from "Martin Sykes" contains
these words:

I want a tree for my front garden which will provide all year round
interest:

Maximum Height: about 25ft
Maximum Spread: about 20ft
Quite light airy foliage which won't cast too dense shade
Soil is about neutral and reasonably fertile, having been an arable
field up
until 3 years ago.

I'm looking for good colour all year round from a combination of flowers,
leaves and/or berries. Possibly something native to be maximum benefit to
wildlife. If that's too difficult, I'd consider combining it with come nice
climbers.

Not much to ask but any suggestions?

Janet Baraclough
writes
One of the rowans (birds prefer the berries of UK native ones), or
there's lovely crataegus prunifolia (a bit slower growing than rowan,
IME, but the berries last longer)

Kay writes
Of course, one way in which trees can 'benefit wildlife' is by providing
berries for birds - in which case 'long lasting berries' and
'benefitting wildlife' are slightly contradictory ;-)

Oh I don't know. I have a youngish weeping Cotoneaster (is it a
Rothschild??) which had a great number of red berries on all through
Autumn, and they were still there in January, and I noticed the
blackbirds eating them in the snowy weather through Feb. By the time the
new leaves were emerging they had all gone. Maybe they aren't that tasty
and were a food of last resort??
--
David