Live discussion on restoring small woodlands, with Doug King-Smith and Tom Barnes.

[@sonyaparkin7841]

Biodiversity inspires me, seeing nature flourish and seeing living things I wouldn’t otherwise see. And getting to do hands on things 💚

[@woodonthebrook8313]

Great to hear the cubbington pear get a mention, although utterly tragic

[@josianeclark1797]

Getting involved with woodland is a huge learning curve. There is a disconnect between what we think we know, and what we should ALL learn about the wood. Personally, I bought my wood as a way to hopefully protect it from being built on. Plan being making it so special they would have to leave well alone. But part of the learning has been that no management is literally no management. That you have to make changes to help safeguarding the whole. However, that I need to teach passers by that what is happening is necessary and why. The rewards, well being, exercise, pride, as well as the feeling of actively doing more than donate £3 a month to adopt a cuddly toy is huge. The National Coppicers Federation are actively looking at finding ways to educate more people to the benefits of properly managed woods. Great films, btw, Jos

[@spencersanderson1894]

I want to own a piece of woodland so I can carry out Coppicing and green crafts, how does someone with very little money go about doing this? The woods I have been looking at are 30 grand for 3/4 acres which is ideal but quite a bit of money for someone who doesn’t have much, just don’t know if there are other ways to go about it.

[@WoodForTheTrees]

Watch the film here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naatgI19a6qEmMk

[@WoodForTheTrees]

Any questions for us? Please post in the comments...

[@chrisdean9448]

It's good for me to watch your films. Last year I was lucky enough to find a very small field which hadn't been maintained for 25 or 30 years which I bought at only £2,195 an acre. I bought it because I wanted to do something for wildlife and to make a small contribution to carbon sequestration. It's only 2.5 acres, one hectare, (so it's not small but miniature) and it was overgrown with bramble with a lot of tree waste on site and a large area of unimproved grassland. I can't see how to make such a small field into a financially viable woodland so I will be concentrating on planting and growing trees for wildlife. In terms of planning permission and buildings:- the planning officer advised me that as long as any shed was easily removable, i.e. on wheels, then they weren't bothered. I suppose RSPB and Chris Packham speak up for woodland, but who speaks up for forestry? Who is the champion of forestry in UK? Thanks for your videos.

[@StreetBoi69uk]

The good news is that there is definitely an interest in the stories that are inspiring people towards proper woodland management and interaction. Just think how successful 'H is for Hawk', 'Norwegian Wood', 'The Hidden Life of Trees' and more are in Waterstones, where this genre was front and centre during Christmas 2019. Also, lockdown has forced people to evaluate the things that really matter in life, such as nature. Your work couldn't be more timely Tom. I would also suggest that Lord of the Rings trilogy, but particularly the Fellowship of the Ring, is a timeless classic that can't help but make us love our trees and our land.

[@WoodForTheTrees]

Thanks, it is encouraging that there's increased interest woodland creation, tree planting and how nature is valued. There are conflicting ideas about how we should interact with the land, and so a big part of this project is about exploring those different perspectives.