We have launched a new survey under our TreeWatch initiative in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society.

Stage 1 of the European pear rust

We are asking volunteers to help by adopting a Pear tree Pyrus communis and observing it regularly for the European Pear Rust Gymnosporangium sabinae.

The new survey has been added to our new look TreeWatch website, which was relaunched last week.  The survey will be promoted by the RHS to their members. Sylva and the RHS will be working closely together to analyse the data.

If you have a pear tree in your garden or nearby park, why not adopt it on TreeWatch and take part in the survey.

Have you adopted your tree yet?

We’ve been busy working on the website for TreeWatch in readiness for its relaunch today.

Many enhancements have been made, building on the success of the pilot during 2010 and listening to feedback we received from early adoptors.  We have also implemented a large number of changes in readiness for future planned activities.

We are hopeful of attracting good interest this year, thanks to several articles in the press and in membership magazines.  These are the main changes:

SCIENCE

Several surveys are now running concurrently.  We have also broadened the science to encourage the monitoring of general tree growth and health on a regular basis, in addition to specific scientific surveys.

• Last year we ran a survey of the horse chestnut leaf miner.  We are repeating it this year.
• We are collaborating with the Royal Horticultural Society to run jointly a pear rust survey.
• We have introduced an Annual Survey to encourage all volunteers to monitor the growth and health of their trees on a regular basis.  This means that if a volunteer’s adopted tree is not the subject of a specific scientific survey, there is now an opportunity to collect data regularly.  This could prove to be an important archive of data in the future.
• We have plans to introduce more surveys during the year.
• We will be working closely with our scientific partners, sharing scientific data, analysing it and reporting on findings.

USER EXPERIENCE

• The sign up proceedure is even simpler.  We ask for just the essential data about a tree: it’s location, the species, and a memorable name for it.  More comprehensive data can be added when a user has signed in.
• Users when signed in can now see all their adopted trees listed together and view them on their own map.
• All trees adopted in the TreeWatch initiative are visible on the explore page where it is possible to filter by species.
• We have developed an ‘orphan’ tree system where users can release their trees if they no longer wish to monitor them.  This solves an issue where years of tree data could be potentially lost.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

In terms of the website, we have plans to add a forum to the site so that TreeWatch volunteers can share experiences, ask questions and contribute in new ways to the work of TreeWatch.  We will also be improving the international functionality of the site.  We will be adding a photo uploading facility.  Ultimately we want to develop a mobile phone app but need to fundraise to make this possible.

We are talking to existing and to new partners about developing the TreeWatch initiative in various exciting new ways.

We would love to hear your views on the new website and other comments on the initiative. 

Have you adopted your tree yet?

Our latest initiative TreeWatch is evolving this month as we start implementing some major developments to the website that lies at the heart of this innovative project.

We launched TreeWatch last year as a small pilot, which allowed us to road test the technology and to build relationships with key partners; notably Earthwatch, Forest Research and The Tree Council.  We wanted to develop a unique initiative that would allow any member of the public to ‘adopt’ a tree and to monitor its health.  For our pilot we ran a survey on the horse chestnut leaf miner, with some 50 trees being adopted by the public across the UK and France using our newly developed dedicated website.

We have since been working behind the scenes to develop an improved version of the all important website.  Some existing users may already notice some subtle changes in place.  Over the next few weeks the development of more features will have been completed and will be published live on the website.  One of the most significant developments is the broadening of the initiative beyond tree health, to include additional surveys and monitoring activities.

We are very excited to have a major new research partner (to be announced) working with us from 2011, and we will be launching a new tree health survey with them in April – watch this space!  We are also talking currently with a number of public and private sector partners to explore other opportunities.

Have you adopted your tree yet?

www.TreeWatch.com

Sylva’s CEO, Gabriel Hemery, will be cycling 15 miles through London and visiting three inner city schools to plant trees on 23rd March.  He is one of  thirty tree professionals who aim to raise money to support important research to battle Acute Oak Decline.  He is looking for sponsors to help him reach, and hopefully exceed, his target of £200.

Find out more, including how to donate online, here

We have now finished the pilot phase of our newest initiative TreeWatch.

We launched the pilot quietly during Summer 2010 with the support of our partners Earthwatch, Forest Research and the Tree Council.  We wanted to roadtest the website and develop the support we could offer volunteers who ‘adopted’ trees.

Overall, 113 trees of nine different species were adopted across Britain, and two trees in France.  Twenty five volunteers adopted horse chestnut trees and looked for the leaf miner that was the subject of our first scientific survey.

We are now looking forward to launching the project in full during 2011.  We will soon have some exciting news regarding our partners, and the subjects for our scientific studies.  Watch this space.  Meanwhile, the website remains fully functional and if you want to have a go by adopting your own tree, please get involved. Visit www.TreeWatch.com

Our pilot of the TreeWatch initiative has been progressing well over the summer.  About 50 horse chestnut trees have been adopted and surveyed across the UK, and one in the south of France.  Volunteers from the Tree Council and EarthWatch have been  asked to help us develop and test the website, and to tell us about their experiences in adopting and surveying trees.

We will continue to survey the distribution of the horse chestnut leaf miner pest until the end of October.  So, it’s not too late for you to sign up and have a go yourself – it is open to any member of the public.

Horse Chestnut trees affected by the pest are very easy to spot at the moment.  They appear to have turned autumnal while other tree species around them are still in their summer greenery.

To find out more and to get involved see www.TreeWatch.com

The Tree Council, one of our partners in TreeWatch, has published an article encouraging volunteers to get involved.  You can read it here

Preparations for the launch of our new initiative, TreeWatch, are progressing well.  We will be working with a number of organisations over the summer months to test a pilot of TreeWatch.  One of these is Earthwatch, who are generously supporting the pilot by offering their intern Nick Kirkby.

Nick will be working with us during July and August and will be helping with the completion of the website, and then busy roadtesting the technology and handling the data as it comes in.  Welcome Nick, and thank you Earthwatch!