New home for rare poplar trees

ONE of the UK’s rarest trees - at one time close to extinction - has found a home in Cheshire East thanks to a fantastic collaboration of passionate nature lovers.

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The black poplar is one of the country’s rarest native trees, with fewer than 7,000 remaining in the UK as a result of the combined impacts of deforestation, habitat reduction and the preference for faster growing non-native species.

But a countywide collaborative project, between Cheshire East Council, The Mersey Forest, Chester Zoo and the Environment Agency, has meant that the species has now found a new home on a large planting site situated next to junction 18 of the M6 in Cranage.

The council was able to identify two planting sites where black poplar can thrive and the first group were planted at an Environment Agency volunteer day last month.

The council received grant funding through the national Trees For Climate programme which is funded by Defra through the Nature for Climate Fund and administered by The Mersey Forest.