The Great British Elm Search

Despite what many people believe, there remain hundreds of mature elm trees across Britain. If you find one and would like to report it to researchers and conservationists, or are looking to see some yourself, check out this great online resource about healthy elms.Continue Reading

Ash trees at dawn in Cumbria

One of my more recent co-authored research articles has been selected as ‘Editor’s Choice’ in The Applied Ecologist’s Blog . The paper, Maintaining ecosystem properties after loss of ash in Great Britain by Louise Hill et al, focusses on the importance of using plant functional traits to predict potential changes to an ecosystem, following the loss of a key species.Continue Reading

Ride for Research 2012 in Reading City

I completed the Reading City leg of the 2012 Ride for Research event last weekend; riding about 21 miles. Thank you to all those who sponsored me. I exceed my personal fundraising target of £200 – today it stands at a little over £350. It’s not too late if youContinue Reading

I have been involved in founding a new organisation Fund 4 Trees. It has been established to support an annual event – Ride for Research – as a fundraiser for tree research in the UK. It has a website which was launched this week at: www.Fund4Trees.org.uk. It is being backedContinue Reading

Today I watched a horse chestnut leaf miner moth, Cameraria ohridella, laying her eggs on the fresh young leaves of a horse chestnut tree. Here’s a short film that I captured. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURZ-GsXyIY The tiny larvae will hatch in about three weeks and start to feed on the tree’s resources.  FirstContinue Reading

The fungus that wiped out 3.5 billion chestnut trees in the USA has been found for the first time in Britain. Chestnut blight, caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica (C. parasitica), has been confirmed by Forest Research scientists on trees in two small orchards of European sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa).Continue Reading

Download

The Independent Panel on Forestry sponsored Forest Research to host a workshop, held on 9 November 2011, to identify the strengths and opportunities of the current research programmes and make recommendations for future research priorities for forestry in England.  The workshop was attended by a range of participants from the research,Continue Reading