Autumn colour
PRESS RELEASE Sept 07 Westonbirt’s tree experts predict an early blaze this autumn
Autumn colour at the National Arboreta, Westonbirt - recently ranked in the world’s top 30 unmissable spectacles by the Sunday Times Travel Magazine - is expected to arrive early this year as a result of one of the wettest summers on record.
Early signs of autumn have been recorded since late August and this is likely to be a result of waterlogged soil forcing the trees to shut down and go into ‘autumn mode’, said curator Simon Toomer. This year visitors are being encouraged to visit the rising star of the autumn at Westonbirt - an area called The Link in Silk Wood which leads to the National Maple Collection, one of the biggest in the world. Giant English oaks and birches create a towering backdrop to a rare and interesting collection of maples, including the arboretum’s own Heritage collection. The colour spectacle usually peaks mid-late October, although last year it was two weeks later than normal. To help the thousands of ‘leaf peepers’ pick the best time to visit, the arboretum’s website (www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt) has regular photographic updates of the collection as it turns.  The shift in timing of autumn is a natural phenomenon, but experts at Westonbirt believe that climate change is contributing to the more erratic pattern and global warming is now within every agenda at the arboretum. Hugh Angus, Head of Tree Collections for the National Arboreta, was a guest speaker earlier this year at the global debate on climate change at an international conference in China. At the third Global Botanic Gardens Congress in Wuhan he addressed more than 900 plant experts from around the world, along with National Pinetum Curator Chris Reynolds. “Too often we work in isolation and it’s vital that we take a world view on climate change because so many plants are going to be threatened. For example, 35 per cent of the world’s conifers are at risk,” Hugh explained. “Trees are not very adaptable because they live for a long time and cannot move, and it’s the speed of change that we are witnessing that is worrying.” Westonbirt has ambitious plans to develop its role as a centre for learning about the plight of trees worldwide. Simon Toomer recently visited New Zealand to learn more about native trees and consider species to add to the collection in Gloucestershire. “Unfortunately, it is not simply a question of finding trees from slightly warmer climates. Rainfall, sunlight and a whole range of other factors play a part in determining a plant’s suitability for our climate, and selection will be gradual and an on-going process that will, like climate change itself, take many decades to develop. Widening the range of species in the collection will help to ensure its survival in an uncertain future.”
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