Blog - ecosystem services

Meeting the 'queen bee' of British Bumblebees

Meeting the ‘queen bee’ of British Bumblebees

by Angus, 9 July, 2020, 0 comments

Gill Perkins is one of those people you can't help liking - there's a smile in her voice when she speaks and we found her to be generous with her time and knowledge. She arrived early for our woodland meeting and had come equipped - a small plastic tube with a plunger (costing about £5) allows her to catch bumblebees as they graze on flowers and she can trap them for long enough to tell us that "this one's a queen of the buff-tailed type and you can see she's very freshly minted as her wings are so undamaged ... a lovely specimen ...". She releases the bee and it seems quite unphased as it quickly goes back to collecting nectar. Gill loves to get out into the woods and see the bees first-hand - most of the rest of the time she's in her office with the 40 or so staff employed by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and despite being the Trust's CEO she's often teaching groups about bumblebees and working with various sponsors including a big housebuilder and a big London law firm. Read more...

In praise of hoverflies

In praise of hoverflies

by Lewis, 24 May, 2020, 1 comments

The hoverfly is so named because it does hover, its flight path is somewhat hesitant, moving along in a sort of zig-zag at times; it is sometimes mistaken for a bee or a wasp due to its colour and 'stripes'. There are roughly some 6,000 species of hoverflies. Hoverflies are to be found on every continent with exception of Antarctica (plus some small, remote islands); and in many different biomes . Like bees and bumblebees, hoverflies are pollinators but bees and bumblebees have had a ‘better press’ - known as being important for the pollination of many fruit and crop species. Now Dr. Wotton and his team [at Exeter University] suggest that hoverflies are sometimes more effective pollinators than bumblebees / bees and that their role in fertilising crops might have been underestimated. It is thought that hoverflies could prove to be useful pollinators where bees do not ‘perform’ well; i.e. outside of mediterranean or temperate habitats / climates, where temperatures are lower. The flies carry pollen over considerable distances and may visit isolated plants. Read more...

field margin

The importance of small woodlands

by Lewis, 27 March, 2020, 0 comments

Recently, researchers have looked at the significance of small patches of woodland / forest in agricultural landscapes. Woodland and forest fragmentation has occurred as agriculture has expanded, as had the loss of hedgerows, Alicia Valdes and colleagues at the University of Stockholm have examined over two hundred patches of woodland / forest in farming areas in France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden. Read more...

Biodiversity and farming

Biodiversity and farming

by Lewis, 22 November, 2019, 0 comments

We are dependent on ecosystem services . At the most basic of levels, early humans benefitted from the ‘products of nature”; that is fruits and seeds to eat, animals to hunt. Ecosystems, like woodlands, provided shelter from some of the harsher aspects of climate and weather. Now we can add in ‘services’ such as the provision of medicines, waste removal, nutrient recycling and recreational experiences. Read more...

Payment for what . . ?

by Gabriel Hemery, 2 April, 2018, 0 comments

Gabriel Hemery, Chief Executive of Sylva Foundation and lead author of the British Woodlands Survey 2017, provides some insights into the perceived murky world of payment for ecosystem services. Some readers may be aware of the recent publication of a report for the British Woodlands Survey 2017 (BWS2017). Over the last two years I’ve led a collaborative group of researchers from Sylva Foundation, Forest Research, Woodland Trust, and Oxford University in seeking to gain deeper understanding of awareness, actions and aspirations among woodland owners and agents, forestry professionals, businesses, and others with a stake in the future of forestry in the UK. Read more...

The benefits of trees in the urban landscape

The benefits of trees in the urban landscape

by Chris, 11 November, 2016, 3 comments

Each day, our cities are exposed to pollution from cars, power stations, industry etc. All of these release particulate matter (aka particulates) and various gases - such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. The pollutants in many of our city streets frequently exceed the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. Particulate matter is the sum of all solid and liquid particles suspended in air - it may include dust, pollen, soot, smoke and various liquid droplets. These particulates are often divided into PM10 particles - that have a diameter of 10 micrometers or less, are inhalable and may pass into the lungs and then the bloodstream. And, PM2.5 particles have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers - these are very fine and often contribute to the haze in the air. Many particles form as a result of complex reactions between sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Read more...

Woodlands, forests and ecosystem services.

Woodlands, forests and ecosystem services.

by Chris, 23 March, 2016, 0 comments

Woodlands and forests provide us with a number of ecosystem services - things that contribute directly or indirectly to our well being. Perhaps most obviously, woodlands and forests can provide us with sustainable sources of wood and timber; other products include fruits (e.g. acai) and nuts (brazils, walnuts), honey and medicines. Sadly, often our management of these resources does not make for happy reading. Over-exploitation of natural resources is not, however, a new phenomenon. History furnishes us with many examples of deforestation / clearance of woodlands - from China, Japan, the Indus valley, etc. long before various European / colonial influences came to bear. Read more...

Swiss forestry is growing, especially in the alps

Swiss forestry is growing, especially in the alps

by Angus, 4 November, 2013, 1 comments

Forestry is a surprisingly important part of the Swiss economy and the sector employs 90,000 people, with 1.3 million hectares of Switzerland being given over to forestry. To put this in a UK perspective, it is about the same amount of forestry land as Scotland and is a little more than England (which has 1.1 million hectares of forest). The reason why Switzerland, smaller in size than England, has as much forestry land is that a much higher percentage of the countryside is given over to trees - Switzerland has 31% tree cover which is much more than England's 9% and is high even compared to Scotland which only has 17%. In fact European countries are generally more forested than the UK - with Finland at a whopping 76% tree cover and even France is 27%, so Switzerland stands at just above the european average. Read more...

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