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Winter weather, and its effects

Winter weather, and its effects

by Chris, 20 February, 2014, 5 comments

In 2010, the blog reported on the exceptional winter weather.  Back then, we had just ‘emerged’ from one of the coldest winters on record. Currently, we are experiencing one of the wettest winters ever. In December, the East Coast faced storms and a tidal surge (affecting communities from Scotland down to Essex), and then Christmas Eve saw high winds and the cancellation of flights from Gatwick.   January brought some 175 mm of rain in the South East.  The closest comparable January was that of 1948.  A summary of the winter so far can be found at the Met Office web site - here Read more...
Reforesting the Uplands / Drying out the Lowlands

Reforesting the Uplands / Drying out the Lowlands

by Donald McPhillimy, 11 February, 2014, 9 comments

Having been flooded out of my house ten years ago, due to a flash flood, I know that the pain and sadness of flooding is immense.   My heart goes out to those who are battling the rising water levels caused by some of the most extreme weather for a century.   It’s not surprising that in their anger, people are lashing out at the nearest targets. Not enough dredging ?   Dredging isn’t the answer.   Increasing the capacity of the river channel by a small amount is not going to contain the huge extra volume of water spreading across the floodplain.   And it will probably just dump the water on someone else downstream. Read more...
Chopping for Chopsticks

Chopping for Chopsticks

by Victoria, 8 October, 2013, 0 comments

Recently a friend of mine exclaimed that China gets through 80 billion disposable chopsticks a year.  This is enough to fill Tiananmen Square three times over.  With a population of 1.4 billion, the demand for these utensils is eating away at China’s forests, at a staggering rate.  China's natural forest resources are extremely limited (139th in the world); despite this, 3.8 million trees a year are being cut down - that is, about 100 acres every 24 hours. This deforestation is having knock-on environmental effects, causing landslides, flooding and leading to climate change.  One of the contributors to forest over-exploitation is the demand for disposable chopsticks.  The situation is not looking any more promising as the uptake for Asian cuisine is becoming more common across the globe. Read more...
Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Services

by Lewis, 22 August, 2013, 1 comments

We are all dependent on ecosystem services even if we are not quite sure what they are.   At the most basic of levels, early humans benefitted from the products of nature (fruits and seeds to eat, animals to hunt) - that is, food or provisioning .   Shelter from the harsher aspects of climate and weather was also needed and provided; be it by the canopy of woodlands and forests, or the branches and other materials in woodlands used to make a simple shelter. Ecosystem services permeate every aspect of our lives. Take soil, for example ‘Where would we be without fertile soil ?’  Obviously fertile soils provide us with the best conditions for our agricultural crops and for maximising growth in our greenhouses and orchards, but beyond that soil has many important functions. The organic material of the soil, humus, can absorb and retain water.   It plays a vital role is the regulation of water run-off.  Read more...
Our Changing Weather

Our Changing Weather

by Chris, 4 September, 2007, 1 comments

  The press, the BBC and even the Woodlands.co.uk blog have recorded how extraordinary our weather has been so far this year. After a warm April, the weather went somewhat downhill: it has been one of the wettest summers on record, (which on a positive note has ensured that the reservoirs are topped up again). However, it has impacted negatively on many species. The flooding of meadows will have killed voles and shrews, and the swollen rivers may have been too much for many water voles. Bumblebee nests which are often underground will have been flooded or washed away. Read more...

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