Today I read and article in the online ‘Conversation’ – my daily news feed from the world of academia. It’s the story of how a piece of land adjacent to an ancient wood was deliberately abandoned 60 years ago to see what happened. And it’s a fascinating contribution to the planting (plastic shelters; imported trees; cost) versus rewilding (slow; natural ecology; cheap) debate. For my own part, I think the crucial factor at Monk’s Wood was the adjacent ancient wood, a perfect source of naturally regenerative seeds and seed spreaders. The same process would be much slower where new woodland plots are isolated.
