planted more than 100 years ago by a man called Allan McDonald, who was a poet, a priest and a land rights activist.
Until a few years ago, Netty's Tree was in fact the ONLY tree on the island. It is named after someone called Netty MacDonald who lived nearby and who encouraged children who lived on the island to come to play in it. Sadly, Netty has now passed away, but her daughter Anne keeps this tradition alive, as we can see in this photo!
Check out the winning tree for Wales. This is Pwllpriddog Oak in Carmarthenshire and it is a whopping 8.4 metres around its circumference. It is thought that it could be as many as 600 to 700 years old, while local historians believe it was planted to commemorate the Battle of Bosworth - an important battle in 1485 when Henry Tudor (Henry VII) defeated Richard III and grabbed the throne for the Tudors.
The Woodland Trust, which is the largest woodland conservation charity in the UK, explains how the enormous oak is in fact hollow and there are lots of clips on the internet of bands and choirs singing inside it. It is hoped that competitions like this will encourage people to be interested in woodlands and want to protect trees like this one and others long into the future.
Northern Ireland's winner was this amazing giant redwood – also known as giant sequoia. It has an amazing 19 trunks, even though it is in fact just one tree. It's unsurprising that it is popular with people who love to climb trees!
Like other trees in the competition, it has an amazing story. It was in fact grown from one of the original seeds that were first brought back to England from California in 1853 by a man called William Lobb. When he heard about the enormous trees - which at the time were famous for being the world's largest - he went straight to Sierra Nevada in 1852 to get some seeds, as he knew they would be popular among Victorian collectors.
Finally, England's winner Nellie's Tree in Leeds has a really romantic story behind it. Nearly 100 years ago, a man called Vic Stead made this amazing tree design out of three beech saplings. He was trying to impress a woman called Nellie, so he made the tree into the shape of an N for her! It obviously worked because they went on to get married and have children.
It was in fact Vic and Nellie's grandson Chris Lund who nominated the tree, which is known as the Love Tree by people who live in the area, for the competition. According to the Woodland Trust, lots of people actually get engaged to be married at the site of Nellie's Tree to this day!
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