As a youthful naturalist with, I assume, little pocket money, you will be relieved to know that when it comes to specialist equipment, there really isn’t much needed! Most can be put together and constructed or improvised from items found under the sink, in the shed or under the stairs. In fact, the most important tools you need to learn to use are your own senses; but more about that later. For now, though, here is a short list of things that I find useful in an everyday kind of way when exploring woodland.
Bamboo canes These are handy things for many of the activities in this book and they are useful for creating an extention to your arms! You can tape a wire hook to the end and use it to bend down branches that were otherwise out of your reach or use it to beat branches that are in your way.
Binoculars and magnifying lens Anything with a lens in it to magnify little things or bring distant subjects closer is going to be a relatively expensive bit of kit compared with the rest of the equipment you might have with you. But if you can possibly afford it, they are really worth investing in and there are many different kinds at prices to suit all sizes of pocket.
Clear plastic containers These can be anything from purpose-made specimen tubes to old 35mm film canisters and empty jam jars. They are handy for collecting and observing specimens in. Plastic bags are also very useful and have the added advantage of being lightweight and folding flat in your pocket.
Field guides Always handy, but if you take good notes, they can be consulted once you have got home and so save you space in your pockets or your day pack.
Gaffer tape Many of the things you build or construct in this book use this wonderful stuff. It is also excellent for making repairs and quick fixes.
Pen and paper (notebook) It is a very useful skill to record your observations, never mind how seemingly insignificant they may be. All the best naturalists do it.
Sieve Useful for panning through leaf litter and soil. This is one of the best ways to find the over-wintering pupae of many moth species.
Back pack Finally, you need something to put all this stuff in! Make sure it’s large enough to carry everything, but that it’s not so heavy it spoils a day out in the woods.
A tree on its own is never a tree on its own. Trees act like a life magnet. You can have a plain bare patch of grass with nothing much in the way of wild life hanging around. But stick a tree in the middle of it and it’s a whole different story. Birds will perch in it and may nest there, insects will find it attractive and nibble or even breed in it. As the tree gets bigger, it creates more living space for even more life.
Making an inventory of a tree near you is always a fun thing to do, and would be a great idea for a personal project or something you can do at school. Try to count as many living things as you can, from the microscopic algae that give the cracks in the bark a greenish tinge, to the birds and mammals that visit. You will be very surprised at what you find.
But just imagine what happens when you stick a collection of these incredible trees together! The effect is magnified, which is why woodlands are such amazing places to explore and why some people make such a fuss when they get removed.
This chapter is about the trees themselves – what they are, how they live and grow. Get to know the trees and you will begin to understand and love the heart of the wood itself.
Fab facts
Here are some BIG numbers for the big European oak:
* 40 hectares of woodland can support 300–400 birds.
* 30 different types of lichen have been found on the bark of these trees.
* 200 species of moth live on the leaves.
* 45 true bugs suck its juices and stalk other prey among its branches.
* 65 mosses and liverworts can be found on the bark.
* 40 species of galls have been found on oak trees.
An oak apple or gall may end up on the woodland floor, but while it’s alive, it grows much further up a tree, near the tree canopy.
A grey squirrel’s drey, neatly perched high in the canopy.
The dappled sunshine emerging through the tree canopy is always a cheering sight.
Many woodlands have been a feature of our landscape for a long time while others have been cleared and have either been re-colonized or re-planted. While all woodlands offer shelter and food for certain creatures, those that have been around for longer tend to have a greater number of species. This variety of species is called biodiversity.
In the spring, investigate your local woodland. Is it ablaze with colour, as a carpet of plants explode into flower and leaf? There is only a brief window of warmth and light in a wood before the leafy canopy closes over and returns most of the wood floor into the dappled half light. This is why so many plants in the understorey have broad leaves (see also opposite).
We humans have real trouble thinking outside of our own life expectancy. We tend to think that we have had a good innings if we get to 80 years old, but most trees at 80 have barely got going. Living at a slower speed than us is part of their fascination. As long-lived plants, they have their own stories to tell. They are like living history lessons, telling us about their own lives and the conditions to which they were exposed as they grew.
Get to know some of the truly old trees in your area. Work out their age (see pages 18–19 and the Take it further box, opposite) and learn about their history; perhaps relate it to famous historical events in human history, such as wars and invasions. You will soon get a sense of what events these trees may have stood through. This is the first step to tree appreciation and helps you to enjoy them fully. You can also maybe help a little by planting a few of your own (see pages 24–5).
Look closely at many spring-flowering plants. They have large, broad leaves designed to steal as much of the sparse light that falls on them as possible. Many also grow in large and dense mats, a sign that they reproduce and spread mainly by bulb splitting and underground runners,