Battle to save traditional orchards

The English landscape is in danger of losing one of its classic features, conservationists have warned as they launched a bid to save traditional orchards.

More than 60% of traditional orchards, which can have as few as five trees, have vanished since the 1950s as a result of development and conversion to other uses and pressure on small-scale producers from commercial fruit growing.

As a result the countryside is in danger of losing local fruit varieties and important habitats for rare species such as the noble chafer beetle and the lesser spotted woodpecker.

Traditional orchards, made up of varieties of fruit trees such as apples, pears, plums, damsons and cherries, also provide sources of pollen and nectar to bees, which are thought to be declining partly because of a lack of suitable food.

The National Trust's head of nature conservation, Dr David Bullock, said traditional orchards had been "disappearing at an alarming rate over the last 60 years".

"We are in real danger of losing these unique habitats - and the wildlife, local fruit varieties and their rich heritage - and if we don't act in some cases we will not even know what local varieties of fruit have been lost."

Natural England and the National Trust are putting some £536,000 into a scheme to reverse the decline of traditional orchards - a habitat which has been earmarked as a priority for conservation under the Government's biodiversity action plan.

The project includes the appointment of an orchard officer to champion the cause of traditional orchards, efforts to raise awareness and use of local fruit varieties and surveys to get a better understanding of the habitat.

There will also be work to improve the condition of existing orchards and to create new ones, as well as training workshops to teach people how to manage an orchard through planting, pruning and propagating fruit trees.

Kate Merry, the orchard officer, said: "We now have a real opportunity to reverse the decline of traditional orchards and recognise the important role they play in our cultural and natural heritage; if we don't act there is a real danger they will not survive the 21st century."