Trees A Crowd

Chris Packham is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable faces on British Television. He’s been a mainstay of the BBC’s Natural History programming for nearly 40 years. Alongside this commitment he also currently serves as President for the Bat Conservation Trust and Vice President for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, Butterfly Conservation, and the RSPCA. In this two-part discussion, David and Chris walk through the New Forest (the site of both their childhoods), and discuss how Chris came to prominence on Television, and then balanced his role there alongside his creative passions and his environmental concerns and campaigns.In search of Chris’ favourite Beech, David and Chris set out into the fabric of their lives – the New Forest. In the shade of “…a giant green cathedral, bathed in green light” they discuss the pressures facing one of Britain’s favourite national parks, the fact that even Belgium has a wolf-pack, and how over-grazing in the New Forest needs to be resolved for a healthy ecosystem.Closer to home, the big questions are asked: Should Chris’ father have helped him boil the head of a Pilot Whale? Should Chris’ own parenting skills have involved putting wasps on his step-daughter Megan McCubbin’s nose and then making her dissect Roadkill? And should Chris, at 61, climb the 30 foot into a Scots Pine tree to examine an abandoned Osprey nest whilst recording a podcast?!The driving force behind Chris is an obvious one: “I’ve got to do something, I’m running out of time; I don’t want to leave this world in a worse place than I inherited it.” But where does Chris stand on the effectiveness of modern non-violent protest? Is it too little too late? Or is something more dramatic required? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate one of the scarily rare “Good Environmental News Stories” of this and last year, David heads out to Kent Wildlife Trust and the Wildwood Trust’s “Wilder Blean” project just outside of Canterbury. He is there to mark the return of the European Bison to Britain, and the birth of the first bison born in the UK in a free roaming herd since the species went extinct in the wild. In the safe hands of Britain’s first “Bison Rangers”, Donovan Wright and Tom Gibbs, David hears about the knowns and unknowns of this landmark conservation project. How was the species rescued from extinction when its population reached a mere 12 individuals? How did no-one know one of the three initial Kent bisons was pregnant? How much biodiversity is actually supported by their ‘bison pats’? And where can David go to take his ‘bison competency’ training? All the big questions! David also hears how Don began his professional life as a vegetable wholesaler, before eventually becoming a “Big 5” Wildlife Ranger in South Africa, and then landing the top conservation job in the “Big 1” City of Kent (Canterbury is Kent's only city…) In short – are bisons just big cows, or is there something truly amazing happening in an old forestry plantation behind a Kentish industrial estate? David also talks to Kora Kunzmann, the Ecological Evidence and Academic Partnerships Lead at the Kent Wildlife Trust, to hear about the mass of man hours that will go into probing the science behind the bison. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this, the second part of David Oakes’ interview with botanist Dr Trevor Dines, Trevor goes into detail about the sheer power of community science when documenting our nation’s flowers. Our understanding of British Flora - and indeed that of the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) - would be nowhere without keen amateur volunteers. Spotlights are shone upon plants like the “Meadow Maker”, Yellow Rattle; upon different “wild” habitats like Knepp and the New Forest; and also upon lichens and how Trevor regrets “…not looking at mosses…” when younger. Similarly David and Trevor discuss the challenges of re-wilding - how habitat management is far more complicated that simply doing nothing - how, for rare species, it can often be better to carry on doing what you’re doing: “If the plants are there, they’re there because of what you’re doing” Also, they discuss #NoMowMay, the “Trevor Dines Effect” and the multiple reasons the Welsh might have started growing hemp 8000 years ago… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite being raised in the fields of England and having slept upon the Rainforest Canopies of Cameroon, Dr Trevor Dines’ heart is intertwined with the flora of Wales. Recorded in his own personal Wildflower Meadow in North Wales’ Conwy Valley, this interview charts Trevor’s journey from the youngest member of the Wessex Orchid Society (when still only aged in single digits) to one of the inspirational forces behind the UK’s largest botanical charity, Plantlife. Trevor has written books, presented a television programme for Channel 4, appeared on the likes of BBC’s Countryfile and Springwatch, and prior to that, he spent 6 years manifesting the ground-breaking "New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora" - collating nine million records to map over 4,000 species of plants in the wild. Listening to his passion, you’ll find it hard not to agree with Trevor, that: “I think you’re born a botanist.” In this first of two episodes, we explore the importance of cattle and other creatures as vectors to help plants survive climate change, discuss what exactly a “Wildflower” is, and hear how when Trevor enters the countryside, it’s “…like going to a party, meeting friends, family, and sometimes exciting unexpected strangers…!” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Working from her Devonshire studio and the surrounding natural habitats, artist and printmaker Sarah Gillespie, in looking carefully at our wild world, can’t help but sense the sentience of nature looking right back at her. Raised by two artist parents, and having been blessed with at least one truly inspirational teacher, it’s perhaps not surprising that Sarah is now an acclaimed Royal West of England Academician, and most recently was asked to collaborate with Cambridge University’s Conservation Initiative. But, like a moth emerging from its chrysalis, her journey to this point was not a straight forward one. In this episode, Sarah joins David to discuss the value of Art, and the value of Moths. Whether an oil-painting or a modern NFT, she explains how Art struggles for a place across racial and class divides, and also has to accept that it too has a carbon footprint. Increasingly confronted with these concerns, Sarah turned her artistic output on its head. Currently working upon a collection of mezzotint prints of “…the deeply unloved” - Moths - Sarah sees her art as: “…one of erosion; working with what is not there…” depicting creatures that are worryingly increasingly absent from our lives. But, whilst we have a Red List for birds and mammals, Sarah explains how no such warning call exists for invertebrates - it's estimated that we have lost around a third of our moths since the First World War. For nature, it is the common things that really matter when it comes to the long term survival of our planet’s biodiversity, and in creating their portraits, Sarah says that she has “…never been happier in [her] work, and sure of [her] footing.”For further information on this and other episodes, visit: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/sarah-gillespie/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1996, having spent 7 days living underground, Dan Hooper was forcibly evicted from a protest tunnel and thrust into the spotlight of the waiting media. From that day forward, Dan Hooper was known by most of the British population simply as “Swampy”. 26 years on from that high-profile eviction, Dan remains a committed environmental activist. In this month’s episode, David Oakes travels to South Wales to meet Dan to hear how his environmental protests have changed over 30 years, and to garner how much power truly lies in protest. David and Dan discuss the relationship that eco-activists have with Politicians and the Press, whether Dan views himself as a tutor for the newer generations joining the activist-community, and how Dan juggles the life of a parent with that of a protester. Is it scary being buried underground as the water table turns with your only breathable air being pumped down to you from the surface? What is the human cost of increasing the pressure placed upon modern Bailiffs by those hoping to expedite the conclusion of the HS2 rail link? And, most importantly, how does one dispose of you and your friend’s poo when several hundred feet underground?For further information on this and other episodes, visit: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/dan-hooper/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Midway through the Isle of Man’s Manx TT motor-racing festival lies a day (terrifyingly aptly) branded as “Mad Sunday”. David Oakes chose this bacchanalian festival, one filled with inebriated petrol-heads and super-charged exhaust eruptions, to talk with the Manx Wildlife Trust’s CEO, Leigh Morris. Recorded in perhaps the only two quiet enclaves the island possessed that Mad Sunday, Leigh expands upon a journey that took him from horticultural nurseryman to the head of a Wildlife Trust that oversees the planet’s sole Unesco whole nation biosphere. Leigh’s journey - starting simply enough in Yorkshire, then Wales and Scotland - quickly expands into a life of volunteering and vocational placements in India and Nepal, Ethiopia and Oman, the Galapagos and St Helena… the list goes on. Whether upon an island paradise or beneath the waves, there is seemingly no habitat that hasn’t drawn Leigh’s attention. In his own words: “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know…” Armed with an insatiable curiosity, Leigh hopes to turn the Isle of Man, all 35 by 10 miles of it, into “what good looks like”. In this episode we discusses the sex-appeal of carrots, the rivakry of a petrol vs. electic (or even hydrogen) powereded TT, community conservation movements such as SeaSearch, and the hot potato of viewing agriculture as a very necessary part of our species’ ongoing environmental ambitions. Filter in a menagerie of rare Loaghtan sheep, Penguins, Sea Iguanas and the Isle of Man’s escaped feral Wallaby population, and you have a gloriously ambitious discussion about the state of the world, and where to take it next. Oh - and October’s episode is not sponsored by the Visit Isle of Man board… we promise!For further information on this and other episodes, visit: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/leigh-morris/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Upon Salisbury Plain - nestled amongst exploding ordnance and dim-witted Tawny Owl fledgelings - the child that would become Dr Amy-Jane Beer found both a love for nature and a love for adventure. Training originally as a biologist, Amy grew into one of Britain’s best loved nature writers. Whether articles in British Wildlife, diary entires for the Guardian’s ‘Country Diary’, or her latest book “The Flow” (which explores our relationships with Britain’s numerous wild water ways), Amy’s writing exposes personal and oft-spiritual experiences to illuminate nature and science for wider audiences. An active participant of both the Right to Roam movement and the New Networks for Nature alliance (the former hoping to unlock the many health benefits attained through access to green spaces, and the latter exploring how creative inspiration can be drawn from British wildlife) Amy believes that a human right to linger, explore and create is “amazing compost” for the mind, body and soul. Amy is a scientist that places great value upon love, upon magic and upon the power of motherhood, as well as upon the intricacies of the radial symmetry of sea urchin larvae! Hopefully she will inspire you to seek the benefits of learning to trespass like a river. For further information on this and other episodes, visit: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/dr-amy-jane-beer/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Gavin Broad’s love of nature was initially inspired by the birdlife of the Wirral. However, the summer lull in avian activity lead the 15-year-old Broad towards an interest in moths, and from there it was only a zombie caterpillar away from the creatures that were to inspire his professional identity and take him as far afield as Chile; Parasitoid wasps! “Darwin Wasps” account for 10% of all British insects - that’s over 7000 distinct wasps - and Broad insists that everyone can easily “admire them, if not like them.” What’s not to like about an insect that can inject its eggs through the bark of a tree and into another insect? Or one that can actively dictate the gender of its offspring to specifically regulate the extant population? Or one that can easily defeat a tarantula?! Quite. David heads to the Natural History Museum to talk Wasps, and to discuss Gavin’s involvement in sequencing the genomes of 70,000 British species - everything from Deep Sea Squid to Pine Marten - his appreciation for the work of Damien Hirst and the similarities it bears to the NHM’s hidden insect archives, and how we would all be far better off if we possessed the curiosity of bored Victorian clergymen. For further information on this and other episodes, visit: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/dr-gavin-broad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the late 1960s, Lundy Island - just off the north coast of Devon and measuring only half a mile wide at its widest point - has been owned and operated by two British charities; the National Trust and the Landmark Trust. Prior to this, Lundy was owned by wealthy megalomaniacs, pirates, gamblers, revolutionaries, neolithic fisher-people, and a whole array of wildlife. In this week's episode, David Oakes visits Lundy to speak with the island's current wildlife wardens, Rosie Ellis and Stuart Cossey. Rosie, a marine specialist, enthuses about the marine protected areas and no take zone that surround much of the island. These are waters that harbour grey seals, minke whales and basking sharks, as well as spiny lobsters, sea slugs, and a stunning array of rare corals. Stuart - the island's resident "bird guy" - explains that despite being named for one of the island's most colourful avian inhabitants ('lund' is the Old Norse word for 'Puffin'), Lundy is actually far more exciting due to its Manx Shearwater population. The majority of the UK's Manx Shearwaters breed on Lundy, and as such Stuart takes David out at sunset to ring a few of these amazing creatures. All of that, as well as pygmy shrews, the world's rarest cabbage, and a tale of why Rosie spent much of the Covid-19 lockdown on Lundy walking around collecting animal droppings, and you've got a tiny island (and brimming podcast) that punches far above its weight. For further information on this and other episodes, visit: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/lundy/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.