Historic rare tree ‘chequers’ in at nursery

A rare historic tree in Denbighshire is raising a toast to a successful helping hand.

Denbighshire County Council’s Biodiversity team has provided a boost for the Wild Service Tree in the county by using the facilities at the local provenance tree nursery at St Asaph.

Over 300 out of 500 seeds collected by the team last September have now germinated at the tree nursery which is funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project and Local Places for Nature grant.

The wild service tree currently only in a few isolated locations across Denbighshire. Historically it is also known as the chequers tree due to the fruits that are said to taste similar to dates and given to children in the past as sweets.

Fruit from the tree was also traditionally made into a fermented beer like alcoholic drink and it is believed that this beverage influenced the naming of many ‘Chequers’ pubs and inns across the UK.

The deciduous broadleaf tree may reach 25 metres when fully grown, has brown patterned back with cracked square plates and although rare now, traditionally it was found in oak and ash woodlands.

Liam Blazey, Senior Biodiversity Officer said: “Wild service trees are very rare to Denbighshire but have played a role in our past history and through our work at the tree nursery we wanted to try and protect and boost the county’s current population.

“The seeds we collected during our general seed harvesting work were put into freezer bags full of compost and placed in our fridge to break the seeds natural dormancy and help its germination.

“We recently checked on their progress and were really pleased to find 320 of the seeds starting to grow, these have been placed in root trainers and will now be looked after alongside the other trees we have at the nursery with the long term goal of getting them back out into the county.

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Biodiversity Champion, said: “Our Biodiversity team are working hard to reduce the impact of climate change on our lands which have seen many species become rare.

“This fantastic effort will not only help nature recover but it will also give our future communities a slice of history back that they can get out into the outdoors to visit and enjoy for their own physical and mental wellbeing.”