A muddy trip to Savernake forest in Wiltshire to search for veteran trees. This pot bellied oak is believed to be around 1100 years old . Once in the middle of a vast forest, its now on the verge of the A346 which is a fast and twisting road towards Burbage and Salisbury and cuts through the south-eastern flank of this heavily wooded area.
The tree was secured with a iron girdle about 20 years ago by the forestry commission to stop it splitting into two. I think it looks pretty angry with its current location!
It took me about a hour to search for the tree, on muddy forest tracks. I stopped at the car park by the campsite and explored on a electric mountain bike with the help of a local ordnance survey map and aided by the lack of vegetation at this time of year.
