State of UK Woods and Trees report from the Woodland Trust

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ancient beech tree, photo by Nick Turner, for Woodland Trust, used with permission

The Woodland Trust's State of the UK’s Woods and Trees 2021 has just been published and gives a mixed picture of our trees and woods. 

Woodland cover in the UK has more than doubled over the past 100 years, but many of the new trees are non-native. Our native woodlands are in poor ecological condition and woodland wildlife is declining. 

Woodlands are vital. They offer valuable habitats for a range of wildlife, they capture carbon to help reduce the effects of climate change and they offer pleasant places for us to spend time, contributing to positive mental and physical well being. 

Woods and trees in the UK currently face a variety of threats to their very existence. These include climate change, pollution and destroying woodland to make way for so called green infrastructure such as high speed rail links. 

We need to plant more trees and create new woodlands, but even more we need to protect the ones we have. A mature woodland is so much more than the trees, it is home to a wide variety of plants and animals from mosses and lichens growing on the trees, to the birds, mammals and insects that live in the woodland. A plantation of newly planted trees will take years, even decades to create a natural community as rich as that found in a mature woodland. So we desperately need to stop cutting down healthy mature trees and we need to stop destroying mature woodland.

Read the  summary of the report on the Woodland Trust website here and read the full report here.

Enchanting Woodland Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland by Lisa Schneidau

 

 With an introduction that outlines the history and ecology of woodland in the British Isles, this book is a collection of thirty-two woodland folk tales retold by ecologist and storyteller Lisa Schneidau.

The stories are arranged thematically, starting with Wildwoods and working through themes such as Hunter and Hunted to end with The Path Ahead. Each theme is given a short intrduction to put the stories into context. Additionally each individual story is given a brief historical note. These notes give an interesting background to the stories and add to the reader's understanding of a storytelling tradition rooted in our woodlands. 

Schneidau has told these stories to many audiences and they are designed to be read aloud. Each flows with a beautiful rhythm. Some stories focus on human protagonists, some mythical, some based on historical persons, other stories focus on the lives of animals and birds of the woodlands, and in many of them fairies and pixies play an important role. The characters in some stories are able to shapeshift - becoming different animals at will, which is both a magical ability but also seems to underline a deep connection with nature. Many of the stories emphasise the relationships between people, animals and the woods and the importance for humans to look after the woods and the creatures who live there.

Some of the stories have particular resonance for our current times, probably most clearly The Woodland Under the Sea in which the elite party instead of protecting their community against the rising seas in Cantre’r Gwaelod, today the site of a vast petrified forest which is now under the sea.  'The fertile plains, farms and woods they had once known were submerged, save for the occasional rooftop of a tall building, and all the people had perished.'

My favourite story in the book, The Green Women of One Tree Hill also contains an essential lesson about living within our ecological means. Three brothers inherit the land surrounding the three green women (the only trees now left in an area that was once abundantly wooded). This is a very moving story of the need for a good relationship with nature, and includes a beautifully written overview of the ecological history of the area where the tale is set.

Similarly, The Tree's Revenge is a cautionary tale about what happens to those who steal land and trees that don't belong to them.

Auld Cruvie is another classic tale of the need to live in harmony with nature and includes some particularly lovely descriptions - 'Jack also learned the calls and the language of the birds. He learned their alarm calls that all the creatures in the woods knew, foretelling danger. He learned their quiet contact calls of the woodland at peace. He knew the tiny chatter of the subsong when winter turned to spring, as teenage robins experimented with their new-found notes. And best of all, he learned the bird songs that set the woods alight with joy.

In Herne the Hunter the reader is introduced to Herne, a figure who we might wish we could resurrect today:

In times when England is in great need, or great danger, a shimmering figure can be seen riding through the great oak, beech and hornbeam trees of Windsor Forest at night. He wears great horns on his head and a chain at his neck. Two other hunters ride beside him, and ghostly hounds charge forward all around. He is the god of the Wild Hunt, Herne, the Horned One, and his business is to protect our land from harm.

Most of the stories have some sort of take away moral, whether it is how to live in a better relationship with nature or with your siblings or not to be greedy. The message however is always told within a story that is engrossing and enchanting and sometimes very entertaining.

I couldn't help smiling at The Giant with Seven Heads which tells the story of Jack, the reluctant hero who kills the giant with seven heads when all he wanted was to find rabbits. Similarly Pixy Led is very entertaining, particularly the wife's reaction to her husband's claim to have been stolen away by the pixies when in fact he'd been drinking in the pub.  

This is a great collection of stories to tell in a group (or in a video call) or to read quietly by yourself. 

Enchanting Woodland Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland by Lisa Schneidau, published by The History Press.

Disclaimer: I was sent a free e-book of this title in exchange for a full and honest review.

International Day of Forests

This year for International Day of Forests the theme is Urban Forests and Sustainable Cities. The urban forest includes all the trees in a city, street trees, those found in parkland and in private gardens.

In the UK urban forests have made it into the news a lot recently, given the shocking fact that Sheffield (once known as a very green city) has been destroying many of its street trees. Gone or threatened are historic avenues of lime trees, monuments to those fallen in the wars and a rare elm tree that is resistant to Dutch elm disease and home to a very rare butterfly. As if this isn't bad enough, those people who have been protesting the tree fellings havebeen treated as criminals, charged in the courts or in some cases injured when police have attacked them in the streets.

It's not just Sheffield though. Edinburgh City Council recently removed all the beautiful trees from Picardy Place so they can improve the traffic flow - the trees were removed almost overnight and with barely enough time for the ink to dry on the so called consultation on the traffic measures. The beautiful trees around Meadowbank Stadium have a very uncertain future under plans to modernise the stadium and use 'excess land' for housing and other developments.

Urban trees provide many benefits to urban communities, from cooling the environment and saving energy, to providing health benefits and building resilience against floods and storms. They should be nurtured and celebrated not destroyed for the sake of traffic.

Trees for Cities is the only international charity working to create greener cities.  Since 1993, they have engaged over 70,000 people to plant over 600,000 trees in urban areas.  They plant trees where they will have the greatest social and environmental impact on local people and their communities.  In London for example this might mean planting trees to clean the air while in Nairobi it may mean planting fruit trees for food.

Woodland Trust protects and creates woodland across the UK, some of their woodlands are near or in urban areas. 

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I took the photo at the top of the post in the woodland area at Musselburgh Lagoons today. Coincidentally, my poem Traffic was posted today (which is also World Poetry Day) at Plum Tree Tavern.

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As ever, red text in this post contains hyperlinks that take you to other websites where you can find out more.

Woodland Trust Volunteer of the Year Awards!

Crafty Green Boyfriend and I travelled down to Grantham in Lincolnshire on Friday to attend the Woodland Trust Volunteer of the Year Awards ceremony at the Belton Woods Hotel. I was delighted to have been nominated for one of the awards.

On the Friday we arrived early enough to have a dusk walk through part of the lovely wooded nature trail that runs around the grounds of the hotel.

Yesterday morning we revisited the nature trail to explore it a bit more before attending the event. It's a nice area of mixed woodland

we were tempted to wait to see if a badger would emerge from the hole! We found another hole too, the sett seemed to be quite extensive

 and we were impressed by this little patch of oyster fungi

Less than impressed to see this sign on the fence, but then this is England, not Scotland, where we have the right to roam....

Then we returned to the hotel, scrubbed the mud off our shoes and went to the event

The event consisted of speakers, a three course lunch and an awards ceremony. I was delighted to be shortlisted for the 'Juniper Award' which recognises volunteers who provide their voices to protect and raise awareness of woodlands and the work of the trust in protecting them. It was great to see the videos about the work of the winning volunteers in the various categories, a very inspiring group of people!

So thank you  to the Woodland Trust for a great event to recognise the work of volunteers and  in particular for shortlisting me from such a large pool of inspiring volunteers!

Also thanks to Belton Woods Hotel for being a great venue, the nature trails were a great draw, but also the food is great and the staff  are incredibly helpful and friendly. Though the hotel corridors are a maze!

Gossip from the Forest by Sara Maitland

Subtitled 'The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales' this is a mix of reports of walks in forests and woodlands around the UK alongside retellings of fairytales with their sources in woodlands.

This book appeals to me not only because I love forests, but also because several of the forests featured here (Airyolland Wood, The Purgatory Wood, Glenlee and Knockman Wood) are to be found in Dumfries and Galloway, where Maitland lives and which is co-incidentally one of my favourite holiday destinations!

Maitland has a keen interest in not only the natural history of the forests, but also their cultural history, the way that humans have shaped the woods and vice versa and the way that stories have grown out of these same woods. She contemplates how different types of stories arise from different types of woodlands and the connections between stories and forests and critiques our current cultural relationship with wild places:

'Stories and woodland are alike in a particular way - they are specific.... Stories and woods are actual not abstract.... To know about woods you have to go into woods. So if we want healthy children in healthy forests we need to get the children out into the forests, and to do that we need to see the forests as friendly, generous places.....'

The retellings of the fairytales are engaging and refreshingly new, making this a real treasure trove of a book for anyone interested in how our landscape and culture interact.

Gossip from the Forest by Sara Maitland published by Granta Books and printed on paper 'from responsible sources'

Do you have a favourite tree?

Trees are wonderful, they are beautiful to look at and they offer homes to wildlife and shade on a hot day like today.

European Tree of the Year has been running for four years now as a way of celebrating the most iconic trees across the continent.  It is a way of drawing attention to trees that have played important roles in history or that are threatened by development (you can read here about a tree that is threatened with destruction as it stands in the way of the controversial high speed railway line that would link London to the north of England).

Nominations are open to any living tree in the UK with a story to tell and any individual, group or organisation can enter a tree until midnight on Sunday 30 July. You can nominate your tree here.

From these nominations, judges will create shortlists for each nation (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Then the public will vote for the winners in each country. This year we will be selecting just one tree from this public vote to represent the UK in Europe in 2018.

Sadly even a winning tree is not guaranteed protection. Shockingly Sheffield City Council in Yorkshire seems to be on a mission to rid the city of trees! It is intent on removing street trees, including a beautiful avenue of lime trees and an old elm tree that is resistant to Dutch elm disease and home to rare white letter hairstreak butterflies. There is huge opposition to the council's moves, but they seem to be ploughing on regardless. You can sign a petition to save the butterfly hosting elm here. 

Do you have a favourite tree? Feel free to write about it in the comments section and if you're in the UK, remember to nominate it for Tree of the Year before the end of the month!

Woodland Trust events and volunteering

Yesterday I took part in a very interesting Woodland Trust Volunteers Gathering at the Water of Leith Conservation Trust Visitor Centre.

Matilda Scharsach, Volunteering Development Officer with the Woodland Trust in Scotland talked about the work of the trust carries out across Scotland, conserving and promoting the value of ancient woodlands and trees. She outlined some of the varied opportunities available for volunteers, ranging from survey work to photography to recording threats to areas of ancient woodland. You can find out more about volunteering with the trust here.

I then gave a short presentation on my work as a volunteer Super Campaigner (you may have noticed most recently for example my blog posts on the trusts campaigns including the General Election campaign and the Bluebells Survey.)

After a delicious lunch, I lead the group on a guided walk round Craiglockart Dell along the Water of Leith (this is part of the area I cover in my weekly river patrol and is classified an area of ancient woodland as it has been constantly wooded since 1750 (the Scottish definition of ancient woodland)). I concentrated on the plantlife and birds, though I did talk about the local history as well, as this part of the river (though you would hardly believe it now) used to host several mills.

Several more volunteer gatherings will be happening in Scotland in the next few months. Everyone is welcome to go along, both current volunteers and those interested in the possibility of volunteering. You can sign up to more than one event as they all offer different interesting activities! The details of these events are:

3^rd June

	Stirling University	Find out more about our Ancient Tree Hunt and the Ancient Tree Inventory, and go on an Ancient Tree Hunt with us, recording ancient trees in the university grounds.
10th June	Backmuir Woods, Dundee	Learn more about our talking Trees speaker project, and afternoon tree and wildflower ID walk.
17th June	Traquair House and St Ronans Wood, Borders	Photography workshop in the grounds of Traquair House and in St Ronans Wood
26th August	Lang Craigs woodland, West Dunbartonshire	Find out more about how we manage this woodland and go on a plant ID walk in the woods with the Site Manager and a very knowledgeable local volunteer.
16th September	Drumlanrig House, Dumfries and Galloway	Find out more about our Ancient Tree Hunt and the Ancient Tree Inventory, and go on an Ancient Tree Hunt with us, recording ancient trees in the grounds of the house.
23rd September	Ledmore and Migdale Wood, Spinningdale, Highland	Find out more about our Seed Collection Project whereby we are collecting tree seeds for the Millennium Seed bank at Kew Gardens, and then join us with collecting seeds in the afternoon. Evening BBQ including local Woodland Trust venison, and a chance to stay overnight help us to build a revetment on the Sunday!

 
You can find further details of these and other events across the UK as well as find details of how to book here.

If you are looking for conservation related volunteering opportunities, I can definitely recommend both Woodland Trust (wherever you are in the UK) and Water of Leith Conservation Trust (if you're in Edinburgh)!

Ask your General Election Candidates their views on trees and woodlands

 woodland in Craiglockart Dell, by Water of Leith

 
I love walking in the woods and I am very aware of how important trees are! They offer homes for wildlife and brighten up our city streets. Woodlands are vital habitats for a range of species and help to reduce the risk of flooding and lower the local temperature, compared to nearby urban areas. Through photosynthesis they remove carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen. It has been shown through several studies recently that walking in the woods is a great way to relax and can have positive impact on mental health.

For all these reasons, trees matter! But it is clear that not everyone agrees. The city of Sheffield in England has recently seen almost wholesale removal of its street trees, which has lead to plenty of protests.

Very often decisions about trees and woodland are made at a local level and it seems like only yesterday we were writing to our local election candidates asking their opinions on trees and woodlands. But many decisions that affect the planning process are made at a national level and we need our politicians at Westminster to stand up for woodlands and the general environment. The Woodland Trust suggests that these are some of the questions you may want to ask your candidates:

Do they support a register of ancient woodland and ancient trees to help to identify and protect these vital habitats?

Are they committed to the European Habitats and Birds Directives to be enshrined in UK law once we have left the EU? These directives have proven to be very useful (though not perfect) in safeguarding many of our most precious wildlife sites.

Will they put woodlands and trees at the centre of land use planning?

Will they champion the health and wellbeing benefits of woodlands?

Will they work to increase tree planting rates to increase tree cover in the UK, which is one of the least wooded countries in Europe?

Will they make the most of the benefits trees and woodlands can bring? These benefits include reducing the risk of flooding and improving air quality.

You can join the Woodland Trust campaign here to contact your General Election candidates.

The Woodland Trust General Election campaign pdf is here.

The Woodland Trust priorities for the UK 2017 General Election can be downloaded here.

I also recently blogged about general environmental issues for the forthcoming UK General Election.

I am a volunteer campaigner for the Woodland Trust and tomorrow will be speaking at and leading a guided walk at their Edinburgh Volunteering Gathering, an event for everyone who volunteers or would like to volunteer for the trust. There may still be time to book, you can find out more here.

Very Important Trees!

I'm currently leading a series of walks along the Water of Leith, telling people about the natural history and the industrial history of the river. It's a fascinating river and I think everyone is enjoying finding more out about the area!

Today we were in Craiglockart Dell (part of the stretch of the river that I regularly look after for the Water of Leith Conservation Trust). The autumn colours were magnificent (they're a little further on now than in this photo, which I took last week. I don't generally take my camera on these walks to avoid it distracting me from leading the walk!)

The Dell is a wonderful area of woodland, described as ancient woodland as it has been consistently wooded since at least 1750, though it's not an entirely natural wood as many of the trees were deliberately planted by the owners of the country estates that used to own this land or in the case of the hornbeams the mill owners planted them as their wood is so hard and useful for making waterwheels.

Trees are so important to our landscapes, for keeping our air clean and for their aesthetic value! That's why the Woodland Trust is calling for an official register to classify, celebrate and protect the UKs best loved trees! You can find out more here!

Help the Woodland Trust to protect Ancient Woodland

As many readers of this blog will know, I regularly volunteer with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust to help look after Colinton Dell, a beautiful area of ancient woodland along the river. (The photo above shows the orchid meadow surrounded by trees.)

Ancient woodland is defined as woodland that has been continuously wooded since 1600 (1750 in Scotland). Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in those years was likely to have developed naturally. The ancient woodlands of the UK are our oldest native woods and contain our oldest and most impressive trees. They are our richest land-based wildlife habitats but have, in their own right, no legal protection against inappropriate development or poor management.

The Woodland Trust works to protect the UK's forests and woodlands and has launched a new campaign to ensure that our ancient woodlands are given more protection so that they can flourish into the future and continue to offer homes for wildlife and enjoyment for people.

You can find out about this new campaign here.

One specific area of ancient woodland that is threatened with inappropriate development is Smithy Wood, near Sheffield. Local developers want to destroy this wildlife rich area of ancient woodland to build a motorway service station. You can find out more here.

Ancient woodlands are too valuable to let them be destroyed. These special places need proper protection - now.

Tree of the Year under threat from proposed high speed train link

The Cubbington Pear Tree in Warwickshire is believed to be over 250 years old, one of the oldest and largest wild pear trees in the UK. This tree has become a local icon and recently received over a third of more than 10,000 votes cast by members of the public in the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year contest.

The tree joins the Suffragette Oak from Scotland, Peace Tree in Northern Ireland and ‘Survival at the cutting edge’ from Wales and 12 other trees from across Europe in the European Tree of the Year contest in February 2016.

Sadly. the Cubbington Pear Tree, along with another 20 ancient, veteran or notable trees lies within the  construction boundary of HS2 Phase 1 (the route of a proposed new high speed rail link). It is therefore likely to be destroyed for the sake of reducing journey times by a small amount.

One of the reasons this tree won the Tree of the Year accolade is precisely because of the threat to its existence from HS2, in the hope of raising awareness of the potential devastation that HS2 could cause to ancient trees and the natural world in general.

If you're concerned about the future of Britain's threatened trees then show your support for the Woodland Trust's V.I.Trees campaign, which aims to create an official register to catalogue and protect Trees of National Special Interest across Britain.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more. 

The beauty of ancient woodland and a date for your diary

As many readers of this blog know, I regularly volunteer with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust. Colinton Dell, the area which I help to look after is a beautiful area of woodland, defined as ancient woodland as it has been continuously wooded since 1750 (this is the Scottish date for ancient woodland, the date is different in England and Wales). This doesn't mean that the whole area is made up of native woodland dating back that far, in fact a lot of hornbeams (non-native to Scotland but native to the south of England) were planted when the area was full of mills (the hornbeam wood is very hard, ideal for construction of mill parts). However this has been mostly woodland since 1750 and the areas where the mills once stood have mostly been reclaimed by nature.

A beautiful autumn day like today is one of the best times to appreciate the beauty of ancient woodland:

The bridge over the Water of Leith at Colinton Weir

a bench on the Water of Leith Walkway above Colinton Weir

the underside of a harts tongue fern showing the spores

fallen fruit from a lime (linden) tree

contrasting autumnal colours by the bridge in Colinton Village

fallen leaves on a mossy wall by the river

an ivy flower - this ivy bush was in fact covered with insects - a few hoverflies, common wasps and a red admiral butterfly, none of which allowed me to take photos!

a yet to be identified fungus growing in the grassy area near the old Bogs Mill.

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Recent research has shown that Scotland's ancient woodlands are generally not in great condition, so the Woodland Trust has set up a campaign to save them. You can see their infographic that highlights the problems here and you can read more about the background to the campaign and how to get involved here.

Woodland is not only a beautiful place to spend time and a valuable habitat for wildlife, but it also offers solutions to the problems caused by climate change, including flood management and reducing the temperature of urban areas. Climate change is also the biggest long term threat to ancient woodland. Therefore the Woodland Trust is joining the People's March for the Climate on 28 November (Edinburgh and Cardiff) and 29 November (London and Belfast). You can find out more and add your name to the list here.

Woodland Trust leaf identification swatch book

I was delighted to win this leaf identification swatch book in a recent Woodland Trust online tree identification quiz.

It is a beautifully produced guide to 32 of the most widely seen trees of the UK. The book is small enough to fit into a large pocket but large enough that most of the leaves are shown at life size. It's laminated for easy use in the rain and with the pages easily displayed alongside each other so you can compare and contrast the different species.

Each tree is represented with a photo of its leaf and bud

with on the back of the page some facts about the species

I'll definitely be using this with my nature walk groups.

This is just one of a series of Woodland Trust wildlife identification swatch books. You can see the whole range here.

I reviewed the Woodland Trust fungi identification swatch book here.

Forests Futures

Anyone who reads this blog, will be aware that I love woodlands and forests. 

I was very concerned when the UK Government decided in 2010 to sell off England's public forests and relieved when the power of half a million people objected caused the Government to U-turn and keep the forests in public ownership.

The Government has set up a survey that will inform a new ‘management body’that will look after

England's publicly owned woods. The Woodland Trust is one of the stakeholder organisations that have been asked to respond to the 15 questions the survey poses. They are keen to make sure that their response includes the views of the general public  on the important issues this raises, such as:

what you thinkthe new body should and shouldn't do? 

Who should be part of it? And 

 Where should the money come from to keep your woods thriving and free to enjoy?

The Government's survey closes on Sept 25th. Tell the Woodland Trust what you think by 18th September so your views are included in ourofficial response to the Government'slatest plans. 
>>

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more. 

Woodlands Matter!

Wood of Cree, Dumfries and Galloway

 As you will have noticed, particularly from my recent posts about our holiday in Dumfries and Galloway, I love woodlands and forests. They are beautiful places to relax and offer wonderful habitats for birds and other wildlife. Trees and woods also provide real value for money and help meet many policy challenges, from health to housing to the economy, just by being them.

So therefore it's vital to ensure that the UKs woodlands don't face cuts in the next UK Government Spending Review.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander MP has a lot of difficult choices to make in the upcoming Spending Review. 

We need to make sure that woodlands and trees don't suffer from severe cuts - last year they were faced with a 30% overall reduction. The settlement DEFRA (the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs) receives in the Spending Review includes funds to enable the Forestry Commission to provide grants for woodland expansion and management. These grants ensure, for example, that adequate funding is in place for the 5,000ha per year of planting that the Government has identified as necessary to achieve its goal of 12% woodland cover by 2060 (we are currently at 10%, one of the least wooded countries in Europe!). It also pays for vital research and continues the fight against tree diseases.

In their latest campaign, the Woodland Trust have created a play on the iconic banknote for supporters to send to the Treasury, as a reminder of the enormous return we reap when we choose to invest in trees, woods and forests. You can send your note via email or download a copy to post it straight to the Treasury today! Take action here.

The Spending Review will be announced on June 26th.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more. 

Wood of Cree

Last year when we visited Dumfries and Galloway, our only really good weather occured on our trip to the beautiful Wood of Cree RSPB reserve near Newton Stewart. This time, our only bad weather occured on our visit to the same wood! We had hoped to find all 70 of the woods summering pairs of pied flycatchers to be dancing in a sunlit glade during our visit, but obviously they were hiding because of the dull weather.

Wood of Cree is mostly a beautiful oak wood

with a lovely stream running through it, edged with plants such as wood sedge as shown in the photo below:

it's also interesting geologically as there are several erratic boulders in the woods, that were deposited there during the Ice Ages:

On this visit we were also able to visit the scrub area of the reserve (which last year had been cordoned off due to an infection in some of the trees). This is a lovely open area, where we saw spotted flycatchers and I think we heard cuckoos here too.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.