WHAT do you think of when you look back on your childhood? Chances are, many of your memories involve sunny days out in the country.

But a worrying new survey suggests that today's youngsters are so out of touch with nature that they struggle to identify native British trees.

The Woodland Trust, the UK's leading conservation charity, found that among children aged seven to 14, one-in-seven never played in the countryside with their friends.

When we dropped in at Heworth primary school, we found green-fingered youngsters there certainly knew their oak from their ash.

Helen MacDonald, 11, said: "We know quite a bit about plants and trees because we do a gardening club with our teacher Mrs Wood - it's half an hour once a week outside in the yard and we learn about trees then.

"We also have an allotment in Heworth Green where we grow strawberries and potatoes and are doing growing potatoes."

Maria Moore, ten, said: "I don't know much about trees, but when I am out and about with my dad he knows lots of different flowers and trees, so I ask him."

Edward Gaunt, 11, also said he would not be able to tell one tree from another, but that school trips to the arboretum at Castle Howard and the nature reserve at St Nicholas Fields had helped him.

Their teacher, Kathleen Wood, said she was impressed, but not surprised, these youngsters from her Year 6 class could identify most of the eight types of leaves we showed them.

She said: "A lot of the work we do is based around the science curriculum but we are also all aware in school about the environment and other global green issues."

The school gets funding from the Primary Education Project fund to go on school trips and, although getting transport to venues further a field can be a hindrance, trips to St Nicholas Fields and Hull Road Park can be done on foot.

Researchers questioned 647 seven to 14-year-olds and the oak, one of the country's most famous trees, was identified by 20 per cent of children and due to its festive fame, holly came out on top with more than half - 54 per cent - of those questioned recognising its leaves.

Bottom of the pile were birch and hazel, with only four per cent of children identifying them correctly.

Of the five youngsters we spoke to at Heworth primary, all of them could identify the holly and oak leaves with all of them able to correctly name at least one of the other leaves that they were shown.

Nathan Cooper, 11, said: "I know the most common ones like the oak and horse-chestnut - I don't know how I know, I just do. Some of them we have in our garden at home."

Alice Carty, ten, said: "Most weekends we go to Dalby Forest and we go collecting and if we find anything interesting - insects or leaves - we have a look at them and put them back."

The Woodland Trust's Tree For All campaign aims to engage children with nature and change the landscape by planting 12 million trees over five years - one tree for every child under 16 in the UK and involve one million children in tree planting events. Visit www.treeforall.org.uk for more information.

Updated: 10:53 Wednesday, May 04, 2005