The trend in the weather since the 1980’s has been for a general increase in temperature.  Perhaps, in consequence, new species of dragonfly and damselfly have arrived in Britain from the warmer climates of Southern Europe. The following species have been recorded to date the Willow Emerald the Southern Migrant Hawker the Southern Emerald Damselfly the Vagrant Emperor the Small red-eyed Damselfly and the Dainty Damselfly. Read more...

The ‘progress’ of the horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) has been reported in the blog from summer 2006 to more recently, when a national survey was under way.  This small, but highly efficient parasitic moth was first ‘discovered’ in trees bordering Lake Ohrid in Macedonia in the mid-Eighties.  It was later described as species new to Europe, and since that time has managed to spread through almost all of Europe. Read more...

No, it is not the title of a new Stephen King novel but the arrival in the UK of Dikerogammarus villosus.  This large freshwater shrimp has its home waters in the region of the Caspian and Black Sea.  However, the opening of the Rhone-Main-Danube canal has allowed it to progress through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. Read more...

It's often hard to get children to eat fruit. On a woodland camping trip we found a good way to get them eating and cooking apples and bananas. Your fire needs to have been alight for some time: this is usually an activity to do after supper, before the children run off into the woods to finish their den-building or exploring. Read more...

Dendrochronology seeks to gather information on tree rings, dated to their year of formation, and to use this information to established the age of artefacts (like the timbers of a boat or remains of house) or determine the nature of the climate in times past. Annual rings form in temperate trees because the xylem vessels or early wood formed in late spring and early summer (when lots of growth occurs) are wider and lighter than those formed in late summer & early autumn, which are narrower and darker (sometimes called the late wood).  A light and dark ring together constitute one year’s growth.   In winter, there is no growth. The various branches of dendrochronology (dendroarchaeology, dendroclimatology) are based on the uniformitarian principle.  This says that the various factors that currently influence tree growth and hence tree ring development will have operated in the past.  Through knowledge of these factors (physical and biological) that have influenced current and recent tree ring growth, it is possible when looking at tree ring samples from old wood artefacts / timbers to ‘reconstruct’ the climate of the past. Read more...

In our recent report [pdf file here] into woodland ownership we found that financial gain had a much lower level of importance than factors like conservation, wildlife and wanting to ‘get away from it all’.  Less than half (40%) of the owners we surveyed said that the purchase of the wood as an investment was quite or very important and only one in ten said that its purchase for tax purposes was important. Half (51%) said that having the wood as a retirement project was very or quite important, and we are often approached by individuals in this stage of their lives. They often have access to a lump sum via their pension pay-out and with today’s low interest rates they view a wood as a living investment which they can share with friends, children and grandchildren. Read more...

We recently surveyed 149 woodland owners to find out why they bought pieces of woodland, and what they did with them. The full report can be downloaded here but you may be interested in some of the key findings. Unsurprisingly we saw that for the great majority (89%) a love of wildlife was an important factor in buying their wood, as was having a place where they, their family and friends can relax in some solitude (90%), conservation (86%) and to have a source of wood fuel for their own use or sell to others (75%). Read more...

The Forestry Comission has just announced the first results of the National Forest Inventory (NFI); the NFI replaces the National Inventory of Woodlands and Trees (NIWT).  The 'woods and trees' inventory has been compiled (using various methods) since the 1920’s when there was considerable concern about the ‘stock’ of woodland and timber that could used in an ‘emergency’; e.g. when it was not possible to import timber from Europe or ‘The Empire’ as was the case during WW1. Read more...