Category: News
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Wood Fairs 2025
A round-up of wood fairs and nature festivals being held across the country, updated as details are confirmed. If you would like an event to be added please contact Mary. MARCH Midlands Woodworking Show7-8 March 2025Newark Showground, Nottinghamshire, NG24 2NY The National Outdoor Expo22-23 March 2025NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT MAY Weird and Wonderful WoodA Celebration…
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Pet Treatments & Woodlands
Recent research has highlighted the risk of environmental contamination from veterinary drugs regularly applied to dogs and cats to prevent fleas and ticks. A study published today that tested 103 birds’ nests found that they all contained insecticides used in spot-on treatments, shampoos, sprays and collars. The nests belonged to blue and great tits, which…
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Timber Hewing Course in Gloucestershire
The Manifest Woodland Guild are organising an open course on timber hewing within their woodland on 14th – 15th February 2025 (Friday & Saturday), with hewing tutors John and Henry Russell. They will be setting the hewing tuition in the context of oak selection and felling, and presentations on woodland ecology. More details are available…
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Books: The Little Book of Fungi
The Little Book of Fungi Britt A. Bunyard Princeton University Press Published 22nd Oct 2024 160 pages ISBN 9780691259888 The Little Book of Fungi is a new addition to the natural history series that includes The Little Book of Trees, with this one written by American academic and mycology enthusiast Britt A. Bunyard. The author…
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New Guidance for Educational Access
A free-to-access guide to help woodland owners create space for forest education has been collaboratively produced by the Royal Forestry Society, Forestry England and forest school training provider, Cambium Sustainable. The document, Developing a woodland space for educational access, supports landowners who wish to open their woodlands for learning activities. It offers practical advice on…
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SWOG Fungus Walk 16th Nov
Update: Leicestershire SWOGgers were treated to a real-life event on Saturday 16th November at Swithland Wood. SWOG would like to thank Dave Higginson-Tranter for his expertise in all things fungal. After microscopic verification, we are proud to report that the tally stood at 64 species found on this walk: Trametes versicolor; Kuehneromyces mutabilis; Rhopographus filicinus;…
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Protect Earth link-up
The charity Protect Earth is tackling the biodiversity and climate crises by creating and restoring natural ecosystems throughout the UK, including woodland. They work with landowners to plant trees and also buy degraded farmland to reforest themselves, in collaboration with environmental organisations and local volunteers. Projects may include natural regeneration, on-going site management and removal…
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Grown in Britain SWOG Offer
Grown in Britain (GiB) is a national certification scheme supporting the use of sustainable UK timber in forest products. As part of GiB Week 2024 they have an exclusive offer for SWOG members with woodlands in England: Receive 1 year of fully-funded Grown in Britain Forest Certification! This provides: • Access to news on GiB…
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Making Bird & Bat Boxes
If you would like to give the birds and bats in your woodland a helping hand, the following organisations provide useful advice and plans for making nest boxes suited to different species. If you’re lucky enough to have pine marten, there are den box plans available too. Please let us know if you have other…
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Tree Health Webinar
In our July webinar, Elliot Carpenter from the Forestry Commission talked about tree health and managing pests & diseases in woodlands. His informative slides are available below (click to expand) and the webinar can be watched here. Ips typographus Oak Processionary Moth (OPM) Phytophthora ramorum Ash Dieback Further information
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YDMT Woodland Management Programme
In a recent SWOG webinar, Mike Appleton told us about the work of the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) and How to Reduce the Use of Plastics in Woodland. Here he describes a new project that supports owners to get more small woodlands into active management in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Nidderdale and the…
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Books: The Little Book of Trees
The Little Book of Trees Herman Shugart and Peter White Princeton University Press Published 2nd April 2024 160 pages ISBN 9780691251790 One of a new series of Little Books of Nature, The Little Book of Trees packs a lot of interesting information into a small book. Each chapter is split into short topics on a…