orchard maps
Welcome to the Traditional Orchards habitat maps- these have been created as part of the Traditional Orchard Survey.
The inventory will be periodically updated so if you notice any errors, or know of an orchard or fruit trees of particular interest that should be included, please contact lauren.alexander@ptes.org.
You can contribute to the quality of the inventory by volunteering to ‘ground-truth’ our data in your area. This improves the accuracy and detail of the habitat inventory.
More detailed and downloadable versions of the inventory are available from Natural England or Natural Resources Wales;
• For sites in England, GIS (MapInfo and ArcView) versions and an Excel spreadsheet can be downloaded from the Natural England website (select Option 2, the list on the right. Requires registration).
• For sites in Wales, GIS versions will shortly be available from the Natural Resources Wales website. We will put a link up here when these are available.
the maps
On the following maps, red dots are sites that have already been surveyed (ground-truthed) and therefore have more detailed information on what is there and what condition the site is in, and blue dots are sites that still need checking.
• traditional orchards – click here
This map features only those sites that strictly fit the official Traditional Orchard definition. For a full definition of the traditional orchards habitat click here.
• marginal sites – click here
These sites do not fit the official Traditional Orchard definition but are included for interest. The categories are described at the bottom of this page.
• combined – click here
This map combines both the official definition and marginal sites.
marginal site categories
Relict:
A site with less than five trees, or too much space between the crown edges. These are normally left over from a larger orchard and may even be a single (old) tree. Rarely these may be younger trees that have been included for a particular reason of interest.
Long abandoned:
A site that is or probably was an orchard but has become so overgrown that any fruit trees are outnumbered by non-fruit opportunist growth.
Intensively managed traditional orchard trees:
Trees which have some botanical or heritage interest, normally on semi-vigorous or vigorous rootstocks, but the site may be managed with herbicides or pesticides.
Abandoned or organic bush orchard:
Trees on highly dwarfing rootstock often planted in narrow rows but with no evidence of intensive management. Includes sites known to be organic as the biological diversity benefits of this management may be increased; there is some evidence that formerly intensive sites that have become neglected have high biodiversity value.
