Expert Articles

Fungi, what would our woods be like without them?

04.08.2014

by arborist Antony Croft    Ancient Beech with Aurantiporus fissilis   Fungi, what would our woods be like without them? The simple answer is they would not be there! It is remarkable to a mycologist that this concept is not more widely known or appreciated. Trees and Fungi are linked together at the cellular level, […]

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Forestry expert speaks out on proposals for our public forests

10.09.2013

Forestry expert, Rod Leslie, warns against an uprising from the grassroots if Govt gets it wrong over our public forests

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Suits don’t have Ears

17.03.2013

Segments of a lecture given by Landscape Research Groups’, Prof Peter Howard, touching on incorporating community landscapes into NGO/policy maker plans and biodiversity offsetting.

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Chalara fraxinea- Securing our Shores, Protecting our Forests

04.10.2012

Antony Croft shares his thoughts on the importation of Chalara Fraxinea (Ash dieback) to the UK and tells us how we can help.

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A Woodland Culture

20.07.2012

As I step off the ride into the coppice I imagine a cowled and tonsured figure beside me. Here in Leigh Woods near Bristol we know from written records that the Monks of Leigh Abbey were managing these woods in just the same way at least 800 years ago.

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Expert analysis of the Independent Forestry Panel Report

08.07.2012

A friendly analyst within Government has helped SoW understand the shape and depth of the Forest Panels report and suggests how we can help encourage Government to develop the recommendations into forest policy for England’s woodlands and forests, both public and private. Summary   The report makes a real attempt to address the impossible task […]

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Soils & Biodiversity by Dr James Merryweather

16.06.2012

“Each shovel of soil holds more living things than all the human beings ever born.” Dr J Merryweather uncovers and explores the soil beneath ancient woodland…

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Tell me that I’m not alone? by Jonathan Hazell

13.06.2012

Jonathan Hazell is one of the foremost Arboriculturists in the UK and a public face for the industry (You may well recognise him from the Television, recently appearing on the BBC’s One show to talk about Dutch Elm Disease). He is a trustee of the Arboricultural Association.

Here he asks: ‘Tell me that I’m alone in becoming frustrated by bad practice in our everyday environment?’

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Forestry, the Poor Relation of Farming

17.05.2012

Raymond Henderson, Head of Bidwells Forestry Team, has highlighted some facts from Scotland which expose a severe disparity in funding, procedure and lobbying power, which are very useful as case study to further forestry in England at a time when it is ‘up for discussion.’

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Site Specific Land Management Planning

15.05.2012

Pip Howard outlines the vital importance, ecologically, socially and economically, of listening to the landscape and listening to communities when planning land use/management, by using the ancient and down right logical principle of ‘site specifics’.

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The Great British Elm Experiment – by The Conservation Foundation

04.05.2012

The Conservation Foundation tells us about their inspiring work to keep the beautiful Elm tree, almost wiped out by Dutch elm disease, a feature of our landscape

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Fungi-jewels in the arboreal crown

09.04.2012

Antony Croft’s inspiring & very beautiful article on the ‘true masters of woodland ecology’.. fungi..

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Using Soft Power to Protect Trees by Christopher Neilan

28.02.2012

Chris Neilan is well known for creating the CAVAT system that works out the monetary value of urban trees explains the need to engage communities to protect tree & increase tree planting in their areas…

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Blue Planet – Environmental and Development Challenges: The imperative to act

23.02.2012

A group of the world’s leading scientists and experts in sustainable development today called for urgent changes to policies and institutions to enable humanity to tackle environmental crises and improve human wellbeing.

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TREES IN MIND – Blarbuie Woodland at Argyll and Bute Hospital

06.12.2011

Hugh Fife, of Reforesting Scotland, tells us about inspiring research at Blarbuie Woodlands, into the ways Woodlands impact on our mental health and well-being…

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Restoring Salcey Forest

24.11.2011

Rod Leslie talks of the 1990 clear fells in Salcey Forest and the learning curve that led the Forestry Commission to create ‘something quite unique…’

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One Size Does Not Fit All

21.11.2011

Pip Howard explores what is fundamentally wrong with ALL centralised policy, proposals and guidelines with regards land management (including planning, forestry, landscape issues, biodiversity etc.,) in the UK?

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Soils, Sustainability & the NPPF

02.10.2011

Soil is the central hub for sustainability as essential to us and our economic progress as it is to the plants and animals we share our landscape with…

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The National Planning Policy Framework – what future for wildlife?

22.09.2011

Stephen Trotter, Chief Executive of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, writes in a personal capacity about his concerns about the NPPF and its potential to implement aspirations of the Natural Environment White Paper

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Will the NPPF if introduced really help the construction industry or just those on the periphery?

20.09.2011

Retired civil engineer Dr J Flattery explores the reality of the draft NPPF to builders, contractors and landscapers…

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