Wildwood - A journey through trees

Wildwood A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin

I was given this book by friends for my fiftieth birthday, so made an uncharacteristic effort to read it; it was well worth the effort.

By the end of the book I found myself in tune with Roger Deakin, who lived my part-time passion for wood, trees, wildlife and trees.

Whilst his chainsaw installation artists were a little hard to take, indeed his artist friends were all from a different universe to mine, his travels in Kazakhstan, Australia and Kyrgyzstan were a delight.

The sections on natural history and the Engish countryside were well informed and informing.

I will probably read again and again, and have recommended to friends and even bought a copy as a birthday present.

He speculates that the evolutionary pressure on trees such as Ash to be respond well to coppicing was from extinct megaforna such as mammoths and mastadons. Which reminded me of my own musings on the reason that Oak dies back in the way it does. The picture is of a scrubby Cornish oak, the sharp, triangular section die-back is no deterrent to a modern, small, browser such as a Row Deer, but might put a mammoth off knocking the tree down accidentally.