how to record your special tree

Recording trees is easy! All you need to take with you when you measure trees is a recording form, a tape measure, ruler, pen, a map and a digital camera if you have one. This is the recording form we used.

Special tree form (59 KB)

For help with tree identification download a tree identification sheet. Alternatively, collect a leaf from your special tree and use the Tree name trail to help you identify the species when you get home.

Identifying conifers can be a challenge. A volunteer from the Special Trees and Woods Project wrote these useful hints to help identify different conifers. We hope you will find it as useful as we have.

Conifer ID notes (58 KB)

Project volunteers put together this useful leaflet to identify trees from their bark.

Bark Identifier (1.15 MB)

Project volunteers found that some special trees have lots of epicormic growth. To help measure the girth of such trees, they wrote these notes.

Measuring trees with epicormic growth (41 KB)

Some of the special trees in the Chilterns are avenues of trees, especially avenues of lime trees. Project volunteers discovered that recording trees in an avenue can be surprisingly tricky. We wrote these notes which give information about lime avenues and some handy hints on measuring avenues.

Special Avenues (52 KB)

To record the height of your special tree you might like to use the method outlined here. Project volunteers also wrote these notes on measuring a tree using a homemade sextant.

Measuring trees with a homemade sextant (38 KB)

Taking good pictures of special trees and woods can be difficult. Volunteers from the Special Trees and Woods Project wrote these useful notes with hints on how to take better photographs and to explain some of the many photographic terms.

	Photography Workshop (2.53 MB)
	Definitions of photographic terms (451 KB)

The following notes were compiled for a training event about historical research. We hope you'll find them useful.

Historical research techniques (1.06 MB)