Bull Meadow Park has an online Tree Map

Exeter Civic Society's walk on 10 Sep 2025 led us all around Bull Meadow Park in St. Leonard's. We invited local residents alongside our own members to spend an afternoon with Ed Dolphin from the Sidmouth Arboretum Trust to explore the tree life in this old Exeter park. We had approximately 20 on an interesting walk, despite some rain. Stephen Mariner briefly spoke about the history of the site, before Ed Dolphin and David Solman, Lead of ECS' Tree Preservation Taskforce guided us from tree to tree with lots of information. More than one local resident said this was a very entertaining way of spending a couple of hours. We concluded our walk with a well-earned cup of tea and a biscuit in the Old St. Leonard's Hall, which its owner Katherine Leat kindly had opened for us. If you are interested in joining us for future walks, keep looking on the events part of our website where our monthly walks are advertised.

The real surprise was the unveiling of a Tree Map for the Bull Meadow Park, which easily can be watched online with the google maps app. The link to Tree Map is: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=50.7192851358766%2C-3.526322750000004&z=18&mid=1HqiMiIGVezYEDn0CNRKeOeK7MjiuVGU  The map is still under construction, for example we want to add a short history of the site (red info icon, currently linked to Exeter Memories site).  We also want to add concerns we have about the state of individual trees and whether action is needed. This way the Tree Map will become more than just an identifying tool: it generates general interest in tree preservation, gives local residents an idea of how better to look after our city trees and all of this will help to encourage and support Exeter City Council’s work on the parks and their trees.

There is also a QR code for the map, which will be displayed on the information board at the lower end of the park near the playground.

This project is part of what our Tree Preservation Taskforce is currently doing to reach out to the public, get more citizens interested and raise the awareness for the state of our city trees. For more information, please see our entry under ‘Current Concerns’: https://exetercivicsociety.org.uk/concerns/tree-preservation-taskforce/ 

 

 

 

The Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral  has worked with the Sidmouth Arboretum Trust on a similar map for the ‘Trees of Cathedral Green”. The link to this map is: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1QtQUSvMVaJLWXMg-PfFn93YEqn7m0lI&ll=50.7224321%2C-3.5309671999999948&z=18

The QR code for the Trees of Cathedral Green can be found next to this text.

 

 

 

Photos from our walk on 10 Sep 2025