Prunus avium (Wild Cherry)
In Toll Wood:
Wild cherries (and cultivated cherries) are most easily identified by their distinctive bark (horizontal rings/scars on the trunk). In Toll Wood, there is one remaining old tree of more than one hundred years age alongside a felled one that showed 120 rings. Sadly, the felling of this magnificent tree happened before the change in ownership. There are other younger and several dead and decaying examples. The stumps are peppered by woodpecker holes.
It is quite rare to find native wild cherry in the south-east although it is widely planted in managed landscapes including large gardens for its all-year attractiveness. Commercially, wild cherries are planted close together to force upright and tall growth that is later used for highly attractive veneers.
Management. This is a 'pioneer tree' - a tree that quickly colonizes woodland edges if conditions are good. The Wild cherry is relatively drought-tolerant tree but suffers badly if shaded as our examples are. So, we hope to include it in our succession-planting in less congested conditions where loamy soils are deeper and canopy more open. Ideally, we should collect the fruit/stones from within the woodland for transplanting. In the meantime, the priority will be management by "halo felling" to improve light and ease competition for water.
Biodiversity value: MEDIUM
Some 40 invertebrates have been identified with wild cherry. They range across diverse spider mites, beetles (e.g. red and black weevils, both are leaf-rollers), long-horn beetles, flies and gall-flies, leaf-hoppers, scale insects, moths and butterflies. The small cherries are an important food-source for birds and mammals (pith and stones). Early flowering means this tree is very important for its early-season nectar.
