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In: feature, forestry, policy

Today is World Environment Day.  This year, the theme supports the UN’s International Year of Forests and is entitled Forests: Nature at Your Service. The UN says the day will emphasise “the many essential life-sustaining values that forests provide and the intrinsic link between our quality of life and theContinue Reading

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In: feature, nature, silviculture

I wrote this post more than five years ago, and its been one of my most popular ever since. Naturally more excellent trees books have been published in the intervening years and the list is worth updating. I’ve since written my own books so it would remiss of me not toContinue Reading

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In: nature, photo, trees

Deep within an English woodland, while the distant bark of a roe deer echoed between the hazel coppice stools, the nearby sounds of a calling coot led to me to water and a hidden woodland pond.  As I explored the fringes of the carr woodland I came across these luminescentContinue Reading

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In: nature, photo

Here in the south of Britain we’ve experienced our first substantial rain for many weeks, following the driest April and May since meteorological records began.  During a particularly heavy shower while I was in the woods today, I took shelter under a beautiful sycamore tree.  Looking up I discovered thatContinue Reading

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In: feature, science, trees

There is a very good relationship between a tree’s stem diameter and its crown diameter. This can be used in many different ways by foresters, arboriculturists and landscape planners to plan and model tree growth and …Continue Reading

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In: feature, nature

Several honeys are made from tree flowers including one species that is supposed to be wind-pollinated. Here’s a review of some of the most popular, and some less well known, tree honeys.Continue Reading

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In: comment, forestry, science

Earlier this week The Independent newspaper published the winning essay about the future of forests in England.  This was an open competition with an attractive £5000 prize that was announced in February, just before the Government scrapped plans to sell England’s publicly-owned forests.  Read more. About 150 essays of 1500-2000Continue Reading

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In: feature, forestry, photo

There is considerable and widespread evidence that demonstrates exercise in the presence of nature leads to positive short and long-term health benefits for people; in physical wellbeing and mental health …Continue Reading

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In: feature, policy

Despite the sustainable nature of modern forestry in much of the developed world, while deforestation continues in the less-developed world, perhaps forestry will continue to have a poor reputation in the public conscience.Continue Reading

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In: art, feature, trees, wood

“Walnut is without the question the most beautiful wood on earth, ranging from the colour of honey to the rich depth of chocolate-brown, often marked with smoky swirls and streaks of pigment from dark brown to black. The grain can be perfectly straight, elegantly swept, or a festival of waves,Continue Reading