My background is in woodland ecology and conservation: for 33 years I worked as national forestry and woodland officer with Natural England and its predecessors until 2012, before resuming research in Oxford. A particular interest is long-term change in British woodland.
In the early 1970s a former member of the Department – Colyear Dawkins established permanent vegetation plots across Wytham Woods and The Warburg Reserve in Oxfordshire. I have resurveyed these several times since. Analysis of these data has revealed differences in composition relating to woodland composition and history, the impact of, and recovery from, deer browsing, the spread and impact of ash dieback. Over the past 4 years I I have led a consortium of researchers, to produce a new book on how the Woods and wider Wytham landscape works (publication date, late 2025/early 2026).
I have also documented changes in other woods in Britain by revisiting plots first recorded in the 1980s and been involved with the ‘Bunce’ resurveys of 103 woods first recorded in 1971 and then again in 2001 and 2021 and use of National Forest Inventory data to assess ecological condition. Tree diseases such as ash dieback are a particular threat.
Oak declines are becoming more common in Wytham and elsewhere. Old oaks are often found in grazed parks, former Royal Forests and on commons, collectively described as wood-pasture systems. These cultural landscapes have attracted more interest recently as one possible model what the ‘wildwood’ might have been like, and as an inspiration for many rewilding projects. The significance of oak in our landscapes and patterns of recent change will form part of other publications in 2026.
