The Guardian and The Independent report allowing trees and woodland to regenerate through the natural dispersal of seeds should become the default way to restore Britain’s forest cover, according to a new report. Natural regeneration brings the most benefits for biodiversity, is cost-effective and may sequester more carbon than previously thought, argues Rewilding Britain.
Tag Archives: trees
Campaign for viewers to plant 750,000 trees launched by BBC’s Countryfile
The Independent reports the two-year plan will encourage viewers to help plant and grow trees in an effort to help tackle the worsening climate crisis. The BBC said the 750,000 target was selected to match the number of children who will be starting primary school in September. The initiative, called Plant Britain, will be launched on Sunday in a special episode of the programme.
2020 will be remembered as a mast year (amongst other things). But why?
Did you have acorns raining down on your head this year as we did? Mast years are when trees across the country produce a bumper crop of fruit or nuts.
Mast years are thought to be advantageous for the trees as they swamp animals which eat the seeds so that a proportion will germinate to form a new generation of trees. 2013 was the last big mast year. NatureSpot reports on why they occur.
Ash dieback takes grim toll on English forests and up to 90% of British ash trees could be lost in 30 years
INEWS reports ash dieback is devastating forests across England, with the National Trust this week warning it will have to fell thousands of dead trees this winter for public safety. Ash trees make up about 20 per cent of woodland in Britain, but up to 90 per cent of these trees could be lost in the next 30 years to the disease.
How an ‘orchard renaissance’ could bring nature back to UK cities
The Guardian reports volunteers are reviving a legacy of fruit trees that stretches back to the Romans, hugely increasing biodiversity – and cider production. Every autumn, cider maker Hawkes asks Londoners to donate apples to its cidery under the railway arches in Bermondsey, just south of Tower Bridge. In normal times, people who drop off a box of russets or royals leave with a bottle of cider from last year’s crop. But 2020 has not been a normal year. Through a trial delivery scheme to continue the exchange during the pandemic, 12 tonnes of apples have arrived at Hawkes in the post.
Gardens help towns and cities beat countryside for tree cover
The BBC reports urban areas are not all high-rise flats and offices, they are also where you’ll find many of the country’s trees. Two London boroughs – Camden and Croydon – were among the top 20 places in England and Wales with the most tree cover, a research project has found. Meanwhile largely rural areas had some of the least – including part of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. Garden trees are boosting numbers in towns, while farming helps explain some of the low rural rankings.
Treedom fighters: Get the kids planting trees this half term
The Sun reports environmental experts say we need to plant 50million trees in the UK each year to slow climate change. This year it is more important than ever. Covid has meant that fewer trees than before have gone into the ground But YOU can help by going into your local park, fields or woods, collecting trees’ seeds off the ground and planting them. If every one of us sowed just one or two acorns this autumn and planted the resulting seedlings next year, we could make a real difference.
Summer is already over with leaves falling from the trees two weeks early, RHS reveals
The Telegraph reports summer is officially over, the Royal Horticultural Society has said, as autumn colours are being seen in their gardens and apples are ripe two weeks early. Many have noticed amber-hued leaves falling from the trees in the last weeks of summer, and the temperature has dropped from the giddy heights of the heatwave.
The early spring heat gave many types of fruit, including greengages and apples, a head start to the growing season, meaning that harvests have come early. Trees and shrubs are turning their leaves as they have been confused and stressed by the recent erratic weather, causing them to prepare for autumn earlier.
Photo by Jack Cousins under creative commons.
England’s tree of the year shortlist – in pictures
The Times shares a photo essay of some of the country’s most beautifiul and magnificent trees, with fascinating stories accompanying them. A sycamore decorated with the shoes of jubilant students, an oak bound in chains and a plane facing the chop, are just three of ten contenders for this year’s title in the annual Woodland Trust competition.
The Crouch Oak in Addlestone, Surrey is amongst them. Chosen, its nominator says “because it’s simply old and Queen Elizabeth I is said to have picnicked under it”. In the early 19th century the tree was fenced off by the landowner to stop local young women stripping its bark to make love potions. [Sorry we can’t find a non-copyrighted photo to show you this glorious tree here. If you have a photo of this tree please do share it with us and we will add it here, credited to you.)
Vodafone teams up with Defra for digital tree monitoring trial
Business Green reports telecoms giant to provide Internet of Things sensors to aid research into tree growth and their potential for carbon for CO2 storage. The government is teaming up with Vodafone to carry out a three-month tree study using specialist sensors to monitor growth and the impacts of environmental change on the UK’s forests, the telecoms giant announced.