Ambitious 6-county Orchards Project Hits Go! Orchards East Most important to the project are the six local environmental record centres, LERCs, who have already started to map historic orchard sites to generate local maps for Orchards East’s volunteer surveyors. These are Bedfordshire and Luton Biodiversity Recording and Monitoring Centre (BLBRMC), Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre (CPERC), The project builds on the work of their partner Essex Wildlife Trust Biological Records Centre (EWTBRC) organisation, Suffolk Traditional Orchards Group (STOG), Hertfordshire Environmental Records Centre (HERC), using similar methodology to survey orchards and Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service (NBIS) and improving our understanding of traditional orchard Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service (SBIS). management and history. ORCHARDS EAST is an exciting new project now rolling out across the whole of East Anglia. The Landscape Group in the School of History at the University of East Anglia has been awarded £477,700 by the National Lottery for a three year project looking at our regions’ orchards.
The English landscape has been described as the richest historical record we possess. Orchards are an integral part of this landscape, but have been relatively poorly researched; they are important for landscape and biodiversity as well as being a rich resource for local communities. Working across Bedfordshire, Cambridge, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, the project will recruit and train members of the community to survey local orchards. They, and other volunteers, will receive training in traditional orchard management – helping to halt the decline of these vital skills. Head of the Landscape Group, Professor Tom Williamson Orchards East works in 6 counties in the east of England. says: “I am delighted that we have been awarded this Courtesy of www.picturesofengland.com National Lottery grant. Orchards are an important The second component of the project is to raise our heritage resource, both in terms of biodiversity and as understanding and appreciation of orchards, and, in key features in our historic landscape.” particular, those of the traditional form. This means The project has two principal components. The first is trees on vigorous rootstocks in natural or semi-natural nd mapping the historic orchard sites from the 2 Ed OS vegetation (including lawns!). The project will run maps of the early 20th C and recruiting volunteers to workshops for a wide audience across the region on visit as many of these sites as possible. If the orchards different aspects of orchards including planting, still exist, the volunteers will survey them and, in management and restoration as wildlife habitat, crop selected cases, will investigate their wildlife, crop production and crop use, tree propagation and fruit and varieties and historic origins. nut identification. In addition to STOG, many local and regional organizations are already associated with the project, including county orchard groups such as the East of England Apples and Orchards Project (EEAOP), Bedford and Luton Orchard Group (BLOG), Cambridgeshire Orchard Group (COG), Hertfordshire Orchard Initiative and the county Wildlife Trusts.
As the project continues we expect many individuals and local groups to be involved, especially volunteer surveyors, parishes and their community orchards, the Wildlife Trusts (some of which already own traditional orchards), local authorities, garden associations, and, indeed, anyone with an interest in fruit or historic landscape. 9
