My parents and I have recently purchased a piece of woodland of about 3 acres, in Devon, called Beauchamp woods. It is a mixture of semi-natural ancient woodland, larch plantation and a clear-felled area. This is the perfect mixture for us. We wanted to give something back to nature by preserving a small piece of habitat for wildlife, whilst enjoying spending time in our woods. We are loving it and find it very rewarding. I have some knowledge of woodland management and conservation through my education and work and it is great to have the opportunity to put this into practice. My main aim is to maximise biodiversity, I want it to be the best habitat for as many species as possible. Read more...

When is a thorn a thorn, and not a spine or a prickle?  Generally, these terms are used casually and interchangeably.  Botanically speaking, they are all ‘spinose structures’ that is hard, rigid extensions or modifications of leaves, roots, or stems - all of which have sharp, stiff ends. They all have the same role - to deter animals from eating the plant that bears them. Spinescent is a term that describes plants that bear sharp structures that deter herbivory.  Thorns, spines and prickles are mechanical defences as opposed to chemical defences, such as tannins and phenolics, which create an unpleasant taste. However, there are differences between these ‘structures’. Read more...

About 2 months ago, mid-lockdown, I had a major calamity: my outbuildings burned down (see image below), cause unknown although the fire brigade investigating officer suspected a carelessly discarded cigarette butt (the buildings back on to a road).  Although it was originally a stable block, built by the previous owner of the property, I used it as workshop / equipment store / timber store. Everything went: trailer, wood-chipper, ride-on mowers, chainsaws, brush-cutters ….  Even now, after 5 A4 sides of contents lists for the insurers, I am still remembering other things that were stored there. After a couple of days wandering aimlessly around the wreckage, looking at a heap of ash and cinders which had previously been a stack of oak boards that had been seasoning for about 3 years, I started ‘tidying up’ – shovelling the ash into heaps and sorting the remains into separate stacks: wood, metal and other / unidentifiable. Read more...

Aspens in the United States have been the subject of a number of research studies.  The quaking aspen (Populus  tremuloides) has been used to  study intra-specific variation in a tree species - previous studies have focused on quick growing (herbaceous plants), looking at differences in growth, leaf shape /size, and flowering. the chemistry of the trees’ defences (tannins)  The response to rising carbon dioxide levels - the aspens have grown faster. To add confusion, there is also a European aspen, Populus tremula,  which is known as the quaking aspen, like its American counterpart.  The ‘quaking’ or trembling of the leaves is due to the nature of the leaf stalk or petiole, which has a flattened shape and is very flexible near to the base of the leaf.  The leaves are round with blunt teeth distributed somewhat irregularly around the leaf margin. The leaves of the European Aspen are more coarsely toothed than the American Aspen.  Young leaves have a copper tint before becoming green and then in autumn they turn a vibrant yellow before falling.  Both American and European quaking Aspen species can spread by suckers that form underground away from the parent tree.  The plants so formed are clones, that is they are genetically identical to the parents (ramets). Read more...

I have to confess woodlands have always intrigued me from being a child, be they small, intimate woodlands consisting of a few dozen tree’s or vast forests covering 1000’s of acres. There was always something, something special or magical even. Then you grow up of course and the world takes on a whole new perspective, then ‘magical’ often takes a back seat if it gets a seat at all.  I did dally with the idea a little when my daughter reached an age where rugged outdoor play was on the agenda but never to the point of pursuing it to make it real, too much else happening in life, just too busy. But then my Mother passed away, her last dying wish was that I ‘feed the wild birds and  look after wild flowers and trees’. It’s at these points in life you are forced to stop and take stock, and here was a sign, surely?  Read more...

In Spring, or earlier if winter has been mild, queen bumblebees emerge from ‘hibernation’, from their nests.  They then need to feed, having more or less exhausted their bodily reserves during the cold of winter.  Their food comes in the form of nectar and pollen - both of which can be in short supply in early Spring. Whilst the bumblebees may need food, flowers also have a ‘need’-  pollinating agents - particularly bumblebees.   The inter-dependence of flowering plants and insects probably evolved many millions of years ago, back in the Cretaceous Period. Read more...

It seems that the UK is losing the battle to eradicate the giant hogweed.  It is an invasive species which has been described as the country’s most dangerous plant. Many efforts have been made to eradicate this plant.  Local authorities can make use the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to enforce control of the weed.  Sadly though Plant Tracker has recorded hundreds of sightings across the four nations of the U.K. Its scientific name is Heracleum mantegazzianum and it belongs to the same family as the wild parsnip, the Apiaceae. It is sometimes referred to as the giant cow parsnip, the giant cow parsley or the cartwheel flower. Read more...

It is worth mentioning that while the majority of the hard pyrenomycetous fungi that are the subject of this two-part post are decomposers of dead wood, and therefore invaluable to any woodland ecosystem, there are types that are less benign. For example, one might question why anyone would need to be able to identify the 90 species of Rosellinia, none of which have a common English name and are nearly identical in all aspects aside from their dimensions, until one realises that a number are serious pathogens. Rosellinia desmazieri, for example, can attack living willow trees. There’s a tropical species called Rosellinia bunodes that causes black root rot on a wide range of cash crops like coffee and bananas, while closer to home we have Rosellinia necatrix, another root rotter. Read more...