The big challenge with planting grants being turned on/off at the whim of Ministers, is that tree nurseries & planting contractors can’t confidently invest in their businesses. Nurseries have to plan 4-5 yrs ahead. If trees aren’t planted they can’t easily be held over to the next year.

I often get asked at this time of year why and how do you continue to fell trees when birds are nesting. Why… because timber crops and habitats need managing. Some sites are only accessible when it’s dry. Timber processors need fresh supplies. Finance agreements and bills 1/3 🧵

Fantastic hammer beam ceiling in the Great Hall of Stirling Castle. The reconstruction used 350 oaks felled in Perthshire, though archaeologists think the original used Scandinavian sourced material, common in the 16th century. Global timber trade as old as time!

Doesn’t quite have the same rhyme…….

Some of the Beech looked as though they were on fire today.

I always look forward to seeing the Davidia out in May. Ideal light today to pick out the “handkerchiefs”.

I’ve retired my faithful 63 plate, DC Toyota Hilux and replaced it with a younger model. So this one is up for sale. It’s been an excellent truck and I’m sure would still serve someone well. 240k miles, but always well serviced and maintained. MOT till Aug 25. £5000 + VAT.

A few decades ago some skilled people felled this area and restocked it with conifer, whilst allowing a bit of broadleaf to carry on around the edges and in odd pockets. Now we're reaping the benefit; timber, wildlife everything we want. Just listen - 1st 30 secs before some berk starts talking 🙄

We need greater diversity in our UK forests - more diversity in age, species and in silviculture. To do that we need to be planting more forests on better soils, lower down the hill. Limiting commercial forestry to the poorest soils, limits what we can plant & how we manage it.

Across Europe we need to be growing a wider variety of forestry crops on a wider variety of soils. It’s not simply less Spruce, it’s more of everything else. We also need to be having discussions about peatlands in a rapidly warming climate. www.thejournal.ie/michael-heal...

Makes me feel a little old (!), but great to see a woodland I designed and planted 30 years ago really coming into its own. Wild pear, blackthorn and wild cherry in blossom. Small-leaved lime, whitebeam and field maple leafing. Hybrid larch towering. #forestry #woodland #trees #landscape

How many springs might they have seen......

Lots to unpick here and demonstrates how tree felling is regulated by both Local Govt planning & tree officers using TPO’s and FC using Felling Licences. If we want better tree protection then we need better funding for more professionals in both organisations www.theguardian.com/environment/...

When we are looking at carbon and managed forests, we need to be carefully considering the whole forestry carbon cycle. We need to considering carbon in forest products & also avoided emissions e.g. using timber instead of concrete. More here www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications...

Great to see this investment in lower carbon Home Grown Homes 🌲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Positive impact on both housing and the Scottish rural economy. www.ttjonline.com/news/scottis...

A number of people were interested in the electric deer fencing we use for protecting against deer browsing on coppice compartments. A number of my coppice woodland clients use this method successfully on a number of different species. 🧵

Not my usual articulate self but to be fair it was a bit spur of the moment and I was a bit pissed off. Which is why I'm looking forward to starting this podcast. Seems to be the fashionable thing to do.

A concise and clear explanation on this week’s SFI situation in England. Morale across our rural sectors is currently very low.

Sharing again for #ForestFriday. The cultural heritage significance of our native woodlands is sometimes overlooked yet is there to be found if we look a little closer. 🌳🌲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💚

Like this old sycamore, clinging to the rock.

At this time of year you have to take the opportunity’s to extract timber when you can. I managed to quickly get out 80 tonnes of produce from the coppicing compartment on Friday, before 8mm of rain fell overnight to temporarily stop it again.

The Dean Bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and took about 3 yrs to build 1829-1831. Perhaps he should have been consulted when work started on repairing the North Bridge in 2018 …

Progress is being made with the current 2ha coppicing job in south Norfolk but it is relatively slow going due to the stool density and small diameter of the product. This is a woodland I’ve managed and worked in for over 17 years and it has a fantastic history. A 🧵

A very happy and richly deserved retirement to Neil Stewart of UHI and the Scottish School of Forestry. Huge impact on 41 years of forestry students 🌲🌳🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 www.inverness.uhi.ac.uk/news/longest...

Another misleading article about U.K. farming and landuse. Some of the quotes and statements in this article have obviously just been made up AI and not checked by sub-editor - right ? www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

We got away with only light damage, so far as I can see in a quick run round, but this was one of the losses. The Ganoderma didn't help. #eowyn #storm

While we support legal reintroductions of once native species, including the lynx, we condemn the illegal release of any wild animal and believe such an approach is irresponsible and damaging to future legal reintroduction efforts. 2/4

Some wood rotting fungi still about. My ident is not perfect but looks like Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) and Ascotremella faginea. Both on a windblown stem.

Goodbye 2024. (Sunset, Moray 31/12/2024)

a new year blue/grey sky message : baffle simplistic algorithms by seeking a diversity of views to build resilience #environmental #dialogue 🧪

mixed tree species nurse crop benefit commercial conifers besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Scots pine - birch - Sitka spruce #forestry #trees #soil 🧪

I planted this Sweet chestnut to replace a dead Elm, that was on a neighbour’s ground. Close call when the Elm blew in the recent storms.

Always good to look at the structure and shape of trees in the winter, this is a characterful old Horse chestnut.

Well, that’s our single leaved Ash finally succumbed to the storms. Out with the grafting knife and harvest some shoots this spring. So if anyone has tips on how to successfully graft Ash, let me know as I have tried before and failed.

This is a good synopsis of current work and future hope for the UK's Ash population. Ash dieback experts identify shoots of hope for Britain’s threatened trees www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I really enjoyed hosting and moderating this in-person event last week curating the space, hiring in audio specialists, being upfront on the ‘house rules’ are key and often underrated elements of a successful event youtu.be/nz-e9Hih8js?... #science #knowledgeexchange 🧪 it’s what I do

Your regular reminder that thanks to decades of Govt indifference to forestry, that U.K. future timber availability will decline significantly … www.tomorrowsforests.co.uk/post/are-we-....

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear tree. Ate it.

As a general rule, articles about carbon capture/storage that include phrases like “as a tree” or “as a hectare of forest” without clarifying age, species, location of tree or forest, are best treated with some caution. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It's publication day! My story Herryea Forest is available in paperback in time for Christmas. It's a children's adventure story set in a made-up forest, inspired by all the forests and foresters I know, and with a twist of history. Order your copy here: amzn.eu/d/eUZ4aYn

Whilst we continue to wait for a credible land use strategy. Here’s some helpful guidance on how we could help reduce flood risk catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/engage...

Read the thread. A sensible proposal that allows continuation of a land based business without penalty but deals with those who are using it as an investment or those who choose to cash in inherited land.