Recognising and categorising ancient and other veteran trees

This guide provides a transparent and reproducible method to recognise and categorise ancient and veteran trees. It includes a one-page categorisation key to highlight their distinguishing characteristics, alongside more comprehensive guidance to support anyone to recognise and categorise these special trees.

Over time, different definitions of ancient and veteran trees have caused confusion in categorising them. This guidance seeks to clarify these terms, helping practitioners, volunteers, developers, planning authorities and nature enthusiasts to correctly categorise these living legends. It introduces the life-stage model and the concepts of the developmentally ancient and the chronologically ancient tree, and offers guidance on recognising the significant dead wood habitats that separate veteran trees from other mature trees.