Last summer we decided to build a pond in the wood.  As we have a seam of good clay running through part of the wood, we thought we would try a clay lined pond rather than a plastic liner.  Apparently, a pond requires a minimum thickness of 30cms of puddled clay for an effective seal. As we lugged many buckets of beautiful blue clay from the top end of the wood, across difficult terrain, we realised just what a job this was going to be, even for a modest affair. It was then that we spotted a galvanised feeding trough in a second-hand shop. We bought it, sunk it into the ground, and lined the outside with the clay we had carried from the clay pit.  Pond is rather a grand title for the result, but it serves its purpose perfectly, and has proved to be an asset to some of the inhabitants of the wood. Read more...

Sadly, the number and range of various species in the U.K. is decreasing, biodiversity is falling. Our wildlife-rich areas are actually separated and fragmented, by tracts of intensively-farmed land, by motorways and roads,  and the ever increasing spread of urban areas. The dispersion and isolation of wildlife areas makes it difficult for both plant and animal species to move.  The ability to move around is ever more important as a result of climate change.   Rainfall patterns and average temperatures in different regions are changing, extreme weather events are more common.  For a species to stay in its  ‘comfort zone’, it may need to move ‘northwards’ as climate change continues.    According to a report released by Rewilding Britain, the speed at which species need to migrate in order to stay in their ‘comfort zone’ is approximately some 5km / year Read more...

For many people Christmas lunch will be turkey with all the trimmings, with the emphasis on the turkey.  ‘The trimmings’ are added almost as an afterthought, but then we often take plants for granted.  Apart from supplying us with the oxygen that we breathe, it is plants that not only form the major part of our diet but also offer us an amazing diversity of tastes and textures.   This is true if we look in a bit more detail at Christmas lunch. For a ‘typical’ Christmas lunch, I went to the BBC Good food site.   This suggested that the lunch might be made up as follows : Roast Turkey, Stuffing, Brussel Sprouts,Parsnips, Carrots, Potatoes, Red Cabbage, Pepper, Cranberry Jelly and then Christmas Pudding with Wine, Mulled wine or Beer (according to taste). Read more...

The 1950’s and 60’s saw the destruction of many hedgerows, particularly in farming areas like East Anglia.  The logic behind this was to increase field size and allow ease of access of machinery, like large combine harvesters that were coming available at that time.  The loss of the hedgerows and their associated wildlife is quite well documented, but the loss of ponds that occurred in and around this time has not attracted much attention.   Many hundred of ponds were filled in (often using the debris and material from the destruction of the hedgerows), giving a few more metres of arable land.  The position of these ponds can sometimes be found on old ordnance survey maps.  Ponds across Norfolk have suffered from neglect or have been filled in,  over the last 50 -70 years.  Many are located on farmland and their origins may extend back centuries when they were created as marl or clay pits, sometimes for the watering of livestock; they are sometimes referred to as the lost or 'ghost' ponds..  Some were formed in depressions (pingos) left after the last age. Read more...

The woodlands blog has reported on the anthropocene - how human activity is creating a geological era characterised by human impact on the Earth.  Now a report finds that human-made (artificial) material will this year surpass the sum total of all living material (biomass) on earth. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5 A Swedish study has shown that crop yield can be enhanced  by ensuring that woodland and grassland areas are present in the vicinity of crop fields.    If the landscape is more diverse in terms of plants and habitats, then the number of pollinators (bees snd bumblebees) is greater.   Read more...

While the winter woodlands are now largely bereft of the colourful cornucopia of mushrooms we’ve been seeing over the past few months, bracket fungi abound. It only seems fitting, then, to add a seasonal twist to this month’s fungi focus and take a look at one of our most commonplace and picturesque examples, the Turkey Tail (or Turkeytail), as well as one of its closest lookalikes.   Turkey Tails are very much a fixture of woodlands across Britain, and indeed are widespread throughout much of the world. This catchy common name, which succinctly describes the colours and forms of its variegated fan-shaped shelves, seems to have crept over from America fairly recently. Previously it was known over here by the rather more prosaic yet equally descriptive name of the Many-Zoned Polypore, a fair rendition of its Latin binomial Trametes versicolor.  Read more...

As a chartered forester and one who believes in the responsible management of woodlands for multiple objectives, it was an educational exercise for me to survey and write reports for owners of small “PAWS  (Planted Ancient Woodland Sites) woodlands” in North Yorkshire sold by woodlands.co.uk and their Northern England team. The survey work was funded by the Woodland Trusts Outreach Department and is primarily concerned with improving the condition and resilience of Planted Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) and Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) through ancient woodland restoration processes.  I had the pleasure of meeting a number of different owners across some 13 hectares of mature pine plantation woodland in the Vale of York. The woodlands themselves are an oasis in an intensively farmed landscape. All of the owners I met have the primary objectives of enjoying their woodlands for amenity and personal recreation and looking after them for their nature conservation value. Some had a great deal  of knowledge of woodlands and woodland management , whereas others were starting from a blank canvas but all had a passion for woodlands.  Read more...

During the last Ice Age, much of the UK was covered with a layer of ice up to kilometre deep, or by enormous glacial lakes. Certainly in northern parts, there was no vegetation as glaciers scraped their way across the landscape.  So much water was locked up in the glaciers that sea levels dropped dramatically; we were connected to Europe by areas such as Doggerland.  Details of the glaciation and its effect can be found on the BRITICE site.  When the ice age came to an end some eleven thousand years ago, plants, animals and humans migrated back to the previously frozen and inhospitable land.  Over time, large forests and woodland areas developed.  In the North, boreal forest grew up - represented today by the remaining Caledonian Forest.  Further south, there was the wildwood (as described by Rackham and others). The wildwood was probably a complex and tangled mixture of different trees, with many of the trees either dead or dying through the effects of wind, fire (lightning strikes) and flooding. It would have offered a vast variety of habitats and niches for plants, insects and mammals. Read more...