Wild Service, Sorbus torminalis, in Old Sulehay

Nick Owens and Mike Rogers

Wild Service is described by Gent and Wilson as ‘Very rare. Only a few scattered records in the northern calcareous areas, where the tree is a rare constituent of ancient woodland.’

A search for all wild service trees in the forest was made and their locations defined using a hand held GPS. This gave readings with about 5-10m accuracy. The locations of the trees are given on the table with some observations about each tree, and plotted on a map of the forest. To view a copy of this map, click here.

The main cluster of trees is on the northern edge of the forest in Wansford Quarter. Here there are seven fine standard trees and five well grown suckers. This cluster could all be one clone. There is a separate small solitary tree by the eastern end of the main ride. All but one of the large trees had small hundreds of suckers appearing above ground in spring along the lines of roots radiating from the trunk. These suckers appear in spring with healthy leaves but die back as the canopy shades over, and seem to die off. Where more light enters at the edge of the forest, at the quarry edge, some suckers have developed into small trees. This regeneration is probably reduced by deer browsing.

The position of the main cluster at the edge of the quarry face suggests there may have been more wild service before quarrying operations began. Wild Service is present in four compartments of Bedford Purlieus, but has not been mapped¹. It is recorded as naturally regenerating but seedlings were not recorded. The species confinement to one main area in Sulehay suggests that spreading by sexual means is uncommon, but the small isolated tree may be an example of this. Fruits were plentiful in 2002 and 20 were planted in a pot of garden soil in the autumn of that year. One seedling grew from these 20 seeds. Few or no fruits were produced in the very dry year of 2003.

Management implications

It would be worth making trials protecting suckers from deer browsing to see if more regeneration can be achieved. If seedlings can be obtained, some new planting could be considered to improve the genetic diversity of the population.

No wild service has yet been found in the Ring Haw area, but a thorough search has not been made.

1. Peterken, G.F. 1975. Trees and Shrubs. In: Bedford Purlieus: its history, ecology and management. p.85-100.

Wild Service sites	small root	large tree	sapling/
Old Sulehay	suckers		sucker
	present
TL
06327 98765		*		bare ground beneath
06350 98733	*	*		bare ground beneath
06281 98732	*	*		bramble field layer
06279 98748	*	*		on cliff edge
06228 98713	*	*		crooked branch
06284 98776	*		*	on cliff edge
06285 98782	*		*	3 slim trunks
06298 98773	*	*		on cliff edge
06310 98781	*	*		on cliff edge, one 3m sucker
05803 98425	*	*		western end of ride entangled with ivy
06558 98827			*	by cliff edge
06538 98829			*	by cliff edge