In 2022,  we made a decision to buy Coed Bwlch Coch from woodlands.co.uk,  just over four beautiful acres of woodland near our home in mid Wales. Although we knew nothing about woodland management or forestry my partner and I love the outdoors. Just how important this is became apparent when I had breast cancer some years ago - I even camped out near the hospital during my treatment regime. It took less than six weeks to gain ownership. Woodlands.co.uk had two superb representatives on the ground, Ash and Helen. They opened our eyes to the possibilities this gorgeous strip of woods held. They answered all of our novice questions and guided us with ease through the buying process. We have been so impressed with the sensitivity and care taken by woodlands.co.uk to prepare the whole forest for sale. We’ve only owned the woods for a few months but we have already enjoyed dozens of visits. Our first task to cut back loads of brambles in one area where a bit of old stonework was peeking out has revealed a treasure: the ruin of a stone longhouse that pre exists the 1840 Welsh Tithe Maps on land once owned by the Earl of Powis. We are taking baby steps to learn- we’ve invested in some training courses, some decent outdoor clothing, some second-hand tents and handbooks. This year we’ll do some coppicing, harvest firewood for home, build a store, make some charcoal, camp, bring all our friends and family ... but mostly we will feed our souls.  

Compared to some of our European neighbours, it seems that our percentage woodland and forest cover is quite low at 13%; as was recently discussed on the BBC "More or less" programme.  Only Denmark and the Netherlands have similar low levels of cover.  Finland, on the other hand, has almost three quarters of its surface area covered with trees. After the end of the last ice age, trees gradually recolonised the exposed landscape so that vast swathes of the U.K. were covered with woodland/forest - the wildwood. It might be thought that our current low figure is due to increased urbanisation, road/motorway construction etc. In fact, the tree cover is remarkably similar to that at the end of the first millennium CE. More trees were ‘lost’ in succeeding centuries with the expansion of farming, and trees were harvested for boat building and house construction.   The Mary Rose was built using oak and elm. It was the first big ship of the Tudor naval fleet.  It has been estimated that over 600 trees were needed for its construction; that is equivalent to about 16 hectares of forest/woodland. Wood was also used to produce charcoal, which was used to smelt metals, particularly iron.  The history of charcoal burners in the New Forest is well documented. Many woodlands / forests were the preserve of the landed gentry and the aristocracy and reserved for deer hunting.  Anyone caught killing deer or boar from such woodlands could suffer terrible punishments but would more likely be fined.. Woodland and forest continued to be depleted so that by the end of the seventeenth century, the percentage cover had fallen to 8%. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the figure stood at a pitiful 5.2%.  The Asquith administration in 1916 established a committee to report on the country’s woodlands and timber supplies.  This lead to the setting up of the Forestry Commission which was not just concerned with established ‘strategic reserves of timber’ but also trying to create viable communities in marginal areas. Through its efforts over the succeeding decades, the U.K’s area of woodland and forest has increased significantly - though the Forestry Commission’s heavy use of coniferous species (particularly in the 60’s and 70’s) has been criticised.  Coniferous woodland / plantations do not support such a wide range of plant and animal life as deciduous woodland.  However, their current emphasis on diversity (and recreational use) favours a much wider range of species, including broadleaved/deciduous trees and the development of a richer ground flora.

Mesquite is the name given to a number of leguminous shrubs or trees that belong to the genus Prosopis. Many of these plants are native to southern parts of the United  States and Mexico, though one species is native to South America - Argentina. Generally, they are plants of very dry (arid or xeric) regions.  They have the capacity to form very long, deep roots that seek water deep underground. The trees / shrubs are deciduous and their leaves are pinnate (a compound form of leaf); they are also thorny.  The trees produce flowers through Spring and Summer, and the seeds (beans) form in pods.  The trees can be used as a source of timber (for furniture, and in the past ship building). Read more...

Some ten to fifteen million years ago, Iceland supported forests and woodlands of Redwoods (Sequoia), Magnolia and Sassafras.   The presence of such species suggests that at this time the climate was warm and temperate.  Later, in the Pliocene period, evidence from pollen studies, suggest that Pines, Larch, Birch and Alder had come to dominate; species that are associated with Boreal Forest - so the climate had cooled considerably. There then followed the glaciations of the Pleistocene (often simply referred to as the Ice Age) - a geological epoch which lasted from about 2,500,000 to 12,000 years ago.  Glaciers marched across the surface of the Earth, but retreated in the warmer inter-glacial periods. Read more...

After the last ice age, the melt water from glaciers and ice sheets created areas of open and wet habitat. It was a ‘fertile time’ for pioneer species such as willow, birch and alder. Nowadays, wet woodland is scattered throughout the U.K. and Ireland, though western areas with greater rainfall are more likely locations.   Such woodland is associated with poorly drained or seasonally flooded areas, for example, the flood plains of rivers, or the edges of lakes, bogs and fens. Estimates of the area covered by wet woodland vary – but the Forestry Commission gives a conservative figure of 25 to 35,000 hectares. Much of it is relatively inaccessible and of little economic value. In consequence, it is often subject to drainage and/or clearance. Read more...

When in Oxford, it is always a pleasure to visit the Oxford Botanic garden but until now I have never made it out to its ‘satellite’ – the Harcourt Arboretum.  The arboretum is only some six miles away, near the village of Nuneham Courtenay (on the A4074). The ‘core’ of the arboretum is the Pinetum (associated with William Gilpin 1762-1843), where mature monkey puzzle trees and giant redwoods can be seen.   The grounds are extensive including native woodland areas and a  considerable area of meadow (together, these would have originally formed an impressive entrance to Nuneham House).  Read more...

Broadly speaking, Biochar is charcoal that is not used for heating, barbecues or blacksmithing.  It is charcoal that is (often) used for soil improvement and carbon sequestration. Charcoal is created by pyrolysis – that is, the incomplete burning of wood or biomass when oxygen /air is restricted. Typically, full-time charcoal producers have a large, steel kiln* about three metres in diameter and over a metre in height.  This is loaded up with wood, mostly hardwoods such as oak, which have a very slow burn. The kiln is then sealed with a large lid.  To make charcoal, the burn must be slow and incomplete so that the wood dries out and its structure and capacity for burning remains.  This process – converting wood to charcoal – takes some 14-16 hours and produces ready-to-use lumps of charcoal.  To watch the process of charcoal making, visit woodlands TV. Read more...

Biochar may be used to mitigate climate change brought on by global warming, by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking the carbon into the soil, if James Lovelock (originator of the seductive Gaia hypothesis) is to be believed.  Others say the numbers just don’t work.   Biochar is also put forward as a very effective soil improver, which can reduce fertiliser use, reduce pollution, increase crop yields, and as an approach to agriculture may be traced back to the terras preta (black soils) of the Amazonian rainforest. Read more...