Tree Walk in Alexandra Park

Event Information

Alexandra Park contains a mixture of standard parkland with specimen trees as well as native woodland. Oaks survive from prior to the park's creation in the 1860s, but since then some areas have evolved into secondary native woodland while other areas have been planted with more exotic trees. Alexandra Palace itself was built in the 1870s (twice) on the highest point of the park and was the original home of the BBC. Great views of London.

Some impressive London Planes stand in grounds. Two Giant Redwoods are pushing up to the sky and a very neat trio of Dawn Redwoods sit below the Palace by the road. Many rarer trees can be found in the park including Green Ash, Yellow Buckeye, Wheel Tree. Some recent additions include Tulip Tree, Golden Larch and Persian Ironwood.

During the walk, we will look at some of the plant galls on the trees in the park - oaks are particular favourites as well as looking some off the pest and diseases affecting the trees in the park and elsewhere.

Contributors

Stephen Middleton is a local to the park and knows it and its trees very well. An engineer who now focuses on nature based activities (TCV and local Friends of groups). He has been writing a tree of the month blog for Alexandra Palace website since February 2021. https://www.alexandrapalace.com/blog/tree-of-the-month-april-2022/ He volunteers for the Woodland Trust for Observatree project looking for tree pest and diseases that have sadly become more prevalent in recent decades (Oak Processionary Moth, Ash Dieback etc.). He has taken several thousand pictures of the trees of the park... https://www.flickr.com/photos/47046427@N03/albums/72157627822120270

Organisation

Committee Member, Friends of Alexandra Park - www.friendsofalexandrapark.org

This walk is hosted by Friends of Alexandra Park, London. 

The Friends of Alexandra Park is a voluntary group that promotes the use of the Park, encourages the conservation of its wildlife and protects the Park from unwanted development.