We are home to some 100,000 of the oldest trees in Europe. But is our neglect and ill-treatment in danger of killing them off?

Above crumpled grey roots like the enormous feet of a prehistoric elephant, leaves form a vaulted roof as grand as a cathedral. Huge limbs stretch out for 24 metres on each side. They smell damp. Stand beneath "the Tree", as this magical old beech is known to anyone who walks this corner of the Chilterns, and you feel in the presence of something living and breathing. Its trunk is polished smooth from admirers who have scrambled ...

Read the whole story on Environment: Wildlife | guardian.co.uk