The use of willow for basket weaving goes back hundreds of years and the centre of the UK’s willow industry is the Somerset levels where there are over 140,000 acres of wetlands. These wetlands were originally marshes but over the last 200 years these have been progressively drained principally to create cattle grazing meadows but also willow growing areas (withy beds). Read more...

Sadly, many ordinary gardens in the UK's cities are vanishing. Front gardens are used to create off-road parking areas, whilst many large back gardens are being sold for housing developments. The London Wildlife Trust offers some suggestions on mitigating the effects of the loss of such areas. Read more...

Otters are one of our most beautiful native mammals. They are predominantly nocturnal creatures, feeding mainly on fish and usually live around seven years. They were quite common in Britain up until the 1950s, after which point their numbers started to decline quite rapidly due to the use of agricultural pesticides and habitat loss. Currently, otter numbers are recovering and they are thought to be present in 85% of Welsh rivers. Read more...

Gilbert White (1720 to 1793) has often been labelled the first ever ecologist. He was a curate in Hampshire and Wiltshire and was an extraordinary observer of the natural world, keeping meticulous records of both the weather and the natural world around him. Even when he was away from home on church business he arranged for others to keep up his recordings.  White didn’t limit himself to any particular subject but was interested in woodlands, meadows, architecture and gardening: he even discovered a new species of mouse, the harvest mouse, which turns out to be the smallest rodent in the UK. He is described as the first ecologist because he made accurate scientific records and really studied the interdependence of plants, animals and the weather.   You can visit Gilbert White’s home, “The Wakes”, in Selborne where both the house and gardens are open most of the year (see visitor information at: www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk). It is just outside Petersfield and close to the A3.  On display is the original manuscript of Gilbert White’s famous book “Natural History of Selborne” (1789). Several features of the gardens are unusual or unique: a large barrel is mounted on a raised mound in which one can sit and view the gardens (see featured image above). This was Gilbert White’s invention and is called the “wine pipe”. There is also a laburnum archway, a very large tulip tree and yew topiary from the 1930’s.   Behind White’s garden was, and still is, a beech woodland on a chalky slope (this type of woodland is locally called a “hanger”).   Into this,  Gilbert White cut a zig-zag path that 250 years later still allows the visitor to walk up into the beech hanger. The highlight of our visit, however, was the Tea Parlour where the cakes are genuinely home made and many of the recipes are eighteenth century. The best thing on the menu for us, and we tried almost everything, was ham salad followed by hot fruit scones with jam and cream! Note :The Gilbert White field study centre runs various courses some of which are interesting for woodland owners, such as courses on hedge-laying, bird life, fungi identification and finding “wrigglies” (for children).