What is so special about our Wild Maple tree?

While field maple (acer campestre) is common enough in hedgerows or growing as a bush or small tree in scrubby fields, it is pretty unusual to see it as a full-grown tree.

In our field we have a very old maple tree with a number of great branches, some of which look rotten yet still sprout robust green growth. We know it must be wild because the tree is growing on the very edge of a small limestone cliff – only a bird or the wind could have planted it there.  

To stand under its sheltering branches and gaze out at the white hawthorn blossoms this spring and the bright blue harebells in summer has been a joy. I imagine the miners of old trudging past with their pickaxes and buckets, looking up at the very same limestone cliff, the now great tree then just a little sapling waving in the breeze.  

Last month we were most delighted to see that our old wild maple had itself given birth to a young seedling, growing on the bank nearby.  

Field maple is a sturdy, robust tree. Our only native maple, it can live 350 years and grow up to 20 metres tall. Its timber is very hard and tough. It is attractive to aphids and their predators, including many species of ladybird, hoverfly and bird. Lots of species of moth, such as the mocha, feed on its leaves. The flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees and birds, and small mammals eat the fruits. In autumn, the leaves will turn a rich coppery red.

The fruits are winged and spin in the autumn winds, travelling far and wide – this seems a very potent symbol for rewilding, those spinning seeds inspiring the robust wild regeneration of our landscape that is so desperately needed.