In what can only be a direct response to our post on the Skippinish Oak being made the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year, The Telegraph scrambled to release their article on Britain’s 20 greatest trees

In our post on the Skippinish Oak yesterday, we allegedly uncovered an alleged scheme by Big Oak to take over the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year Awards, filling the nominees with Oaks that they control to make it impossible for any native tree to ever win the prize again.

For legal reasons, I can’t say if the Telegraph is running cover for the Woodland Trust in their 20 Greatest Trees article, or if they really are championing Britain’s greatest trees.
But all that alleged speculation is allegedly beside the point: we are here for the trees, dang it!

Minus the trees (oaks) already nominated for the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year, here are the Telegraph’s Top British Trees.
It’s a rich mix of Yew, Apple, Scot’s Pine, Beech, Sweet Chestnut, Hawthorn, Common Lime, Sycamore, Black Poplar, Black Mulberry, a freakish little rare Pear whose smelly flowers are said to bring back memories of decaying scampi enjoyed over a musty carpet, another Oak, and one lonely remaining English Elm clinging on from bygone days:

• Downe Yew, St Mary’s churchyard, Kent
• Ankerwycke Yew, Runnymede, Surrey
• Newton’s Apple, Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire
• Constable Pine, Hampstead Heath, London
• Tortworth Sweet Chestnut, St Leonard’s church, Gloucestershire
• Hethel Old Thorn, Hethel, Norfolk
• Charlton House Mulberry, near Greenwich, London
• Holker Lime, Holker Hall, Cumbria
• Preston Elm, Brighton, East Sussex
• Tolpuddle Martyrs Sycamore, Tolpuddle, Dorset
• Major Oak, Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
• Plymouth Pear, Derriford, Plymouth
• Llangernyw Yew, St Dygain’s church, Llangernyw, Conwy
• Newton Black Poplar, Newtown, Powys
• Plas Newydd Beech, Llanfairpwll, Anglesey
• The Pulpit Yew, Nantglyn, Clwyd
• Fortingall Yew, Fortingall, Perthshire
• Drumlanrig Sycamore, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries and Galloway