Autumn has arrived, a drop in temperatures, some much needed rainfall (though nowhere near enough yet) and the leaves turning brown. The Woods are starting their winter close-down and I must really get to grips with writing-up the results from the 2023 permanent plot surveys.
The previous recording was in 2018, so normally I would not expect much change over the subsequent five years, but this five-year period was different because of the spread of ash dieback through the Woods. The trend of increasing ash dominance in the canopy ended; bramble thickets in blighted stands grew into 2 m high thickets – no access except with machete.
Plot 460075 in 2018 and in 2023 taken from the more-or-less the same position: note increase in bramble
The five-year plan for the Woods for 2020-2025 did not envisage any major changes to the general minimum intervention approach, but as the canopy gaps increase in the ash patches, it is probable that more planting or other actions to stimulate natural regeneration will need to be considered. This in turn may raise the question of whether at least some of the Woods might be managed with wood production as a specific objective, to provide a more active contrast to those areas being left for nature.
Quite a large Ash Dieback gap; an earlier phase of planting, replacing a larch stand.
The bequest of the Woods to the University in 1942 stressed that they were to used for research and education, but while also maintaining their natural beauty. The research use dominated the next 50 or 60 years but there has been a major upswing in educational use of the Woods, from forest schools for infants to undergraduate and MSc projects. The COVID episode resulted in many people in Oxford becoming more aware of the green spaces on their doorstep such as Wytham: this could lead to calls for more general access to the Woods.
Away from Wytham, the general public awareness of tree pests and diseases has increased though I doubt it will make much difference to whether or not Xylella or Emerald Ash Borer get into Britain. The weather proved interesting as well – with record-breaking heatwaves in 2022, winter floods, and heavy storms, albeit now somewhat eclipsed by what has been happening over the last couple of years. I think we may look back on this period as the point at which almost everyone in Britain really started to recognise the effects of climate change on their daily lives.
Floods and drought
Politically, the five years saw the dying days of the Conservative government, the rise of Reform, and Labour taking control in 2024. While so far, the effects of these changes seem mainly deck-chair manoeuvres, there have been statements made that could herald more major disruption from a conservation perspective – the threat to abolish Natural England from the right; the interest in taking back control of the water authorities from the left; the general pressure to try to speed up the planning process which is perceived by many to be too constrained by environmental concerns.
The way that the latest tranche of Sustainable Farming Initiative payments in England was snapped up in about 6 hrs can be seen as positive sign – a large number of farmers are willing to do more for the environment. However, the downside is that the budget for agri-environment work, if we are to lock in the benefits of past schemes and extend the area covered by new schemes, will need to be very much bigger than it is now. We need to think more carefully about how we allocate land to different uses and this includes the fields between the Woods and the River Thames. Until recently Northfield Farm had been managed by the Food Animal Initiative under a regenerative farming approach. Their tenancy has now ended but it is unclear what changes will be brought in under the new regime.
Finally, from a personal perspective, will 2023 prove to have been my last full recording of the Dawkins plots? They ought to be done again sometime between 2028 and 2030, but will the Old Man have the determination and the legs to go once more into the bramble?
