I first stayed in Kilmartin, just north of Lochgilphead in 2014 because it was close to some woods I wanted to visit, and discovered it was also the centre of a fantastic prehistoric and historic landscape. The Kilmartin Hotel made a friendly and comfortable base. So well worth another visit and an opportunity to go… Continue reading Argyll, without rain or midges
Drought and fire
I went up into the woods last week to see how they were faring in the heatwave: at first site, surprisingly well, especially compared to the grassland. The grasses were dry and sere but much of the bramble under the trees still looked green. The canopy buffers conditions below such that the ground and vegetation… Continue reading Drought and fire
Balanced Ecology
There is a lovely short story which imagines a distant world, where the Diamondwood Forest – from the trees, ground flora, to the decomposers (the clean-up squad) – is in fact one interconnected supra-organism whose controlling being is large turtle-like creature. The Forest realises that the only way of stopping humans wrecking the system is… Continue reading Balanced Ecology
Ash Dieback – fifteen years on
I first encountered ash dieback fifteen years ago in Estonia, although I did not know what it was then: just that the trees in the wood meadows we were looking at seemed to have a strange structure – lots of vertical shoots coming off the main branches. When I asked our local guide he kindly… Continue reading Ash Dieback – fifteen years on
Wytham Park
The Old Man has been taking advantage of the fine weather to do some plant collecting for the Herbarium, nothing particularly special, just adding to the places on the Wytham Estate from which we have recent specimens of common species. The other week I had a wander through the Park. A view of Wytham Park… Continue reading Wytham Park
April Showers
The horrible wet start to the year starts to fade from the memory, as, in the Thames Valley at least, the spectre of another spring drought emerges. Would this roller-coaster in our water supplies be very different if more of the country was under trees? There is a widespread belief that forest cover, at large… Continue reading April Showers
The Woods above my head
We mostly live in the space between the ground and the tree canopy and tend to focus on the plants and animals we can see or sense in this zone: the sight of butterflies flying off ahead of us, the scent of wild garlic, the sound of birdsong from the bushes, the taste of blackberries,… Continue reading The Woods above my head
The magic of spring
Woodpeckers are drumming in the woods; frogs are croaking in our pond. The snowdrops are in full bloom, primroses and celandines starting to open; the ranks of the bluebell leaves are assembling. On the bramble stems fresh green is starting to show in the buds contrasting with the holey, dark greeny-brown of last year’s foliage.… Continue reading The magic of spring
Oxford in the murk now; a warmer murk in future?
Apart from a few flakes we have missed the recent blizzards, much of the high winds while even the flooding of Port Meadow has not been anything out of the ordinary. All the ‘exciting’ weather has been elsewhere in the country. It is fascinating to see how much difference there can be in conditions across… Continue reading Oxford in the murk now; a warmer murk in future?
Out with the old, in with the new
A belated December blog, as the Old Man got a bit overwhelmed by other jobs before and after Christmas. So, ‘another year over and what have you done’ sang Lennon. Well, the new book about the Wytham Estate and the research carried out there went through the final publication stages. All seemed under control, until… Continue reading Out with the old, in with the new
