I am trying to readjust the balance of ground cover in a small woodland setting within a garden by planting native species that I have seen growing locally, English bluebells, wood anemone and wild garlic.   It is late Autumn and the ground is currently covered in brambles, bindweed, nettles, dock and other unwanted plants. It will be quite a job to clear it manually. I have already planted some ferns in the area, which seem to be thriving in the dappled light of the waterside setting and are shading out some unwanted plant growth but not much. I have also cut back lots of the larger brambles and tall nettles at the edges of the area to let in more light. Read more...

The woodlands' blog has often reported on the problems that bees and bumblebees are facing; these range from habitat loss & fragmentation, changing agricultural practices, parasites (varroa) and viruses, climate change and extreme climate events and the use of pesticides (particularly neonicotinoids). Now there is evidence accumulating that the decline in various bird species  (sparrows, swallows and tree starlings) can be correlated with the use of insecticides.   A group of researchers from Birdlife (Netherlands), the Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology and Radboud University, Institute of Water and Wetland Research have been studying bird population declines at the turn of the century.  Read more...

How many trees are there in the world?  Four hundred billion was the figure often quoted; that is, until this month when a report in Nature has come up with a figure slightly in excess of three trillion.   This approximates to 420 trees for each person on the plant. How was this figures arrived at ?  Well, the team (an impressive array of scientists from Universities and research institutions all over the world) amassed data from national forest inventories, plus peer reviewed studies where forests and woodlands had been studied in detail; this information was then used to inform what was also being seen on satellite imagery. For the purposes of the study a tree was defined as "a plant with a woody stems larger than 10 cm at breast height".  Read more...

Gabriel Hemery of the Sylva Foundation has a deep interest in how woodland owners behave.  He wants to know what's really happening out there so he's been asking people - particularly about how they are responding to environmental change.  Bearing in mind that 92% of British deciduous woodlands are privately owned, Dr Gabriel Hemery points out that it's worth finding out about the attitudes of woodland owners and their managers. Recently he got the views of about 1,500 of those with an interest in woodlands.  It's the British Woodlands Resilience Survey and some of the results were surprising. Read more...

Many of the 'headlines' in newspapers etc.  speak about the loss of particular species (e.g. elephants, rhinos) and whilst these are important animals and the reduction in number of any species is a cause for concern, they are not necessarily good indicators of the threats to the millions of species that seemingly pass unnoticed.   In terms of sheer abundance and, indeed,  diversity of form - the arthropods, and particularly the insects are unsurpassed. In order to know what is happening to our wildlife in general, it is a good idea to take a close look at what is happening to insect populations / species.   Fortunately, this is possible as since Victorian times Read more...