OVER 100 trees including valuable 'veteran' oaks were lost in Richmond and Bushy Parks due to Storm Eunice.

All of London's Royal Parks were closed during the storm which hit the UK last Friday (18 February), causing chaos across the country with trees blocking roads and railway lines.

Now the charity which manages the parks has revealed that 150 trees were lost across the eight parks, with the majority blown down in South-West London.

Three veteran oaks fell during the storm and two other veterans were damaged in Richmond Park, which lost 60 trees in total.

Bushy Park was less badly hit, losing more than 40 trees but with all its veterans left intact.

In a blog post yesterday, the Head of Park Operations Martin Rowland thanked staff for the "major clean-up operation" which took place in the parks over the weekend - allowing all but Richmond Park to re-open on the Saturday.

He indicated that most parks will still bear the scars of Eunice, as fallen trees and deadwood are left in place "wherever possible" to provide key wildlife habitat.

Reflecting on the week of extreme weather across the UK, he wrote: "It's certainly unusual to have three major storms within a week.

"I think these storms have been concerning as they peaked during the day, when people were around.

"On the other hand, we were fortunate that deciduous trees weren't in leaf, unlike the great storm of 1987 which came in mid-October and destroyed 4,500 trees across the Royal Parks."

In a bid to reassure park visitors, Rowland added that the Royal Parks charity has plans to respond to extreme weather to keep people safe.

He said: "It's our job to prepare as best we can for these situations and, this winter, we've been installing weather stations within the parks to monitor weather and its impacts locally.

"These will help us to continue preparing for the future."

What are veteran trees, and why do they matter?

Veteran trees are defined as having features of ancient trees, such as decay and dead wood, but as a result of their environment rather than age.

It is possible that storms such as Eunice could create more veteran trees - but if the damage is severe then the valuable classification may not last long.

In a report from 2008, the Woodland Trust writes: "Stress (eg from drought) and physical damage (eg from lightning) may also create veteran features, although where it significantly reduces the life expectancy of the tree, it will only provide shortlived habitat value."

The report adds: "A veteran may be a young tree with a relatively small girth in contrast