England has more ancient native oak trees than the rest of Europe combined. How did this come about? The reasons are historical, dating back to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the creation of Royal Forests, chases and deer parks, where only the nobility could hunt and where it was forbidden to fell trees. The preservation of these oaks continued through a combination of private ownership of parks, landowner conservatism, overseas timber availability, and the absence of wars. All this and more helped to create an unrivalled 'population' of ancient oaks, important for biodiversity, a unique asset to England. In this fascinating book Aljos Farjon combines history with science, telling the story of how our two native species of oaks have shaped the English landscape over the past 1,000 years. Using data made available by 'citizen science' (gathered by volunteers across the country), he explains this remarkable phenomenon, providing detailed evidence, enhanced by many beautiful images of these stunning trees. This second edition of the award-winning book contains fully updated statistics, taking into account more than a thousand newly recorded ancient oaks in England, as well as descriptions of new and important sites.