Nature is the biggest public clock, but it operates in ways that contrast with our rather industrialised way of measuring time.  Nature's time is seasonal and much less uniform than the digital clock but it is also more forgiving.  Things happen in a woodland when the time is right, rather than as a result of man-made regulation, and this very "natural" sense of time is what many people like about being in woodlands.  Owners often tell us about how their woodland is an escape from modern life but it is particularly the escape from being a slave to clock-time which comes across most strongly.  This enjoyment is of course linked to taking "time out" - it is a good thing to take time off work but it is a further escape to get away from being organised according to the clock. Read more...

The National Forest Wood Fair, to be held on Bank Holiday Monday 29 August, is one of the nation’s top celebrations of trees, woodland and lovely things made out of wood. Nestled amongst the trees beneath the craggy rocks of Beacon Hill Country Park, the National Forest Wood Fair is a brilliant day out with over 100 exhibitors and demonstrators. This annual event regularly attracts over 5,000 people, who travel from all over the country to see lumberjacks, chainsaw carvers, bodgers and bat box makers, willow weavers and woodturners. Read more...

When my wife, Jill, and I bought seven and a half acres of Welsh hillside woodland in the middle of winter 2011 we would have struggled to explain why. In fact, Jill had hardly seen the woods before we committed to them. It was all about vague dream and possibilities. My first visits were in the depth of a very wet Welsh winter, there were streams formal and informal everywhere; what trees there were were bare and unrecognisable; the ground uneven and treacherous with moss and gullies. What were we doing? Read more...

That seeds are dispersed by animals is well known; most elementary texts on biology are littered with a variety of examples. Fruits (and their seeds) attract animals with the edible parts; from fleshy fruits - plums, mangoes, berries,  cherries etc for frugivores, to various nuts.  As the animal searches for and collects the fruits (monkeys in the forests, squirrels in the woodlands), some may be lost or discarded on the journey ‘home’.  Other fruits / seeds cling to an animals by attaching to their fur / clothing using various hooks or barbs – a classic example being cleavers or goosegrass. Some seeds are dispersed incidentally; they may be lurking in muddy soil and adhere to the hoof or foot of an animal, bird or human, or be carried some distance by car or tractor tyres. However, many species of plants have an ‘unseen’ army of helpers – ANTS.  Ants disperse seeds in two distinct ways.  Read more...