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The wildwood and onwards
The New Stone Age or Neolithic Period saw the development of settlements and farming. The transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer began and gradually spread across Britain. The construction of...
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National Tree Week 2011 – 26th November to 4th December
The Tree Council’s annual tree weeks have been an undoubted success, emanating from the 1973 “Plant a tree in ’73” campaign (some rather cynical individuals chanted “cut it down in ’74”) and must have...
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My Wood
Some of you may know me as I’m the Regional agent for East Anglia. I own my own wood and wanted to share with you my wood over the year. I’m often asked by owners on what commitment in terms of work a...
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A ‘SWOG’ visit to Ferriby Wood
On a beautifully hot and sunny May day, Mike welcomed a group of existing and potential woodland owners to Ferriby Wood, in the Yorkshire Wolds. The purpose of the gathering was to share experiences...
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Yurts, Yurtmakers and camping in a yurt
Recently, I visited the Sustainability Centre in Hampshire where a brand new yurt was being erected. Intrigued, I fell into conversation with the yurtmaker, Henry Dowell (of yurtmaker.co.uk). He...
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Ash dieback – what to do? Pre-empt, plant, persevere, keep calm and carry on.
The last ice age endured for about 100,000 yrs. Some 18,000 yrs ago, mammoths, sabre-toothed tiger and woolly rhino (preyed on by prehistoric man) roamed our land. Thick ice sheets lay to the North,...
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Coppice and wood pasture.
After the last Ice Age, plants, animals and humans moved back into the vast areas vacated by the retreating ice. Plant, and then, animal communities became established and much of the area was covered...
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The Harcourt Arboretum
When in Oxford, it is always a pleasure to visit the Oxford Botanic garden but until now I have never made it out to its ‘satellite’ – the Harcourt Arboretum. The arboretum is only some six miles...
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The new ‘must-read’ tree book : “The Ash Tree” by Oliver Rackham
When I last saw Oliver Rackham I was infected by his curiosity. Someone suggested, as we walked though a woodland, that one spot might have been historically used for making charcoal so Dr Rackham...
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How are owners and woodland managers responding to climate change?
Gabriel Hemery of the Sylva Foundation has a deep interest in how woodland owners behave. He wants to know what’s really happening out there so he’s been asking people – particularly about how they...
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Bud burst and street lights.
Street lighting may make our roads and homes safer places, but it also contributes to light pollution. The bright lights of towns and cities make it difficult for us to see the stars and...
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More productive forestry trees (and Dr Steve Lee).
Since 1960 commercial trees in the UK have become about 25% more productive. This has been achieved through selective breeding, mostly of Sitka Spruce and Scots pine where plants have been chosen for...
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How George Peterken helped to save Britain’s ancient woodlands, and his new...
I met up with George Peterken, the man who has probably done more than any living person to protect Britain's ancient Woodlands. He continues to study woods in fine detail to find out how they...
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“The dream comes true – finding the perfect woodland”
We had talked about buying land for about 15 years and had been looking seriously for about 7 years. We had a fairly big wish list, private, quiet and secluded, not too near a road, but with good...
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A busman’s holiday, part 2
Having put in place the basic infrastructure so that I can store tools, equipment and firewood and have somewhere for shelter and to work, my attention turned to the top two priorities on my ‘to do’...
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July’s Fungi Focus: Ash Dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus)
Members of the kingdom of the fungi can essentially be divided into the two basic categories of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. The basidiomycetes form and release their spores on specialised cells...
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“Neolithic mushrooms”
Some years back, the blog talked about a 5000 year old ‘mummy’ - called Otzi. Otzi was a Neolithic man, and was found frozen, high in the mountains between Austria and Italy. Careful examination...
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Forest and grassland fires
In early Spring this year, both Norway and Sweden reported wild fires in their forests, due in part to a run of dry weather. More recently, fires have been reported in many parts of the world -...
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Winged seeds
What do the seeds of ash, sycamore and maple trees have in common? They all are enclosed in a wing-like structure that helps them disperse - away from the parent plant and indeed each other. Wind...
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Earth, wind and fire – now rain and hail.
Australia has experienced some of the most dramatic effects of climate change - with the unprecedented burning of vast areas of its countryside (see previous blogs). Recently, the weather turned to...
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