When I lead walks round Wytham I often emphasise the legacy of the Fifth Earl of Abingdon (Montague Bertie), Colonel Raymond ffennell and Professor Charles Elton in the structure and composition of the woods as they are today. I think this this makes an interesting story for visitors, but it is adopting the ‘great man’… Continue reading The unknown woodman

At the beginning of Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins organises a party at which he gives away presents to his guests. We later learn that this is a way of trying to make it easier for him to pass on the ‘one ring to rule them all’ to his nephew Frodo. It nearly doesn’t… Continue reading When do you stop recording a long-term study?

Words are tricky; when I use a word, I know what I mean it to mean (usually), but you may interpret it differently.  This may be because a term does not have a fixed definition – how many hours have I spent in meetings debating exactly what should count as rewilding, or what is and… Continue reading Unmanaged or unharvested?

May’s contribution was delayed till now because the Old Man has started re-recording the 164 Dawkins’s plots in Wytham Woods – we are a quarter of the way through. The plots were last looked at in 2018 when Ash Dieback had just arrived and most of the Woods were still free from the disease.  Now… Continue reading Hedge Garlic on the rise?

What would be the one possession you would grab if you had to leave the house in a rush because it was on fire? Some 50 years ago I was given some pressed flowers on a card for my 21st birthday by a young woman I had just started to go out with. A few… Continue reading Is irreplaceable the same as valuable?

Fortress to freedom – the new approach There is a much more positive mood in conservation circles in England than for some years, a shift from fortress “conservation” to expansionist “nature recovery”. So, three days this week I have been in conferences hearing about legal targets for habitat creation and developers needing to implement biodiversity… Continue reading All aboard for nature recovery?

The University of Oxford acquired the Wytham Estate in 1942-3 and its Department of Forestry was given responsibility for developing a management plan for the woods. This was a logical decision, as there had been informal discussions with the previous owner, Colonel ffennell, before the war about using the woods for forestry teaching. It paralleled… Continue reading A missed opportunity?

It is already the end of January. After a cold spell in December and another last week the weather in Oxford has turned mild again.  Of course, it could still go horribly wrong – think Beast from the East – but woodpeckers have started drumming, bluebells are spearing up through the litter, there are few… Continue reading If winter comes , can spring be far behind

Oak has a special place in the hearts of many people and there is strong support for the conservation of oak and oak woodland. However, what exactly is it we should be conserving? The standard definition of biodiversity refers to the conservation of variety at genetic level as well as that at the species and… Continue reading Conserving oak genes

There are major government targets for creating new woodland and increasing the benefits that come from existing woods. Different types of woodland are needed to deliver different objectives. There are woods where natural processes should predominate but elsewhere various forms of intervention will be used to ensure that a specific mix of products, such as… Continue reading Should we revisit conifer-broadleaved mixtures?