Groundhog Day

Shock horror probe... Woodland Trust survey says UK woodland is knackered. Tree cover is growing - slowly - but the quality of our existing woodland continues to decline. Have a look at the report - I'm not sure I can find anything to argue with.

I certainly can't find anything which wasn't abundantly obvious 20 years ago. And the rest. If anyone could be bothered to listen to the folk who knew. George Peterken's work on Lady Park Wood was pretty unambiguous, for example. 

This story is typical of two issues which continue to dog UK conservation work, which completely do my head in.

The Disneyfication of nature in popular culture has been disastrous. Deer and Grey squirrels - beneficiaries of this kind of anthropomorphic nonsense - have decimated woodland old and new. Their numbers are madly out of control. I know landowners who cull thousands of Greys every year, without apparently making a blind bit of difference to their numbers. Deer populations are historically very high, most likely unprecedented. Between them they destroy new planting and natural regen, as well as seeing off older trees. There's complete agreement among anyone who knows about the need to tackle both animals, but nothing happens. 

The second issue is how dangerous the current enthusiasm for greenwash is. Tree planting is great! Not necessarily ecologically, but in terms of PR and engagement. How much easier to get people to turn on to new woodland planting than to look after the old stuff, or establishing wetland or species rich grassland. Or even just looking after the trees they planted last year. You can count the trees you plant too for eye catching headlines too - hurrah! It's actual value can be... well... debatable. 

There's a - perhaps surprising - consensus among experts about a lot of what we need to do to roll back biodiversity loss here. Their messages might not be popular or new, but that doesn't make them wrong.