THE Cotswold Tree Warden Group held their annual conference at the weekend which included a visit to Batsford Arboretum.

This year it took place in Condicote Village Hall on Saturday (August 2) and chairman Mike Hartnell welcomed delegates and speakers to the event which was opened by Councillor Sue Jepson, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing at Cotswold District Council.

Guy Watson, of Certhia Consulting, gave an educational presentation on how to identify different species of conifers.

It was followed by an illustrated talk by Jon Stokes, Director of Rural Programmes at The Tree Council, who highlighted the challenges posed by ash dieback disease.

The morning was rounded off by Stuart Priest, Director of Operations at the Batsford Foundation, who spoke about the arboretum, past, present and future, including practical elements on conifer identification.