You sure?
Hate to point this out but Sussex is not England. It's just one teeny county. In the time of the doomsday book estimates were that only 15% of england was still forested due to clearing for agriculture. By 1750 that was down to maybe 7%. Now we are on the way to get back to the levels of 1000 years ago. Those are Defra numbers so might be wrong, but do you have a more accurate source?
Hate to point it out but England is only one part of the island off the European mainland. The vast oak forests of Cymru were still in existence until coal mining really took off and the Highland Clearances didn't begin until well after that little drunken wastrel Charles Edward Stuart (unfortunately a a blood relative of mine) had destroyed the Highland way of life.
The Doomsday book was put together by foreigners, the Norsemanlanders and people lied because forests like everything else were taxed. An interesting point is that before the Romans left they had cut down all the biggest oaks in England. Luckily as the Romans were crap at fighting in mountainous territory because of the way they fought, they could never establish a real foothold in either Cmyru or Alba, so their forests survived.
I'm sure that Americans and Canadians know only too well that forest fires start with tinder dry undergrowth, introduce lightning or vermin that deliberately start fires and then it all begins. A lot of forest fires in France and Spain are started deliberately. They caught one s/head in the South of France and found out that he had started fires in more than one year. Having visited the south of Germany they make a point of clearing the undergrowth. This never happens in Portugal or Spain.
It's one thing to see the aftermath on TV and another in person. It took me a whole day to pass through the wasteland of what had been the Valencian forests. It used to be the case that students in the USA could get work as fire monitors on platforms built above the tree line. A great job if you wanted to study intently in a summer before exams. I met one American who loved the tranquility, maybe that doesn't happen anymore.
It would be ecologically sensible to reforest the moors of the north of England and lots of the Scottish highlands and stop the unprofitable hill farming everywhere and replant with conifers. I know there is a lot of anger in Scotland at the planting of Sitka spruce used for making pallets. These plantations are dead zones for everything else. There's no comparison for nature lovers walking through natural mixed forests or dark coniferous ones. I always wanted to get to Romania and spent time in the forests there after the fall of the Romanian dictator and Red Fascism as only he and his cronies were allowed to hunt, so the forests there were teeming with wolves,bears and the forest bison, same goes for the forests of southern Poland.
One of the reasons my wife and I love France is that almost everywhere there are big woods and lots of forests. The vast majority of the French really do care about the land and it shows - check out the helicoptor shots during the Tour de France and you will see what I mean.
The Doomsday book was put together by foreigners, the Norsemanlanders and people lied because forests like everything else were taxed. An interesting point is that before the Romans left they had cut down all the biggest oaks in England. Luckily as the Romans were crap at fighting in mountainous territory because of the way they fought, they could never establish a real foothold in either Cmyru or Alba, so their forests survived.
I'm sure that Americans and Canadians know only too well that forest fires start with tinder dry undergrowth, introduce lightning or vermin that deliberately start fires and then it all begins. A lot of forest fires in France and Spain are started deliberately. They caught one s/head in the South of France and found out that he had started fires in more than one year. Having visited the south of Germany they make a point of clearing the undergrowth. This never happens in Portugal or Spain.
It's one thing to see the aftermath on TV and another in person. It took me a whole day to pass through the wasteland of what had been the Valencian forests. It used to be the case that students in the USA could get work as fire monitors on platforms built above the tree line. A great job if you wanted to study intently in a summer before exams. I met one American who loved the tranquility, maybe that doesn't happen anymore.
It would be ecologically sensible to reforest the moors of the north of England and lots of the Scottish highlands and stop the unprofitable hill farming everywhere and replant with conifers. I know there is a lot of anger in Scotland at the planting of Sitka spruce used for making pallets. These plantations are dead zones for everything else. There's no comparison for nature lovers walking through natural mixed forests or dark coniferous ones. I always wanted to get to Romania and spent time in the forests there after the fall of the Romanian dictator and Red Fascism as only he and his cronies were allowed to hunt, so the forests there were teeming with wolves,bears and the forest bison, same goes for the forests of southern Poland.
One of the reasons my wife and I love France is that almost everywhere there are big woods and lots of forests. The vast majority of the French really do care about the land and it shows - check out the helicoptor shots during the Tour de France and you will see what I mean.
Maybe this will help
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_in_the_United_Kingdom
Note the point 'significant deforestation in the UK had already taken place 4000 years ago'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_in_the_United_Kingdom
Note the point 'significant deforestation in the UK had already taken place 4000 years ago'
I'm a fan of the tour, but sometimes I just put the TV on mute (perhaps stick some music on) and enjoy the imagery. In the past the commentators would give a bit of history about a paticilar chateau or priory .
I am of the school that you should plant more trees than you take down.
I had three 100’+ trees in my yard. One fell down from a storm and only destroyed a fence. I had the other two taken down plus one more that had died from a parasitic plant.
So far I have planted eight trees. Two of these were destroyed by a neighbor deliberately pickup truck driving down the saplings on snow covered winter days.
I replaced them and added a small border trim made out of triangular pieces of 1/8” stainless steel that had sharpened edges. The replacements are doing fine.
Of the trees I had taken down, their remaining roots have launched five more trees.
Yes I like trees and forests.
Currently trying to get rid of non-native bamboo plants that were spreading and choking out desired stuff. Really don’t want stuff that can end by being used as fire fuel.
Paul Sherwen always shared some interesting historical facts during the Tour. Sad he's no longer with us. 🙁
jeff
Yes.
And gardens (or solar) on all rooves, less visible pavement (trees arching over), and on & on…
We need to be restoring the damage we have caused thruout the last centuries.
:^)
Ilibe in a forest (,ostly Douglas Fir & Western Red Cedar, some Alder, Maple, and the mighty Arbutus.
dave
It would boggle my mind to know how much pavement that has put down on this planet, most of it being oil products to begin with. And then there is concrete, but as the population soars these will be amongst the many troubles that we create ourselves. I live near Yellowstone Park, and remember the roads being gravel in many areas back then.
The roads are paved with what is left after the crude oil has been processed for gasoline, diesel, lubricants etc.
At least it isn’t being burned but stored. It is the heat absorbing properites and all the space that could be green used up.
dave
Showing off how big your garden is Ed? So you have the arboretum at home and the goose sanctury in the car park at work. You are a veritable nature haven!
Bill,
I haven’t even mentioned the deer that ate all (around 100) of my tulips. Seems they love them!
I do need to build a trellis for my grape vines.
My garden was planted in the 1950’s by a few owners ago. The rose bush of the type available then doesn’t have great roses but championship thorns.
Do note, this area was a dense forest before settlement. Still pretty much trees along all the streets.
Perhaps amusing to you the local tree folks insist the trees are “London City Trees” not Sycamores. For those not descended from foresters a “London City Tree” is a hybrid of an American and Chinese Sycamore. Bred to be more resistant to pollution. Not very useful as lumber. Very hardy!
Bill I suspect you don’t have to watch out for deer while driving!
I haven’t even mentioned the deer that ate all (around 100) of my tulips. Seems they love them!
I do need to build a trellis for my grape vines.
My garden was planted in the 1950’s by a few owners ago. The rose bush of the type available then doesn’t have great roses but championship thorns.
Do note, this area was a dense forest before settlement. Still pretty much trees along all the streets.
Perhaps amusing to you the local tree folks insist the trees are “London City Trees” not Sycamores. For those not descended from foresters a “London City Tree” is a hybrid of an American and Chinese Sycamore. Bred to be more resistant to pollution. Not very useful as lumber. Very hardy!
Bill I suspect you don’t have to watch out for deer while driving!
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I think arbutus are fascinating, Dave. Only problem, they have a very restricted area in which they grow. You may get to enjoy them .... but the rest of Canada doesn't.
If you use deodorant, you are using one of the enormous variety of refinery bottoms products known as "microcrystalline waxes" -- a very useful substance for all sorts of purposes.
Libya doesn't fill their pot-holes with asphalt as the refinery bottoms disappear into the black markets.
Black markets? Jack, I got a chuckle from that as we all know the colour of bitumen. I am curious though about your Lybian comment. Where does it go if not into asphalt?
if this is political, please send me a PM.
if this is political, please send me a PM.
The refinery bottoms can be processed into diesel fuel by hydro cracking, and also into marine engine fuel.
Also as furnace fuel, or even blended with coal for use in coal plants.
It depends on the crude composition and the demand for refined products in the area the refinery serves.
Sometimes they are blended into light crude oils, to be used in refineries designed for heavier crude oils.
I remember seeing photos of Libya coating sand dunes with a bitumen like substance to sort of tame them...they had a lot of money, could afford to experiment.
Also as furnace fuel, or even blended with coal for use in coal plants.
It depends on the crude composition and the demand for refined products in the area the refinery serves.
Sometimes they are blended into light crude oils, to be used in refineries designed for heavier crude oils.
I remember seeing photos of Libya coating sand dunes with a bitumen like substance to sort of tame them...they had a lot of money, could afford to experiment.