Butterflies form part of the woodland fauna.  Different species occur in different niches. Glade butterflies, like the speckled wood.  These butterflies like open, sunny clearings in the woods.  The speckled wood may be recognised by its brown and cream spotted wings.  It may be seen in partially shaded woodland with dappled sunlight. The  males may rest in a ‘pool of sunlight’, but will rise quickly if disturbed. Both male and female feed on honeydew, and do not feed on flowers, except when aphid numbers / activity is low.    Honeydew is the sticky, sugar-rich fluid that is ‘produced’ by aphids (greenfly and blackly) and some other insects.  As these insects feed on plant sap,  their mouthparts penetrate into the sugar-conducting tissue - the phloem.   This passes into the gut of the animal and any undigested material is exuded as a sticky drop.  [caption id="attachment_43415" align="aligncenter" width="675"] A speckled wood at rest[/caption] Canopy dwellers, like the purple emperor spend most of their time high up in the trees.  They make use of the leaves for feeding of the caterpillars, or indeed breeding.  The adult butterflies feed on tree sap or aphid honeydew. Dwellers of the woodland edges.  The comma favours woodland edges and open woodland, where it breeds and hibernates.  It may be seen in the vicinity of nettles and willows.  Its distinctive scalloped wings and their colouring help conceal hibernating adults amongst the dead leaves of autumn. [caption id="attachment_43408" align="aligncenter" width="675"] The Comma[/caption] By occupying different places and feeding on different things, the various species avoid direct competition with one another.  Sadly, woodland butterflies have been in decline in recent times, as have many native butterfly species across the UK.  This decline has been attributed to a number of factors : Lack or loss of traditional woodland management, such as coppicing and grazing, which allow for the creation of open, light filled spaces. Habitat fragmentation.  Many butterflies travel over relatively short distances.  If woodlands become divided or lost through urban sprawl, motorway creation etc., then populations become isolated and genetic variation (and hence, diversity) is lost.  Localised extinction may result. Climate Change. Extreme weather events (like heatwaves in May), changing patterns of rainfall are thought to disrupt the natural chronology of butterfly life cycles. Pesticides and pollution.  Woodland areas may be exposed to the application of pesticides and fertilisers added to adjacent farmland.  Even sub lethal doses of pesticides can affect butterfly life cycles.  The deposition of nitrogen rich pollutants can encourage the overgrowth of botanical thugs (like nettles), so food sources for caterpillars are lost. For more information on butterflies and their life cycles, see this blog https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/flora-and-fauna/woodland-butterflies/and visit https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies 

Recent research at the Okinawa Institute of Science suggests that the fungi evolved many millions of years ago, indeed perhaps before plants colonised land.  The common ancestor of present day fungi may have arisen 1.4 billion years ago, which is long before anything resembling a land plant appeared.  Next to come were the red algae (probably).  Soft bodied animals appeared in the Ediacaran period, some 635 to 542 million years ago. The first simple land plants appeared approximately 500 million years ago, evolving from green algae in the Cambrian period. The dating of the appearance of the fungi is dependent on the study of few fossil forms of fungi; and DNA studies to create a molecular clock.  The clock is created by a study of mutations, and what have been termed ‘horizontal gene transfers’.  If, as suggested, fungi predate plants by eons, then they had millions of years to evolve and diversify.  They probably formed associations with primitive algae and / or bacteria. It was these organisms that were the first colonists of land, along the damp shorelines of ancient seas.  Fungi are ‘chemical engineers’, they can weather rock, freeing elements like phosphorus and other nutrients.  They likely built the first thin ‘soils’, turning bare rock into something could support the tentative roots of the earliest plants.  Essentially, the land was prepared for colonisation by the early fungi. Even today, fungi can colonise hostile places.  They are often the first organisms to arrive to wildfire burn areas, in the debris of volcanic eruptions, and in pyroclastic flows.  The eruption of Mount St.Helens spewed mud and ash over vast areas, leaving behind a ‘martian’ landscape of grey rubble and ash.  But within 10 days, fungi were beginning to bioengineer the area.  Fine filamentous hyphen threads were beginning of attach to the smaller pebbles / material thrown out of the volcano.  Such fungi have been called ‘phoenicoid fungi” - a reference to the Phoenix rising from the ashes.  They are the first responders.  In California, members of some Native American tribes historically collected burn morels for food after a fire burn.  There is also the possibility of fungi being used eventually to clean up polluted environments and in phytoremediation of abandoned mines, landfill sites etc.  They might also tackle PFAs - these are group of over 10,000 man-made chemicals often called  "forever chemicals".  because they don't easily break down in the environment or the human body.  

For many years, people who lived near peatlands would cut sods of peat, allow them to dry and use them for fuel.  This, and other human activities such as Draining for agriculture, Deforestation Burning for ‘sporting’ purposes Testing of ordinance Tin streaming (in the case of Dartmoor) have left areas of peatland in a parlous state.  Often there are deep gullies and ditches, so water runs off and the peat dries out, no new material is formed  It is estimated that some 80% of peatlands in the UK are in a damaged or degraded state. They now represent a carbon source rather than a store. When healthy, peatlands can store twice as much carbon as forests, playing a part in reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide and helping to reduce / control flooding, and supporting biodiversity. Sadly, peat forms very slowly, forming (roughly) at a rate one millimetre per year. Peat is formed by the decomposition of plant material under water logged conditions. So at its deepest point, the peat on Dartmoor in nine metres in depth and therefore represent thousands of years of history and can be an archaeological treasure trove. [caption id="attachment_43175" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Scottish moorland[/caption] The UK’s Climate Change Committee has a target that 50% of upland peatlands and 25% of lowland peatlands should be restored to a natural condition by 2050.  If nothing is done, and the climate becomes warmer and drier, then the peatlands of the south west of England could be a thing of the past. Efforts are being made on areas such as Dartmoor to restore the landscape.  The gullies and ditches are being blocked, so that rainwater is retained and the water table is raised so that the wetness of the area is restored.  BY ‘reprofilling’ the landscape, pools will again form and sphagnum moss and other plants will grow and the process of peat formation will begin again.   In recent years, a project  [The South West Peatland Partnership] funded by Natural England South West Water & The National Trust has restored some 1700 hectares of damaged peat bog in the South West.  Whilst this is a long term project, some promising results have been observed such as an increases in the number and species of dragonflies.  They represent food for the next trophic (feeding) level, so that perhaps in time the number of wading birds and mammals on the moor may increase. Other areas of peatland, such as the blanket bogs of Caithness and Sutherlands and the Peak District need to be monitored as they too are at risk. Details of current work can be found here.

There are some 270 species of bee to be found in the UK.  Most of these bees are solitary bees. Solitary bees do not form colonies like the honey bee, with a queen and workers. Twenty four are types of bumblebee,  although two of these bumblebees may be extinct in the UK.  Included in the bumblebee category are the carder bees. Their name relates to their ability to ‘knit’ together plant materials / fibres to form a nest*.  The six species of carder bees in the UK are listed below : The common carder bee The brown banded carder bee The moss carder bee The red shanked carder bee The ruderal carder bee The shrill carder bee The common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum) is quite widespread and is found in gardens, the edges of woodland, and farmland throughout the country.  It is a social insect, forming colonies with worker bees.  Their yearly cycle is not dissimilar to that of bumblebees.  In spring, queen carder bees emerge from hibernation and establish new colonies. These develop throughout the spring and summer, adding workers.  By late summer, new queens and males are formed, and in autumn the old queen and workers die.  The new queens overwinter and emerge in the following spring. [caption id="attachment_43305" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Common carder bee[/caption] Carder bees tend to build their nests on or near the soil surface, using moss, dried grass or similar plant material.  The shrill carder bee favours flower-rich grassland areas to build its nest.  As so many of these diverse grasslands have disappeared over the last century, it explains the rarity of this particular bee.   Carder worker bees are a ginger / warm brown colour. Carder bees are noted for their ‘long tongues’, i.e. their mouthparts have a long proboscis [feeding tube].  This allows them to reach the nectar inside flowers with a long, tubular shape (such as foxgloves, honeysuckle and clover).  It also means that they are not in direct competition with ‘shorter tongued’ bees, who can only access open flowers.    Whilst visiting flowers, they act as pollinators of both wild flowers and farmland crops. As pollinators, they help promote the transfer of pollen from plant to plant, promoting outbreeding which in turn helps maintain variation with a species. The bees actively forage from spring into autumn and can thrive in our extensively modified landscape, so they are key pollinators in both rural and urban areas. * Originally, the term a carder referred to person who combs out and cleans fibres of wool / cotton before spinning.

The silver birch and the downy birch are integral to the UK’s landscape.  They were among the first colonists of the exposed soil when the glaciers of the last Ice Age retreated.  Both species are quite widespread but silver birch is to be found on drier, ‘lighter’ soils of the South, whereas downy birch can tolerate wetter and colder conditions.  Both are pioneer species by virtue of their light, wind dispersed seeds, fast growth and ability to colonise disturbed ground, for example, clear fell woodland. They are, therefore, key species in the early stages of woodland development. They allow a rich ground flora to develop due to their open canopy, which allows light to flood in.  Their leaves decompose quite quickly and contribute to the enrichment of the soil.  Their breakdown adds humus, which helps with water retention and soil permeability.  The conditioning of the soil helps other species to come in and as the appearance of other species proceeds so the canopy tends to become denser. Birches are sometimes described as ‘nurse species’. Birch trees are relatively short lived, with a life span of sixty to one hundred years, but during that time the trees support a variety of organisms : Insects such as aphids, moth caterpillars, sawflies Birds, for example redpolls and siskins, who feed on birch seeds Small mammals who may use the trees for shelter and / or food, plus deer who may browse on the young shoots Fungi such as the polypores, fly agaric, and the various mycorrhizal fungi [e.g. the Birch Bolete] that establish connections with the roots for nutrient exchange. So birch species are valued for the creation of early woodland, for regeneration and rewinding of land.  The resilience of downy birch makes it important in more northern and upland areas.  The birches are therefore important in the formation of transitional woodland, which may then move to mature climax woodland. As a species, we have made considerable use of birch trees to create a variety of ‘products’.  Historically, the wood and bark were distilled to make birch tar and pitch, used  for waterproofing and as adhesives.  The wood, which is fine grained and pale in colour, is valuable in furniture making,  making tool handles and toys.  In northern Europe and Russia, birches were used to create pulpwood for paper / cardboard making.  As the wood burns clean and hot, it is suitable as a fuel or for charcoal making.  It may also be used as the fuel for saunas, and for the smoking of fish and meat (as a means of food preservation / flavouring).    The bark has been used to make canoes, baskets and boxes.  It was also used in roof construction and the creation of Russian manuscripts.  Birch sap is consumed in various health beverages and can be fermented produce beer, wine or vinegar.  Baltic and Nordic countries have been particularly creative in the use of birch material, down to use the twigs in their sauna whisks.

Butterfly numbers have been monitored for the last fifty years.  The scheme is organised by Butterfly Conservation, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.  It relies on thousands of volunteers reporting their sighting, all across the country. Analysis of the surveys [which date back in 1976 survey] show a rather mixed picture in terms of numbers. The numbers for some species went up whilst others went down. Of our 58 native species, 25 have increased in number whilst 33 showed a decline.  The comma, the red admiral and the purple emperor have increased in number.  They have extended their range, moving northwards due to the warmer weather; think back to the sun and warmth of last Spring and Summer.  Climate change is not without its affect.  The large blue which was declared extinct in the last century has been successfully reintroduced to managed grassland in Somerset.  Similar conservation work has also helped other ‘rare’ butterflies notably the large blue, the black hairstreak and the silver spotted skipper. [caption id="attachment_43249" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Painted lady[/caption] Other butterfly numbers declined, notably the pearl bordered fritillary, the high brown fritillary and the white lettered hairstreak.   These butterflies are habitat specialists, that is, they need particular habitats such as wetlands or flower rich woodlands.   These butterflies have declined as have their specific habitats.  The development of cities, the creation of motorways and the expansion of agriculture has changed and damaged our landscape.  Nitrogen pollution (which leads to an increase in soil nutrients through eutrophication) in combination with warmer weather affects grassland species.  The grass grows taller, which lowers the temperature and this affectss the development of the caterpillars.  The loss of coppicing and other woodland management techniques has reduced the biodiversity / openness of many woodland areas, which affects butterflies such as the high brown fritillary. [caption id="attachment_43246" align="aligncenter" width="675"] small copper[/caption] Given the effects of climate change, pollution, urban development and farming, it is somewhat surprising that some species seem to be maintaining or increasing their numbers. For detailed information / statistics, see :- https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/news/more-half-uk-butterflies-are-long-term-decline https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/butterfly-monitoring-scheme-britain-decline

How Trees Reclaimed a Frozen Land The British landscape we know today, its rolling hills, hedgerows and scattered woodlands, is the product of thousands of years of change. But rewind far enough and none of it existed. After the last Ice Age, Britain was a treeless, frozen expanse. What followed was one of the most remarkable transformations in the natural history of these islands: the slow, steady return of the forests. A land emerging from ice About fifteen thousand years ago, the climate began to warm and the ice sheets that had smothered much of Britain started retreating northward. The southern parts of the country may have supported a sparse arctic grassland, but trees were entirely absent.  Sea levels remained low, vast quantities of water were still locked up in ice, so Britain was physically connected to mainland Europe. A broad plain of meandering rivers linked present-day East Anglia with the Netherlands and northern Germany, across a region now submerged beneath the North Sea and often referred to as Doggerland. This land bridge allowed plants, animals, and eventually human settlers to make their way into Britain from the continent, setting in motion changes that would reshape the landscape dramatically. The pioneer trees arrive Trees gradually colonised the bare ground. The first wooded areas were likely dominated by birch — species such as Betula nana and B. pubescens that tolerate extreme cold. Although the climate was warming, conditions were still too harsh for many pollinating insects. Birch is wind-pollinated, making it an ideal pioneer species: one that can establish itself on immature or disturbed soils in challenging environments. In doing so, pioneer species modify their surroundings and 'open the door' for others to follow, a process known as succession. Over time, pine, aspen and hazel arrived and took hold, followed later by elm, oak and small-leaved lime. Forests spread across Britain, covering the land except for the highest, wettest and coldest areas. Reading the past through pollen How do we know what grew where, and when? Pollen analysis of peat bogs and other sedimentary deposits can reveal which species were present over different periods. The outer wall of a pollen grain — the exine — is extraordinarily resistant to decay, so its distinctive structure remains intact for millennia, allowing researchers to identify species long after the trees themselves have vanished. The wildwood takes shape By around six thousand years ago, forest covered most of the British countryside. This great expanse of woodland is often called the “wildwood”, a term popularised by Oliver Rackham in Trees and Woodlands in the British Landscape. The wildwood was at its most abundant during this period: a complex, tangled mosaic of trees, many of them dead or dying from the effects of wind, fire sparked by lightning, and flooding. It would have offered a rich variety of habitats and niches for plants, insects and mammals alike. Not as dense as you might think Recent research and pollen analysis published in the Journal of Ecology suggests that Europe’s post-glacial wildwoods were rich in hazel, oak and yew; species that tend to flourish in more open woodland where light reaches the ground, rather than in dense, closed-canopy forest. Hazel produces more pollen and flowers freely in sunlit conditions. Yew, while sensitive to fire, is shade-tolerant and needs some space and light to avoid being outcompeted by taller trees. Its leaves are toxic to most mammals (including humans), which protects it from grazing. The persistence of yew in ancient woodlands, along with its sensitivity to fire, points to a relatively open woodland structure; one maintained, it is thought, by the grazing activity of large herbivores. Oak, too, is a light-demanding species whose seeds germinate best on disturbed ground. Large herbivores consume huge quantities of vegetation, altering plant biomass and community composition. They also cause physical damage through trampling and bark-stripping. These processes can help create clearings and maintain open areas within the woodland. The resulting light reaching the forest floor would have encouraged a rich ground flora to flourish beneath the canopy. A living legacy Britain’s wildwood may be largely gone, but its legacy runs through the landscape. The oaks, hazels and yews that define many of our oldest woodlands are living links to those post-glacial forests. Understanding how they established themselves and how grazing, fire and climate shaped the woodland around them isn’t just a matter of historical curiosity. It offers practical insight for anyone involved in woodland conservation and restoration today. The wildwood reminds us that British forests were never static or uniform; they were dynamic, open and shaped  by many animals,  and the elements. 

Lighting up the trees. When there is thunder and lightning, there is sometimes a phenomenon known as St Elmo’s Fire.  It appears as an eerie ‘violet / blue ’ light on the masts of ships’ or church spires and it may be accompanied a slight buzzing sound. Sometimes it can be seen on the horns or antlers of animals  and in the right conditions may light up forest canopies with a faint, flickering eerie glow.   This has now been investigated by Patrick McFarland (and colleagues) - a meteorologist at Pennysylvania University. He has produced photographs / videos of coronae (electrical discharges) on the very tips of trees during thunderstorms.  Back on campus, the phenomenon was reproduced by exposing a branch from a spruce tree to a strong electrical field created between charged metal plates.  The waxy tips of the spruce needles glowed with a purple light; an  artificial St Elmo’s Fire was produced . (Further details to be found in the New York Times or at Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire ). Interesting fact : In 1751, Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that a pointed iron rod would light up at the tip during a lightning storm, similar in appearance to St. Elmo's fire.   A ray of hope ? A survey of land holdings in Scotland, where nature restoration / rewilding has been encouraged, has indicated that bird and insect pollinators are flourishing.  The study involved the Northwoods rewilding network; this includes some 100 farms, crofts and woodland sites - which are quite widely dispersed but covering more than 30,000 plus acres.  The survey compared areas of the rewilded land with neighbouring areas that were managed more conservatively / traditionally.  Bird populations were assessed at five of the sites and butterflies and bumblebees at six.   The birds doing well in such areas included the spotted flycatcher, cuckoos and woodcocks.  Butterflies that were recorded were the painted lady, green veined white, red admiral, scotch argus butterfly and the peacock. Bees included the buff-tailed bumblebee, the common carder, early and tree bumblebees.   Further details in The Scotsman [Katharine Hay, Friday 6 March 2026] or Apple News : https://apple.news/ AWyx1qpa9SbeOg-2HGmMtXw [caption id="attachment_38081" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Bumblebee visiting foxglove[/caption]