Ancient trees are living relics of incredible age that inspire in us feelings of awe and mystery. They have helped shape our history, and will help shape our future if we let them

The Woodland Trust is calling for a summer of hugs' with an appeal to walkers all over Britain to help find and record ancient trees as part of their Ancient Tree Hunt project. But while the charity hopes that tree-hugging will encourage more people to cherish these wondrous natural monuments, a girth-measuring embrace is actually a useful indicator of a tree's age.

There are thought to be more ancient trees in the UK than anywhere else in Northern Europe, yet there are no official records kept of their number or location and - unlike old buildings - they have no legal protection. Ancient trees can be found almost anywhere: in parkland, hedgerows, on field margins and along old lanes. In woodland, the oldest trees are most likely to be found on the edges of their historic boundaries.

The Ancient Tree Hunt is a five-year project involving conservation groups, landowners and the general public and aims to create a comprehensive, living database of ancient trees. For full details of how to identify, measure and record your tree, plus interactive maps showing historic sites and recent finds, visit www.ancienttreehunt.org.uk.

The Ancient Tree Hunt involves people like us in finding and mapping all the fat, old trees across the local community and is right at the heart of the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree conservation work. It will create a comprehensive living database of ancient trees and it’s the first step towards cherishing and caring for them.

We understand there are quite a few trees in the local area that have already been documented within the Woodland Trust Tree database. The most notable ancient tree locally, is the Yew tree that stands by the south porch of St Michael and All Angels Church Lyneham, its girth measured at 4 metres 47 cm on 1st January 2003. There are many other trees in the parish, which have local tree protection orders raised against them and we will endeavour to trace the records and display them here.

The next time you take the dog for a walk, or have a family afternoon stroll through our local countryside and woodland, why not look out for the ancient trees and let us know the oldest ones you find. There should be many ancient trees in our oldest recorded woodland areas of: The Strings, Catcomb Wood, Melsome Wood, Ashen Copse, Cowleze Copse, Brickkiln Copse, Hillock Wood and Becketts Copse. The 1821 Lyneham Heneage Estate Tithe map shows some of the earliest recorded trees in our estate more

There is a 'Tree Hug' method which could determine the older trees. A 'hug' is based on the fingertip-to-fingertip measurement of an adult with outstretched arms, which is estimated at about 1.5metres/5 feet (or about the same as your vertical height). As a general rule, a tree might be ancient if they measure: 3 hugs (Oak), 2 hugs (Beech, Cedar of Lebanon), 1 hug (Rowan, Scots Pine), A wrist hug (Birch) and an elbow hug (Hawthorn).