In the heart of England, trees form an enchanting tapestry of life, culture, and history. Standing tall in majestic woodlands, along bustling urban streets, or on serene countryside estates, these botanicals aren’t just scenery. They are the silent sentinels of our landscape, playing vital roles in our ecosystem, economy, and cultural heritage.
Whether you’re a budding botanist or just fancy a stroll in the park, identifying England’s diverse tree species opens a gateway to appreciating their subtle stories. Shall we explore?
If planting trees, use no-dig gardening to protect wildlife. Use fruit protection bags (over netting, which can trap birds and wildlife). Learn how to create gardens safe for pets (use humane slug/snail deterrents).
Avoid facing indoor foliage to outdoor gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows. Also know trees to avoid near horses (including yew and oak).
Keep away from grey/white caterpillars (oak processionary moths that cause allergies and breathing difficulties – contact a doctor/vet if in contact). Also cordon off affected trees from livestock and horses. Mostly found in London in warm weather, report to your council and Treealert.
Trees enrich our soil, provide food and homes for wildlife, clean the air, reduce temperatures, stop floods and act like an enormous sponge, soaking up carbon dioxide and releasing life-giving oxygen. Forests serve as vibrant habitats, teeming with insects, birds, and mammals. This biodiversity is essential for a balanced ecosystem.
Leaves are often the easiest way to identify a tree. Look at their shape, size, and colour. Are they needle-like or broad, simple or compound? Each feature can hint at the tree’s identity.
Next time you touch a tree, notice the bark’s texture. Is it rough like the oak or smooth like the beech? The arrangement and angle of branches can also offer clues.
In spring and summer, flowers can be telling indicators. Observe their colour and shape. Fruits that follow—be they acorns, catkins, or berries—add another layer to the identification process.
The Main Trees of England
Here’s a quick list of the main species of England’s trees:
- Alder & alder buckthorn
- Apple
- Ash
- Aspen
- Bay
- Beech (common or copper)
- Birch (silver or downy)
- Blackthorn
- Box
- Blackthorn
- Cedar
- Cherry (bird, cherry or wild)
- Cedar
- Crab apple
- Cypress (lawson or Leyland)
- Dogwood
- Elder
- Elm (English, field, Huntington or wych)
- Eucalyptus
- European larch
- Douglas fir
- Guelder rose
- Hawthorn (or Midland hawthorn)
- Hazel
- Holly
- Hornbeam
- Horse chestnut
- Juniper
- Lime (common, small, large-leaved)
- Maple (field or maple)
- Monkey puzzle
- Oak (English, holm, red, sessile, turkey)
- Olive
- Pear (or Plymouth pear)
- Pine (black or Scots)
- Plane (very common in London)
- Plum (or cherry plum)
- Poplar (black or white)
- Rowan
- Spindle
- Spruce (sitka or Norway)
- Sweet chestnut
- Sycamore
- Walnut (or black walnut)
- Wayfaring
- Western red cedar
- Whitebeam (or rock whitebeam)
- Wild service
- Willow
- Yew (or Irish yew)
Extraordinary Books to Learn More About Trees
The Heart of the Woods is a unique book on how trees have determined our lives in history, and how this is evolving over time. Just as a parent leaves a legacy to a child, a tree leaves a legacy to its surroundings. From the songs we sing to the boats we build, our lives are intertwined with those of trees and woodlands around us.
In this journey deep into the woods, the author travels the country (and across the pond to Ireland) to meet the people who plant trees, ecologists who study them and those who shape beautiful objects and tools from wood. He also explores what we get out of spending time around trees, for a read that will delight anyone who enjoys walking among the trees, or anyone (when feeling lost) has found themselves, in the woods. Stories in the book include:
- An ancient yew grove on the border of England & North Wales
- Science among the trees at Wytham Woods (Oxfordshire)
- Among the badgers in a field outside Cambridge
- A woodland boat-building community in Glasgow’s former docklands
- Rewilding the Scottish Highlands
- Wild swimming & forest bathing in Northumberland
- A pub on Ireland’s west coast
- A guitar-builder in North Wales
- Apple wassailing in Cornwall
- Willow-coffin making in Cornwall
Wyl Menmuir is a writer and literary consultant based in Cornwall, who is co-creator of a Cornish writing centre and works with Arvon Foundation, and also lectures in creative writing at Falmouth University.
How to Read a Tree is a book to discover the simple principles of shapes and patterns you see in trees, and what they mean. Each tree we meet is filled with signs that reveal its life and the landscape it stands in. The clues are easy to spot if you know what to look for. You’ll learn rare skills that can be applied each time you pass a tree, whether you are in a town or wilder spot. Trees can tell us about the land, water, people, animals, weather and time. And about their lives.
Tristan Gooley is an award-winning author who has pioneered a renaissance in the rare art of natural navigation. He is the only living person to have sailed and flown single-handed across the Atlantic and has also studied the methods of tribal peoples in some of the world’s most remote areas.
Oaklores: Adventures in a World of Extraordinary Trees is a wonderful debut book looking at the wildlife and nature adventures that go on within the branches of our majestic oak trees. The author’s infectious enthusiasm shines through in chapters that open with excerpts from oak-y poems, plus tips on connecting with nature, recognising birdsong and helping butterflies and moths to thrive.
What connects Robin Hood, the history of ink, fungi and Shakespeare? The answer is in this book, as the author explores the incredibly diverse history of the ‘king of the woods’. From a source of food and shelter to its use in literature, the oak tree’s role is an essential ingredient in ink (and in mythology across the British Isles).
Meet trees along the way like Sherwood Forest’s Medusa Oak or the gargantuan Marton Oak in Cheshire. Join the author on an unforgettable journey through the tangled roots of the oak’s story and that of our country itself. The author’s surname (Action) actually means ‘oak town!’ And she lives near Robin Hood’s former home of Sherwood Forest!
The Little Book of Trees is a beautifully illustrated small guide co-written by a professor of biology and a professor of natural history. Learn about trees and their leaves, tree trunks and barks, and the architecture of trees. Along with seeds and curious facts.
