Ancient Tree Hunt Comes to the Cotswold Wildlife Park The UK has more ancient trees than any other country in Northern Europe and the Ancient Tree Hunt is a project that encourages people to find and map these trees. The Woodland Trust is working with the Ancient Tree Forum and the Tree Register of the British Isles to create a national living inventory of ancient trees in the UK. Members of the public can send in details of any ancient trees that they come across and this is just what some visitors to the Cotswold Wildlife Park have done, notifying the Ancient Tree Hunt Project of a number of our ancient oaks.
As a result, we were visited by a volunteer verifier for the Woodland Trust who recorded our ancient trees for the project. He photographed them, measured their girth, and plotted their location. Visit www.ancienttreehunt.org.uk to see them on the interactive map and database. Not all the trees recorded are in areas open to the public but the most notable certainly is. Standing right outside our restaurant is a magnificent oak tree which is estimated to be between 600 to 800 years old. The fattest trees are the oldest trees! Our oak, which has been pollarded in the past, has a huge twisty trunk with a girth of 7.7 metres which categorises it as an ancient tree.
Another fine tree recorded for the Ancient Tree Hunt is the Giant Sequoia or Wellingtonia which stands on the lawn in front of the restaurant. This impressive conifer is the tallest tree in the surrounding area and can be seen above the tree line for miles around. Wellingtonias were introduced into Britain in the mid 19th century and our tree would have been planted soon after.
The Park has a large collection of fine trees, old and young, and now is a good time to visit to catch the autumn colours.
August 2007
Giant Amazon Water Lily Flowering
Water Lily Pond 
Water Lily Open at Night 
Water Lily the Morning After
Water Lily in the Day Time Visitors may be lucky enough to see the large flowers of the Giant Amazon Water Lily blooming in our outdoor lily pond in the Walled Garden this month.
The Lily had its first flower in mid August and more flower buds are forming. Each flower lasts only two days. On the first evening the large white flower opens, emitting a fruity scent to attract the beetles which, in the Amazon, pollinate the flowers. The following morning the flower gradually closes. When it opens the second evening the flower is no longer pure white but has darkened to a purply pinkish hue.
The Giant Amazon Water Lily, although grown in some tropical glasshouses in the UK, is rarely seen thriving outdoors in the way that ours is. In order for it to flourish we provide some additional heat to the pond. The leaves of the Lily can grow to over 6 feet in diameter. Our Lily has produced magnificent leaves as much as 4½ foot across this summer.
May 2007
Fabulous New Tree Fern Grove
The Park has recently acquired around 40 large tree ferns from New Zealand, which we have planted as a grove either side of part of the new railway extension - which was recently opened by our local M.P. David Cameron. They have been positioned beneath the shelter of some Redwood trees and will give a magical, almost prehistoric feel as passengers travel through them. These magnificent specimens could develop a frond spread of up to 12 feet. They have enjoyed the recent warm rains and should have developed strong heads by the summer.
These tree ferns are of the elegant slender trunked species Dicksonia squarrosa, which makes a dramatic contrast with the usually seen, slower growing and thicker trunked Dicksonia antartica.
They were supplied by Philip Sharpe of Bladon near Oxford. He is a film special effects and set designer and had been out to New Zealand to collect over a thousand of these beautiful, exotic looking plants for a film set. Philip had harvested them, followed all DEFRA’s regulations, loaded them on to a 40 foot container and got them on their way to the UK.
They were somewhere around the Panama Canal when Philip heard that the film had been cancelled, so he had a thousand tree ferns heading his way for which he needed to find homes. The Park has been a lucky beneficiary of this unfortunate turn of events.
Helpful Hint - Philip recommends feeding tree ferns with bits of banana skin placed in the crown of the plant.
Traditionally Dicksonia squarrosa has been considered to be less hardy than D. antartica. However, these plants have been sourced from an area of New Zealand with seemingly cooler winter temperatures than plants which have previously been available. This combined with their stature, and the trend of less harsh British winters, means that these beautiful tree ferns are now a realistic option for many areas of the UK.
If you are interested in obtaining one of some of these fantastic plants from Philip his details are as follows:
Phone: 01993 813007. Email: Philmlizard@appleinter.net
January 2007
One of the warmest Januarys on record has resulted in an abundance of winter blossom appearing earlier than usual. Many winter flowers are sweetly scented and there is a real pot-pourri to be experienced in the Park at the moment.
The Daphnes are particularly noteworthy with the well-known Daphne odora by the restaurant, while the wonderful D. bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill' fills the air throughout our winter garden. An elegant and seldom seen Daphne relation is 'Edgeworthia papyrifera' which is performing well by the Insect House.
Elsewhere abundant fragrance is provided by Mahonia japonica (probably the best scented of this group), shrubby honeysuckles, Sarcococca, Viburnum and the yellow pea flowered Coronilla glauca .
Flower power is also provided by Mimosa (Acacia dealbata), several varieties of Witchhazel (Hamamelis), Camellias, Hellebores, Clematis balearica varieties and the lovely pale blue Iris unguicularis ‘Walter Butt'. lastly but by no means least, the quintessential Snowdrops along with Winter Aconites are oozing their usual charm.
August 2006
Water Garden
Our new water garden in the Walled Garden is nearing completion and is now open for the public to walk through, offering visitors a lovely new area. It incorporates some stunning use of plants and an attractive pool area with Koi Carp complemented by a small waterfall, and hidden away if you look carefully you may even find a grumpy old man simmering away!
The animal enclosures are not yet occupied, but we have gone all out to custom build what will be a hive of activity in our new Weaver aviary, and you'll have to watch this space if you want to find out what species we have in mind for the enclosure below.
January 2006
New developments in the Walled Garden
Over the course of the next few months there will be some upheaval in the Walled Garden as work begins on new aviaries.
The Walled Garden is about to have a bit of a face lift, as the layout has changed little over the last 35 years. Enclosures have been re-built, improved upon and even extended, but the format has generally stayed the same. The new area will provide a meandering path passing a giant water lily pond with strategically placed aviaries and exotically planted borders, with a surprise waiting around every corner. The first phase of this project is hoped to be completed for Easter 2006, and will also include the re-build of the Giant Hornbill enclosure, which is already well on the way to completion and includes a netted canopy, offering the birds more height to the enclosure.
The Walled Garden FEBRUARY 2006 UPDATE:
Everything is starting to take shape in the Walled Garden. The carp pool and water lily pond are well underway, and pictured is the first of three new avairies under construction... read above!
Agave Victoriae-Reginae Flowers!
A fine specimen of Agave victoriae-reginae is flowering at the Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens in west Oxfordshire.
The 3.3m flower spike makes an imposing sight in the arid borders surrounding the meerkat enclosure.
Agaves are large succulent plants which are monocarpic, meaning that the rosette will die after putting all its efforts into producing its towering inflorescence. In the wild this species growns on the steep canyon walls in the mountains of Northern Mexico and in this country can take over 20 years to produce flowers; this year's flowering has probably been induced by last years heat wave.
“Other agaves have bloomed this year, notably two specimens of Agave americana at Glendurgan Gardens in Cornwall,” said Tim Miles the Park's Head Gardener, “though I am told that the flowering of the smaller A.victoriae-reginae is a rare event in Britain”.
Giant Water Lily Success
One of the most notable horticultural successes at the Park has been the growing outdoors of the Giant Amazon Water Lily from South America.
Although grown in tropical glasshouses throughout the UK, our plant, a Victorian Longwood Hybrid, is one of the first grown outdoors in the UK for many years. Due to its tropical requirements, our pond water was heated to 30 degrees by an external heater, the on arrival from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the young plant was potted into a compost containing a generous mix of Rhino manure.
Learning from our experience, we are hoping to go bigger and better in the future, and may be even persuading the Lily to flower (the flowers are one foot across) and certainly to produce bigger leaves. The huge leaves reach over 6 feet across, eventually decaying to leave a strong network of veins; it was from these vein patterns that Sir Joseph Paxton found the inspiration for some of his most remarkable work, including his design of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
