Defra has launched a consultation on a land-use framework for England. This framework should provide the context within which discussions on land-use changes, whether on where to put new forestry plantations or where to put new solar panels. While people may agree with these changes in principle there are frequently objections over individual proposals. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/land-use-in-england… Continue reading What should we do with our land?
Non-native plants in woodland ground flora in the future
The snowdrops are coming into bloom in the woods on the top of Wytham Hill; soon there will be the (garden variety) daffodils and even a plant or two of star-of-Bethlehem: all non-natives, but I will enjoy their beauty none-the-less. They are part of the story of the Woods, mostly probably planted in the 1920s.… Continue reading Non-native plants in woodland ground flora in the future
Sound thinking, but uncertain comparisons
At the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting in Liverpool (2024) there was a soundscape of tropical birds and mammals running in the lecture halls in the run-ups to the start of the talks. Back home I encountered something similar recently when I walked on to Port Meadow. It was still dark but there was a… Continue reading Sound thinking, but uncertain comparisons
Paddle your oak canoe
Waterways are still important lines of communication in parts of Britain: I see the boats going up and down the Thames and the Oxford Canal on my bike ride out to Wytham Woods. Rivers were probably even more convenient highways and transport routes for our ancestors before the development of major road networks, although we… Continue reading Paddle your oak canoe
Forty years ago, a different climate
The past is a foreign country – we really did do things differently then; there were no mobile phones for a start. During much of the twentieth century there was massive planting of trees on peat and other soils with high organic matter, but prior to the 1960s there was not much concern about this… Continue reading Forty years ago, a different climate
Who ate all the dead wood
So much for hopes of an Indian Summer, with, instead, nearly a month’s worth of rain over the course of a weekend: on my morning walk I paddled through water, when yesterday the level had been about 15 cm below the path. In woodland the extra weight of the wet leaves and the soaking of… Continue reading Who ate all the dead wood
Mellow fruitfulness
Autumn turns me into a part-time forager, raiding the blackberry bushes on my morning walk by Port Meadow. It brings back memories of the fields behind my childhood home, the overgrown hedges, with their bramble thickets. The fields sometimes also produced mushrooms, though these grew fewer over the years, perhaps because increasingly the grass crops… Continue reading Mellow fruitfulness
Green, Brown or Grey?
What a difference a month makes; there seems to be a much more positive feel about the country, even though all the old problems are still there. A big one for the new government is the housing question. At this point I should declare my privilege; I live in a biggish house, with a long garden,… Continue reading Green, Brown or Grey?
Forests of Fantasy
There are friends and colleagues who became ecologists because they were keen naturalists as children, spending a lot of their time birdwatching, collecting things, identifying plants; but I think imaginary forests shaped my liking for trees and woods as much as real ones did. I may not be the only one: at a recent conference… Continue reading Forests of Fantasy
A trio of Scottish oakwoods
At the end of April I had a week in Scotland to re-visit some contrasting Scottish oakwoods: Loch a Mhuillin, just south of Scourie, Drummondreach on the Black Isle and Ariundle Reserve on Loch Sunart. Loch a Mhuillin (NC1639) is billed as the most northerly oakwood in Britain: oak trees are found further north, albeit… Continue reading A trio of Scottish oakwoods
The Old Man of Wytham 