The new ‘must-read’ tree book : “The Ash Tree” by Oliver Rackham
by Angus, 5 November, 2014, 1 comments
When I last saw Oliver Rackham I was infected by his curiosity. Someone suggested, as we walked though a woodland, that one spot might have been historically used for making charcoal so Dr Rackham dived into the undergrowth armed only with a set of keys and dug into the soil and he soon emerged triumphant with some old charred remains, proving definitively that this location had in fact been used for charcoal making. This sort of curiosity and dogged ferreting for facts runs through his new book on the ash tree. He considers what threats the ash tree faces, but he also uses the book as a platform for a wider diagnosis of the state of British woodlands. Read more...