Blog - Tree management

It's always sad to say goodbye to a big old tree like the oak we felled earlier this week near to the restaurant.

This week, work began on dismantling a large oak tree near to the Westonbirt Restaurant. Curator Mark Ballard explains why the decision to remove this much-loved tree was made.

Work is currently underway on what will become the new Wolfson Tree Management Centre. The new facility will provide all that Westonbirt’s expert tree team needs to manage the tree collection.

In the next few months we are due to start work on the new Tree Management Centre, as part of Phase Two of the Westonbirt Project.

Following some very impressive thunder and lightning overnight, I ventured out into the Old Arboretum at first thing on Friday morning (18th July 2014) to check for any damage.

As I write, we continue to be at the mercy of the all too familiar wet & windy weather, it has already been a long winter.

No two days are the same for me at Westonbirt, & I have to say that the great variety of my role is something that I do enjoy.

You may have seen some work going on in Silk Wood. We are improving access by creating a new stone surfaced path that links between Waste Drive and Broad Drive.

You may have noticed there are two large trees at the edge of the arboretum that overhang the A433 road heading towards Tetbury.

Predicted high winds and heavy rainfall resulted in the closure of the arboretum to the public on Thursday 22 November 2012.

Last week saw the start of an exciting new research project that aims to discover new forestry tree species for the future.

The last four weeks have flown by and the final BBC Autumnwatch Live show will be broadcast from Westonbirt Arboretum this Friday, 28th October.

With two great BBC Autumnwatch Live shows completed from the Great Oak Hall at Westonbirt Arboretum, and the Autumnwatch team onsite to get ready for another packed programme tonight.

In August 1896 the owner of Westonbirt, George Holford, wrote to Mr Thistleton Dyer the director of Kew Gardens.

If you’ve been a visitor to Westonbirt these last few weeks you might be surprised to see the cutting and removal of quite a few Rhododendron ponticum plants whilst in full bloom.