DOWN TO EARTH in The City

Article from The Ecologist "It is a mysterious truth - and one the experts struggle to explain - that Britain has fewer woods than just about any other European country and yet  it has vastly more ancient trees."  http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2989286/tree_reasons_why_ancient_oaks_survived_the_felling_of_ancient_forests_in_britain.html

Interpretation: I recently picked up the notion from a colleague that if hazel was the tree of the 'common people', oak could be thought of as a tree of the land owning upper class; I think she said the "filthy rich", but land ownership seems to be the key precis here; I'd not thought of trees in class related  terms  before, but a most valid point to consider. In times when timber was at the heart of all life in Britain every twig of a tree would have served purpose; although 'small wood' from managed coppice woodland was possibly of equal or greater value than large timber trees.  I've heard of a character, once operating in Uffmoor Wood, Halesowen, named 'Line prop Joe', who made line props and sold them to the people of Halesowen and Cradley in the 1940's and 50's. The wood was closed to the public recently by its current owner the Woodland Trust because of anti social behaviour, involving sex, dogs and drugs, it's almost ro...

Birmingham is regarded as a surprisingly green city, so much so that it boasts the title as Britain's only Biophillic city. This Guardian article explains why - https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/apr/03/birmingham-san-francisco-oslo-global-green-biophilic-cities-club The City and its suburbs, especially to the south and west, seems to emerge from the canopy, or maybe, yet somewhat romantically, sinking into the inevitable reclaiming of nature. For sure the trees are often spoken of in terms of nuisance and liability, but also protected vigourously and energetically, with thousands planted every year by organisations such as Trees For Cities, Trees For Life, Forest Schools Birmingham and virtually all the Parks' Friends groups. A city of trees Many street trees were planted in the 19th and early 20th Century and as such are nearing the end of their unnatural lives. Limes, Planes and Poplars were planted along major routes in a bid to absorb the ris...